Attlee: A Life in Politics

343 Pages·2010·5.539 MB·English

by  Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds

Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds is a lecturer in politics at St Edmund Hall,
University of Oxford, and a practising barrister.

ATTLEE
A Life in Politics

NICKLAUS THOMAS-SYMONDS
Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
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175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com
In the United States of America and Canada distributed Exclusively by
Palgrave Macmillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Copyright © 2010 Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds
The right of Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any
part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the publisher.
ISBN: 978 1 84511 779 5
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog card: available
Copy edited and typeset by Oxford Publishing Services, Oxford
Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt. Ltd
FOR MY GRANDPARENTS, MY PARENTS, REBECCA, MATILDA
OLWYN AND ELLIE

CONTENTS
_________________
List of Illustrations ix
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
1. Growing Up in Victorian England, 1883–1901 5
2. From Oxford to the East End, 1901–14 11
3. The First World War, 1914–18 21
4. The Political Apprenticeship, 1918–22 29
5. A New Member of Parliament, 1922–24 35
6. Opposition and Indian Affairs, 1924–30 43
7. In Government, 1930–31 55
8. Back in Opposition, 1931–35 61
9. Labour Leadership, 1935–39 79
10. From Opposition to Government, 1939–42 89
11. Deputy Prime Minister and Dominions Secretary, 1942–43 107
12. Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President
of the Council, 1943–45 117
13. The 1945 General Election 129
14. Attlee as Prime Minister 137
15. The Scale of the Challenge, July–November 1945 145
16. Fulfilling the Party’s Ambitions: National Insurance,
National Health and Nationalization, 1945–48 155
17. India 169
18. Britain and America, 1945–51 187
19. Coal and Currency: Attlee’s Leadership Crisis of 1947 199
20. Missed Opportunities? 1948–49 211
vii
CONTENTS
21. Political Troubles, 1949–51 229
22. Managing the Party, 1951–55 249
23. The Last Years, 1955–67 261
Conclusion 267
Notes 273
Further Reading 307
Bibliography 309
Index 315

viii
ILLUSTRATIONS
_________________________
1. Mr and Mrs Attlee
© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis 34
2. Supporters campaigning for Attlee
© Lucien Aigner/Corbis 80
3. Clement Attlee after surgery
© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis 85
4. The British war cabinet, 1941
© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis 103
5. Clement Attlee broadcasting
© BBC/Corbis 131
6. Batting it out on the cricket pitch, 27 July 1945
© Solo Syndication/Associated Newspapers Ltd by permission
of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales 135
7. Ernest Bevin and Clement Attlee
© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis 136
8. Britain’s postwar Labour cabinet
© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis 139
9. US loans to Britain, 5 February 1946
© Solo Syndication/Associated Newspapers Ltd by permission
of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales 150
10. Bevan all tied up by Attlee, c.1948
© Solo Syndication/Associated Newspapers Ltd by permission
of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales 163
11. Negotiating Indian independence, 14 May 1946
© Solo Syndication/Associated Newspapers Ltd by permission
of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales 173
ix
ILLUSTRATIONS
12. Attlee’s maypole, 30 April 1951
© Solo Syndication/Associated Newspapers Ltd by permission
of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales 243
13. Labour Party leader Attlee with papers and pipe
© Bettman/Corbis 251
14. Attlee and Bevan in the boxing ring, 17 March 1955
© Solo Syndication/Associated Newspapers Ltd by permission
of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales 255
15. British Labour Party election posters
© Bettman/Corbis 259
16. John Kennedy chatting to Clement Attlee
© Bettman/Corbis 263
x