Attlee

Clement Attlee led the Labour Party for twenty years (1935-55). He was a key figure in Churchill's War Cabinet - the only member, apart from Churchill himself, to serve for the full wartime coalition. Above all, he was Prime Minister of the first majority Labour governments in the crucial postwar years from 1945 to 1951. As premier he presided over the creation of the welfare state, the nationalisation of a substantial proportion of industry, and economic recovery and postwar reconstruction at home; and, abroad, the independence of the Indian subcontinent, the transition from Empire to multiracial Commonwealth, and the onset of the Cold War. His administration also saw Britain opt for the Atomic Bomb. Both in war and peace he is undoubtedly one of the key figures in modern British history. Yet he is also one of the least studied, and, for a shy man of almost pathological reserve, he remains surprisingly controversial. Was he Churchill's "modest man with much to be modest about" - no more than an efficient chairman of committee, who helped implement the wartime consensus for which others provided the initiative, and then went on to squander the fruits of victory? Or, on the contrary, was he a tough-minded practical innovator, and, as many now claim, one of the truly great prime ministers? To answer these questions Robert Pearce reassesses Attlee's whole career. While not neglecting Attlee's political apprenticeship, especially during Ramsay MacDonald's period as Labour leader, he concentrates particularly on the premierships, and on Attlee's relations with his cabinet colleagues. In doing so he illuminates Clement Attlee the man, examining his almost legendary shyness and terseness, and reaching behind the stern exterior to find idealism and pragmatism, ambition and indecision, and a uniquely moral vision.