- 352 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
A biography of a key figure in British political life, now with a new foreword by Keir Starmer, providing a vivid portrait of the man and his politics. Clement Attlee - the man who created the welfare state and decolonised vast swathes of the British Empire, including India - has been acclaimed by many as Britain's greatest twentieth-century Prime Minister. Yet somehow Attlee the man remains elusive. How did such a moderate, modest man bring about so many enduring changes? What are the secrets of his leadership style? And how do his personal attributes account for both his spectacular successes and his apparent failures? When Attlee became Prime Minister in July 1945 he was the leader of a Labour party that had won a landslide victory. With almost 50 percent of the popular vote, Attlee seemed to have achieved the platform for Labour to dominate post-war British politics. Yet just 6 years and 3 months after the 1945 victory, and despite all Attlee's governments had appeared to achieve, Labour was out of office, condemned to opposition for a further 13 years. This presents one of the great paradoxes of twentieth-century British history: how Attlee's government achieved so much, but lost power so quickly. But perhaps the greatest paradox was Attlee himself. Attlee's obituary in "The Times" in 1967 stated that 'much of what he did was memorable; very little that he said'. This new biography, based on extensive research into Attlee's papers and first-hand interviews, examines the myths that have arisen around this key figure of British political life, providing a vivid portrait of this man and his politics.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title page
- Dedication page
- Title page
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Foreword to the 2023 edition
- Introduction to the 2023 edition
- Introduction
- 1. Growing Up in Victorian England, 1883–1901
- 2. From Oxford to the East End, 1901–14
- 3. The First World War, 1914–18
- 4. The Political Apprenticeship, 1918–22
- 5. A New Member of Parliament, 1922–24
- 6. Opposition and Indian Affairs, 1924–30
- 7. In Government, 1930–31
- 8. Back in Opposition, 1931–35
- 9. Labour Leadership, 1935–39
- 10. From Opposition to Government, 1939–42
- 11. Deputy Prime Minister and Dominions Secretary, 1942–43
- 12. Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council, 1943–45
- 13. The 1945 General Election
- 14. Attlee as Prime Minister
- 15. The Scale of the Challenge, July–November 1945
- 16. Fulfilling the Party’s Ambitions: National Insurance, National Health and Nationalization, 1945–48
- 17. India
- 18. Britain and America, 1945–51
- 19. Coal and Currency: Attlee’s Leadership Crisis of 1947
- 20. Missed Opportunities? 1948–49
- 21. Political Troubles, 1949–51
- 22. Managing the Party, 1951–55
- 23. The Last Years, 1955–67
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Further Reading
- Bibliography
- Index
- Copyright page
- Back Cover