Attlee : a life in politics

Author(s)

    • Thomas-Symonds, Nicklaus

Bibliographic Information

Attlee : a life in politics

Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds

I.B. Tauris, 2012

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Description based on reprinted 2013

"Paperback edition published in 2012"--T.p. verso

"First published in hardback in 2010 by I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd"--T.p. verso

Includes bibliographical references (p. 309-314) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

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 Britains' greatest twentieth-century Prime Minister. Yet somehow Attlee the man remains elusive and little known. 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 per cent 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 and provides a vivid portrait of the man and his politics.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE: GROWING UP IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND, 1883 - 1901 CHAPTER TWO: FROM OXFORD TO THE EAST END, 1901 - 1914 CHAPTER THREE: THE FIRST WORLD WAR, 1914-1918 CHAPTER FOUR: THE POLITICAL APPRENTICESHIP, 1918-1922 CHAPTER FIVE: A NEW MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, 1922-24 CHAPTER SIX: OPPOSITION AND INDIAN AFFAIRS, 1924-30 CHAPTER SEVEN: IN GOVERNMENT, 1930-1931 CHAPTER EIGHT: BACK IN OPPOSITION, 1931-35 CHAPTER NINE: LABOUR LEADERSHIP, 1935-39 CHAPTER TEN: FROM OPPOSITION TO GOVERNMENT, 1939 - 1942 CHAPTER ELEVEN: DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND DOMINIONS SECRETARY, 1942-43 CHAPTER TWELVE: DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL, 1943 - 45 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE 1945 GENERAL ELECTION CHAPTER FOURTEEN: ATTLEE AS PRIME MINISTER CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE SCALE OF THE CHALLENGE, JULY - NOVEMBER 1945 CHAPTER SIXTEEN: FULFILLING THE PARTY'S AMBITIONS - NATIONAL INSURANCE, NATIONAL HEALTH, AND NATIONALIZATION, 1945 - 1948 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: INDIA CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: BRITAIN AND AMERICA, 1945-1951 CHAPTER NINETEEN: COAL AND CURRENCY: ATTLEE'S LEADERSHIP CRISIS OF 1947 CHAPTER TWENTY: MISSED OPPORTUNITIES? 1948-1949 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: POLITICAL TROUBLES, 1949-51 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: MANAGING THE PARTY, 1951-55 CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE LAST YEARS, 1955-1967 CONCLUSION

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