Просмотр кода страницы Английская Википедия:Clement Attlee

{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{short description|Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951}}
{{Redirect|Attlee||Atlee (disambiguation){{!}}Atlee}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Earl Attlee
| honorific_suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KG|OM|CH|PC|FRS|size=100%}}
| image               = Person attlee2.jpg
| caption             = Portrait by [[Yousuf Karsh]], {{c.|1945}}
| alt                 = portrait photograph of Clement Attlee, aged around 62
| office              = [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]
| monarch             = [[George VI]]
| deputy              = [[Herbert Morrison]]
| term_start          = 26 July 1945
| term_end            = 26 October 1951
| predecessor         = [[Winston Churchill]]
| successor           = Winston Churchill
| office1             = [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| monarch1            = {{ublist | George VI | [[Elizabeth II]]}}
| primeminister1      = {{ublist | Winston Churchill | [[Anthony Eden]]}}
| term_start1         = 26 October 1951
| term_end1           = 25 November 1955
| predecessor1        = Winston Churchill
| successor1          = Herbert Morrison
| monarch2            = {{ublist | [[George V]] | [[Edward VIII]] | George VI}}
| primeminister2      = {{ublist | [[Stanley Baldwin]] | [[Neville Chamberlain]]}}
| term_start2         = 25 October 1935
| term_end2           = 11 May 1940
| predecessor2        = [[George Lansbury]]
| successor2          = [[Hastings Lees-Smith]]
| office3             = [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]]
| deputy3             = {{ublist | [[Arthur Greenwood]] | Herbert Morrison}}
| term_start3         = 25 October 1935
| term_end3           = 7 December 1955
| predecessor3        = George Lansbury
| successor3          = [[Hugh Gaitskell]]
| office4             = [[Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Deputy Leader of the Labour Party]]<!-- Deputy Leader of the Opposition -->
| leader4             = George Lansbury
| term_start4         = 25 October 1932
| term_end4           = 25 October 1935
| predecessor4        = [[J. R. Clynes]]
| successor4          = [[Arthur Greenwood]]
{{Collapsed infobox section begin|Wartime ministerial offices
|last=yes|titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed = yes
| office5          = [[Deputy Prime Minister of the United&nbsp;Kingdom]]
| term_label5      = ''[[De facto]]''
| term_start5      = 19 February 1942
| term_end5        = 23 May 1945
| primeminister5   = Winston Churchill
| predecessor5     = ''Office established''
| successor5       = Herbert Morrison ''(de facto)''
| office6          = [[Lord President of the Council]]
| term_start6      = 28 September 1943
| term_end6        = 23 May 1945
| primeminister6   = Winston Churchill
| predecessor6     = [[Sir John Anderson]]
| successor6       = [[Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton|The Lord Woolton]]
| office8          = [[Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs]]
| term_start8      = 15 February 1942
| term_end8        = 24 September 1943
| primeminister8   = Winston Churchill
| predecessor8     = [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury|Viscount Cranborne]]
| successor8       = [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury|Viscount Cranborne]]
| office9          = [[Lord Privy Seal|Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal]]
| term_start9      = 12 May 1940
| term_end9        = 15 February 1942
| primeminister9   = Winston Churchill
| predecessor9     = [[Kingsley Wood]]
| successor9       = [[Stafford Cripps]]
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{Collapsed infobox section begin|Interwar ministerial offices
|cont = yes|titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder|embed = yes
| office = [[Postmaster General of the United Kingdom|Postmaster General]]
| term_start = 13 March 1931
| term_end = 25 August 1931
| primeminister = [[Ramsay MacDonald]]
| predecessor = [[Hastings Lees-Smith]]
| successor = [[William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech|William Ormsby-Gore]]
| office1 = [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]
| term_start1 = 23 May 1930
| term_end1 = 13 March 1931
| primeminister1 = Ramsay MacDonald
| predecessor1 = [[Oswald Mosley]]
| successor1 = [[Arthur Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede|The Lord Ponsonby]]
| office2 = [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for War]]
| term_start2 = 23 January 1924
| term_end2 = 4 November 1924
| primeminister2 = Ramsay MacDonald
| predecessor2 = [[Wilfrid Ashley]]
| successor2 = [[Richard Onslow, 5th Earl of Onslow|Richard Onslow]]
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{Collapsed infobox section begin|last=yes|Parliamentary offices
|cont = yes|titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder|embed = yes
| office13         = [[Member of the House of Lords]]
| status13         = [[Lord Temporal]]
| term_label13     = [[Hereditary peer]]age
| term_start13     = 25 January 1956
| term_end13       = 8 October 1967
| predecessor13    = [[Earl Attlee|Earldom created]]
| successor13      = [[Martin Attlee, 2nd Earl Attlee|The 2nd Earl Attlee]] 
| office14         = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br /> for [[Walthamstow West]]
| term_start14     = 23 February 1950
| term_end14       = 16 December 1955
| predecessor14    = [[Valentine McEntee]]
| successor14      = [[Edward Redhead]]
| office15         = Member of Parliament<br />for [[Limehouse (UK Parliament constituency)|Limehouse]]
| term_start15     = 15 November 1922
| term_end15       = 3 February 1950
| predecessor15    = [[William Pearce (Liberal politician)|William Pearce]]
| successor15      = Constituency abolished
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
| birth_name          = Clement Richard Attlee
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1883|1|3}}
| birth_place         = [[Putney]], England
| death_date          = {{death date and age |df=yes|1967|10|8|1883|1|3}}
| death_place         = London, England
| restingplace        = [[Westminster Abbey]]
| party               = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Violet Millar]]|10 January 1922|7 June 1964|end=died}}
| children            = 4, including [[Martin Attlee, 2nd Earl Attlee|Martin, 2nd Earl Attlee]]
| occupation          = {{hlist|Politician|Barrister|Lecturer|Social worker|Soldier}}
<!--Military service-->| allegiance          = <!--United Kingdom-->
| branch              = [[British Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1914–1919
| rank                = [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]]
| unit                = {{ubl|[[South Lancashire Regiment]]|[[Royal Tank Regiment|Tank Corps]]}}
| battles             = {{tree list}}
* [[History of the United Kingdom during the First World War|First World War]]
**[[Gallipoli campaign]]
**[[Mesopotamian campaign]]
**[[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]
{{tree list end}}
| mawards             = {{Plainlist|
* [[1914–15 Star]]
* [[British War Medal]]
* [[Victory Medal (United Kingdom)|Victory Medal]]}}
| education           = [[University College, Oxford]]
| signature           = Clement Attlee signature.png
}}

{{Clement Attlee sidebar}}
'''Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KG|OM|CH|PC|FRS|sep=,|size=small}} (3 January 1883{{snd}}8 October 1967) was a British statesman and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician who served as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] from 1945 to 1951 and [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]] from 1935 to 1955. He was [[Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Deputy Prime Minister]] during the [[Churchill war ministry|wartime coalition government]] under [[Winston Churchill]], and served twice as [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]] from 1935 to 1940 and from 1951 to 1955. Attlee remains the longest serving Labour leader and is widely considered by historians and members of the public through various polls to be one of the greatest Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom.

Attlee was born into an [[upper-middle-class]] family, the son of a wealthy London solicitor. After attending [[Haileybury College]] and the [[University of Oxford]], he practised as a [[Barristers in England and Wales|barrister]]. The volunteer work he carried out in [[London's East End]] exposed him to poverty, and his political views shifted leftwards thereafter. He joined the [[Independent Labour Party]], gave up his legal career, and began lecturing at the [[London School of Economics]]; with his work briefly interrupted by service in the [[First World War]]. In 1919, he became mayor of [[Stepney]] and in [[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922]] was elected as the Member for [[Limehouse (UK Parliament constituency)|Limehouse]]. Attlee served in the [[First MacDonald ministry|first Labour minority government]] led by [[Ramsay MacDonald]] in 1924, and then joined the Cabinet during [[Second MacDonald ministry|MacDonald's second minority]] (1929–1931). After retaining his seat in Labour's landslide defeat of [[1931 United Kingdom general election|1931]], he became the party's [[Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Deputy Leader]]. [[1935 Labour Party leadership election|Elected Leader of the Labour Party]] in 1935, and at first advocating [[pacificism]] and opposing [[British re-armament|re-armament]], he became a critic of [[Neville Chamberlain]]'s policy of [[appeasement]] in the lead-up to the [[Second World War]]. Attlee took Labour into the wartime coalition government in 1940 and served under Winston Churchill, initially as [[Lord Privy Seal]] and then as Deputy Prime Minister from 1942.{{refn|group=note|Attlee worked backstage to handle much of the detail and organisational work in Parliament, as Churchill took centre stage with his attention on diplomacy, military policy and broader issues.}} 

As the [[Western Front (World War II)|European front of WWII]] reached its conclusion, the war cabinet headed by Churchill was dissolved and elections were scheduled to be held. The Labour Party, led by Attlee, won a landslide victory in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]], on their post-war recovery platform.{{refn|group=note|The 12% [[Swing (United Kingdom)|national swing]] from [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] to Labour remains the largest achieved by any party at a British general election.}} Following the election, Attlee led the construction of the first [[Attlee ministry|Labour majority government]]. His government's [[Keynesian]] approach to economic management aimed to maintain [[full employment]], a [[mixed economy]] and a greatly enlarged system of social services provided by the state. To this end, it undertook the [[nationalisation]] of public utilities and major industries, and implemented wide-ranging social reforms, including the passing of the [[National Insurance Act 1946]] and [[National Assistance Act 1948]], the formation of the [[National Health Service]] (NHS) in 1948, and the enlargement of public subsidies for [[council house]] building. His government also reformed [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|trade union]] legislation, working practices and children's services; it created the [[National parks of the United Kingdom|National Parks]] system, passed the [[New Towns Act 1946]] and established the [[Town and country planning in the United Kingdom|town and country planning system]]. The [[Attlee government]] proved itself to be a radical, reforming government. From 1945 to 1948, over 200 public [[Acts of Parliament]] were passed, with eight major pieces of legislation placed on the statute book in 1946 alone.{{sfn|Reeves|McIvor|2014|p=42}}

Attlee's foreign policy focused on [[decolonization]] efforts which he delegated to [[Ernest Bevin]], but Attlee personally oversaw the [[partition of India]] (1947), the independence of [[British rule in Burma|Burma]] and [[British Ceylon|Ceylon]], and the dissolution of the British mandates of [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]] and [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]]. Attlee and Bevin encouraged the United States to take a vigorous role in the [[Cold War (1947–1953)|Cold War]]; unable to afford military intervention in [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]] during [[Greek Civil War|its civil war]], he called on Washington to counter the [[Communist Party of Greece|communists there]]. The strategy of [[containment]] was formalized between the two nations through the [[Truman Doctrine]].{{sfn|Bullock|1983}}{{pn|date=September 2023}} He supported the [[Marshall Plan]] to rebuild Western Europe with American money and, in 1949, promoted the [[NATO]] military alliance against the [[Soviet bloc]]. After leading Labour to a narrow victory at the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 general election]], he sent British troops to fight alongside South Korea in the [[Korean War]].{{refn|group=note|Attlee sent British troops to fight in the [[Malayan Emergency]] (1948) and the [[Royal Air Force]] to participate in the [[Berlin Airlift]], and commissioned an [[independent nuclear deterrent]] for the UK.}}

Attlee had inherited a country close to bankruptcy following the Second World War and beset by food, housing and resource shortages; despite his social reforms and economic programme, these problems persisted throughout his premiership, alongside recurrent currency crises and dependence on US aid. His party was narrowly defeated by the Conservatives in the [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951 general election]], despite winning the most votes. He continued as Labour leader but retired after losing the [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955 election]] and was elevated to the [[House of Lords]], where he served until his death in 1967. In public, he was modest and unassuming, but behind the scenes his depth of knowledge, quiet demeanour, objectivity and pragmatism proved decisive. He is often ranked as one of the [[Historical rankings of prime ministers of the United Kingdom|greatest British prime ministers]]. In 2004, he was voted the most successful British Prime Minister of the 20th century by a poll of 139 academics.<ref name="ipsos"/> The majority of those responses singled out the Attlee government's welfare state reforms and the creation of the NHS as the key 20th century domestic policy achievements. He is also commended for continuing the [[Special Relationship (United Kingdom–United States)|'Special Relationship']] with the US and active involvement in NATO.

==Early life==
Attlee was born on 3 January 1883 in [[Putney]], Surrey (now part of London), into an [[upper middle-class]] family, the seventh of eight children. His father was Henry Attlee (1841–1908), a solicitor, and his mother was Ellen Bravery Watson (1847–1920), daughter of Thomas Simons Watson, secretary for the [[Art Union of London]].<ref>Davies, Edward J. "The Ancestry of Clement Attlee", ''Genealogists' Magazine'', 31(2013–15): 380–87.</ref> His parents were "committed Anglicans" who read prayers and psalms each morning at breakfast.<ref name=spartacus>{{cite news|url=https://spartacus-educational.com/TUattlee.htm|title=Clement Attlee
|publisher=Spartacus Education}}</ref>

Attlee grew up in a two-storey villa with a large garden and tennis court, staffed by three servants and a gardener. His father, a political [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]], had inherited family interests in milling and brewing, and became a senior partner in the law firm of Druces, also serving a term as president of the [[Law Society of England and Wales]]. In 1898 he purchased a {{convert|200|acre|ha|adj=on}} estate, [[Comarques, Thorpe-le-Soken|Comarques]] in [[Thorpe-le-Soken]], Essex. At the age of nine, Attlee was sent to board at [[Northaw Place]], a boys' preparatory school in [[Hertfordshire]]. In 1896 he followed his brothers to [[Haileybury College]], where he was a middling student. He was influenced by the [[Darwinist]] views of his housemaster [[Frederick Webb Headley]], and in 1899 he published an attack on striking London cab-drivers in the school magazine, predicting they would soon have to "beg for their fares".<ref name=spartacus/>

In 1901, Attlee went up to [[University College, Oxford]], reading [[modern history]]. He and his brother Tom "were given a generous stipend by their father and embraced the university lifestyle—rowing, reading and socializing". He was later described by a tutor as "level-headed, industrious, dependable man with no brilliance of style&nbsp;... but with excellent sound judgement". At university he had little interest in politics or economics, later describing his views at this time as "good old fashioned imperialist conservative". He graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1904 with [[British undergraduate degree classification|second-class honours]].<ref name=spartacus/>

Attlee then trained as a [[barrister]] at the [[Inner Temple]] and was [[called to the bar]] in March 1906. He worked for a time at his father's law firm Druces and Attlee but did not enjoy the work, and had no particular ambition to succeed in the legal profession.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|p=17}} He also played football for [[Non-League football|non-League]] club [[Fleet Town F.C.|Fleet]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Borrows |first=Bill |title=Why football can be a dangerous game for politicians |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11566133/Why-football-can-be-a-dangerous-game-for-politicians.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=27 April 2015 |access-date=2 September 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11566133/Why-football-can-be-a-dangerous-game-for-politicians.html |archive-date=11 January 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Attlee's father died in 1908, leaving an estate valued for probate at £75,394 (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|75394|1908|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}).<ref name="probate" />

=== Early career ===
In 1906, he became a volunteer at Haileybury House, a charitable club for working-class boys in [[Stepney]] in the [[East End of London]] run by his old school, and from 1907 to 1909 he served as the club's manager. Until then, his political views had been more conservative. However, after his shock at the poverty and deprivation he saw while working with the [[slum]] children, he came to the view that private charity would never be sufficient to alleviate poverty and that only direct action and [[income redistribution]] by the state would have any serious effect. This sparked a process that caused him to convert to [[socialism]]. He subsequently joined the [[Independent Labour Party]] (ILP) in 1908 and became active in local politics. In 1909, he stood unsuccessfully at his first election, as an ILP candidate for Stepney Borough Council.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=18–35}}

He also worked briefly as a secretary for [[Beatrice Webb]] in 1909, before becoming a secretary for [[Toynbee Hall]]. He worked for Webb's campaign of popularisation of the [[Minority report (Poor Law)|Minority Report]] as he was very active in [[Fabian Society]] circles, in which he would go round visiting many political societies—Liberal, Conservative and socialist—to explain and popularise the ideas, as well as recruiting lecturers deemed suitable to work on the campaign. In 1911, he was employed by the [[Government of the United Kingdom|Government]] as an "official explainer"—touring the country to explain [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[David Lloyd George]]'s [[National Insurance Act]]. He spent the summer of that year touring [[Essex]] and [[Somerset]] on a bicycle, explaining the Act at public meetings. A year later, he became a lecturer at the [[London School of Economics]], teaching [[social science]] and [[public administration]]. {{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=34–43}}

=== Military service ===
Following the outbreak of the [[First World War]] in August 1914, Attlee applied to join the [[British Army]]. Initially his application was turned down, as his age of 31 was seen as being too old; however, he was eventually commissioned as a temporary lieutenant in the 6th (Service) Battalion, [[South Lancashire Regiment]], on 30 September 1914.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28985|supp=y|page=9961|date=25 November 1914}}</ref> On 9 February 1915 he was promoted to [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]],<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=29098|page=2504|date=12 March 1915}}</ref> and on 14 March was appointed battalion [[adjutant]].<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=29124|supp=2|page=3556|date=10 April 1915}}</ref> The 6th South Lancashires were part of the [[38th Brigade (United Kingdom)|38th Brigade]] of the [[13th (Western) Division]], which served in the [[Gallipoli campaign]] in [[Ottoman Empire|Turkey]]. Attlee's decision to fight caused a rift between him and his older brother Tom, who, as a [[conscientious objector]], spent much of the war in prison.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=43–45, 52}}

After a period spent fighting in Gallipoli, Attlee collapsed after falling ill with [[dysentery]] and was put on a ship bound for England to recover. When he woke up he wanted to get back to action as soon as possible, and asked to be let off the ship in Malta, where he stayed in hospital in order to recover. His hospitalisation coincided with the [[Battle of Sari Bair]], which saw a large number of his comrades killed. Upon returning to action, he was informed that his company had been chosen to hold the final lines during the [[Gallipoli Campaign#Evacuation|evacuation of Suvla]]. As such, he was the penultimate man to be evacuated from [[Landing at Suvla Bay|Suvla Bay]], the last being General [[Stanley Maude]].{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=47–50}}
[[File:Attlee, 1916 IWM (crop).png|thumb|left|Attlee (seen in the centre) in 1916, aged 33, whilst serving in Mesopotamia.]]
The Gallipoli Campaign had been engineered by the [[First Lord of the Admiralty]], [[Winston Churchill]]. Although it was unsuccessful, Attlee believed that it was a bold strategy which could have been successful if it had been better implemented on the ground. This led to an admiration for Churchill as a military strategist, something which would make their working relationship in later years productive.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|p=46}}

He later served in the [[Mesopotamian campaign]] in what is now [[Iraq]], where in April 1916 he was badly wounded, being hit in the leg by [[Shrapnel shell|shrapnel]] from friendly fire while storming an enemy trench during the Battle of Hanna. The battle was an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the [[Siege of Kut]], and many of Attlee's fellow soldiers were also wounded or killed. He was sent firstly to [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|India]], and then back to the UK to recover. On 18 December 1916 he was transferred to the [[Royal Tank Regiment#History|Heavy Section]] of the [[Machine Gun Corps]],<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=29894|supp=2|page=358|date=6 January 1917}}</ref> and 1 March 1917 he was promoted to the temporary rank of [[Major (United Kingdom)|major]],<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=30038|supp=y|page=4050|date=27 April 1917}}</ref> leading him to be known as "Major Attlee" for much of the [[inter-war period]]. He would spend most of 1917 training soldiers at various locations in England.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=50–51}} From 2 to 9 July 1917, he was the temporary commanding officer (CO) of the newly formed L (later 10th) Battalion, the [[Royal Tank Regiment|Tank Corps]] at Bovington Camp, [[Dorset]]. From 9 July, he assumed command of the 30th Company of the same battalion; however, he did not deploy to France with it in December 1917,<ref>''The National Archive WO 95/101 War History of 10th Battalion, Tank Corps'', pp. 1–2.<!--publisher, year, ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> as he was transferred back to the South Lancashire Regiment on 28 November.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=30425|supp=3|page=13038|date=13 December 1917}}</ref>

After fully recovering from his injuries, he was sent to France in June 1918 to serve on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] for the final months of the war. After being discharged from the Army in January 1919, he returned to [[Stepney]], and returned to his old job lecturing part-time at the [[London School of Economics]].{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=55–58}}

==Early political career==

===Local politics===
Attlee returned to [[local politics]] in the immediate post-war period, becoming mayor of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Stepney]], one of London's most deprived inner-city boroughs, in 1919. During his time as mayor, the council undertook action to tackle [[slum]] [[landlord]]s who charged high rents but refused to spend money on keeping their property in habitable condition. The council served and enforced legal orders on homeowners to repair their property. It also appointed health visitors and sanitary inspectors, reducing the infant mortality rate, and took action to find work for returning unemployed ex-servicemen.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=62–63}}

In 1920, while mayor, he wrote his first book, ''The Social Worker'', which set out many of the principles that informed his political philosophy and that were to underpin the actions of his government in later years. The book attacked the idea that looking after the poor could be left to voluntary action. He wrote that:<blockquote>In a civilised community, although it may be composed of self-reliant individuals, there will be some persons who will be unable at some period of their lives to look after themselves, and the question of what is to happen to them may be solved in three ways – they may be neglected, they may be cared for by the organised community as of right, or they may be left to the goodwill of individuals in the community.{{sfn|Attlee|1920|page=30}} [...] Charity is only possible without loss of dignity between equals. A right established by law, such as that to an old age pension, is less galling than an allowance made by a rich man to a poor one, dependent on his view of the recipient's character, and terminable at his caprice.{{sfn|Attlee|1920|page=75}}</blockquote> In 1921, [[George Lansbury]], the Labour mayor of the neighbouring borough of [[Metropolitan Borough of Poplar|Poplar]], and future Labour Party leader, launched the [[Poplar Rates Rebellion]]; a campaign of disobedience seeking to equalise the poor relief burden across all the London boroughs. Attlee, who was a personal friend of Lansbury, strongly supported this. However, [[Herbert Morrison]], the Labour mayor of nearby [[Metropolitan Borough of Hackney|Hackney]], and one of the main figures in the [[London Labour Party]], strongly denounced Lansbury and the rebellion. During this period, Attlee developed a lifelong dislike of Morrison.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|p=122}}{{sfn|Howell|2006}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Rennie|first=John|title=Lansbury v Morrison, the battle over Poplarism|url=http://eastlondonhistory.com/2012/11/22/lansbury-v-morrison-the-battle-over-poplarism/|website=eastlondonhistory.com|access-date=28 July 2017}}</ref>

===Member of Parliament===
At the [[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922 general election]], Attlee became the [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for the [[Electoral district|constituency]] of [[Limehouse (UK Parliament constituency)|Limehouse]] in [[Stepney]]. At the time, he admired [[Ramsay MacDonald]] and helped him get elected as Labour Party leader at the [[1922 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|1922 leadership election]]. He served as MacDonald's [[Parliamentary Private Secretary]] for the brief 1922 parliament. His first taste of ministerial office came in 1924, when he served as Under-Secretary of State for War in the short-lived [[first Labour government]], led by MacDonald.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=74–77}}

Attlee opposed the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|1926 General Strike]], believing that strike action should not be used as a political weapon. However, when it happened, he did not attempt to undermine it. At the time of the strike, he was chairman of the Stepney Borough Electricity Committee. He negotiated a deal with the Electrical Trade Union so that they would continue to supply power to hospitals, but would end supplies to factories. One firm, Scammell and Nephew Ltd, took a civil action against Attlee and the other Labour members of the committee (although not against the Conservative members who had also supported this). The court found against Attlee and his fellow councillors and they were ordered to pay £300 damages. The decision was later reversed on appeal, but the financial problems caused by the episode almost forced Attlee out of politics.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=80–82}}

In 1927, he was appointed a member of the multi-party [[Simon Commission]], a [[royal commission]] set up to examine the possibility of granting [[self-rule]] to [[British Raj|India]]. Due to the time he needed to devote to the commission, and contrary to a promise MacDonald made to Attlee to induce him to serve on the commission, he was not initially offered a ministerial post in the [[second Labour government]], which entered office after the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 general election]].{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=83–91}} Attlee's service on the Commission equipped him with a thorough exposure to India and many of its political leaders. By 1933 he argued that British rule was alien to India and was unable to make the social and economic reforms necessary for India's progress. He became the British leader most sympathetic to Indian independence (as a dominion), preparing him for his role in deciding on independence in 1947.{{sfn|Howard|Bridge|1988}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Howard |first1=Brasted |last2=Bridge |first2=Carl |year=1988 |title=The British Labour Party and Indian Nationalism, 1907–1947 |journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=69–99 |doi=10.1080/00856408808723113}}</ref>

In May 1930, Labour MP [[Oswald Mosley]] left the party after its rejection of his proposals for solving the unemployment problem, and Attlee was given Mosley's post of [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]. In March 1931, he became [[Postmaster General of the United Kingdom|Postmaster General]], a post he held for five months until August, when the [[History of the British Labour Party#Great Depression and the split under MacDonald|Labour government fell]], after failing to agree on how to tackle the financial crisis of the [[Great Depression in the United Kingdom|Great Depression]].{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=96–99}} That month MacDonald and a few of his allies formed a [[National Government (United Kingdom)|National Government]] with the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] and [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberals]], leading them to be expelled from Labour. MacDonald offered Attlee a job in the National Government, but he turned down the offer and opted to stay loyal to the main Labour party.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=101–102}}

After [[Ramsay MacDonald]] formed the National Government, Labour was deeply divided. Attlee had long been close to MacDonald and now felt betrayed—as did most Labour politicians. During the course of the second Labour government, Attlee had become increasingly disillusioned with MacDonald, whom he came to regard as vain and incompetent, and of whom he later wrote scathingly in his autobiography. He would write:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ramsey MacDonald |url=http://spartacus-educational.com/PRmacdonald.htm |access-date=26 July 2017 |website=Spartacus Educational}}</ref>

<blockquote>In the old days I had looked up to MacDonald as a great leader. He had a fine presence and great oratorical power. The unpopular line which he took during the [[First World War]] seemed to mark him as a man of character. Despite his mishandling of the [[Zinoviev letter|Red Letter]] episode, I had not appreciated his defects until he took office a second time. I then realised his reluctance to take positive action and noted with dismay his increasing vanity and snobbery, while his habit of telling me, a junior Minister, the poor opinion he had of all his Cabinet colleagues made an unpleasant impression. I had not, however, expected that he would perpetrate the greatest betrayal in the political history of this country&nbsp;... The shock to the Party was very great, especially to the loyal workers of the rank-and-file who had made great sacrifices for these men.</blockquote>

===Deputy Leader===
The [[1931 United Kingdom general election|1931 general election]] held later that year was a disaster for the Labour Party, which lost over 200 seats, returning only 52 MPs to Parliament. The vast majority of the party's senior figures, including the Leader [[Arthur Henderson]], lost their seats. Attlee, however, narrowly retained his Limehouse seat, with his majority being slashed from 7,288 to just 551. He was one of only three Labour MPs who had experience of government to retain their seats, along with [[George Lansbury]] and [[Stafford Cripps]]. Accordingly, Lansbury was elected Leader unopposed with Attlee as his deputy.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=104–105}}

Most of the remaining Labour MPs after 1931 were elderly trade union officials who could not contribute much to debates, Lansbury was in his 70s, and Stafford Cripps another main figure of the Labour front bench who had entered Parliament in 1931, was inexperienced. As one of the most capable and experienced of the remaining Labour MPs, Attlee therefore shouldered a lot of the burden of providing an opposition to the National Government in the years 1931–35, during this time he had to extend his knowledge of subjects which he had not studied in any depth before, such as finance and foreign affairs in order to provide an effective opposition to the government.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=108–109}}

Attlee effectively served as acting leader for nine months from December 1933, after Lansbury fractured his thigh in an accident, which raised Attlee's public profile considerably. It was during this period, however, that personal financial problems almost forced Attlee to quit politics altogether. His wife had become ill, and at that time there was no separate salary for the [[Leader of the Opposition (UK)|Leader of the Opposition]]. On the verge of resigning from Parliament, he was persuaded to stay by Stafford Cripps, a wealthy socialist, who agreed to make a donation to party funds to pay him an additional salary until Lansbury could take over again.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=112–113}}

During 1932–33 Attlee flirted with, and then drew back from radicalism, influenced by Stafford Cripps who was then on the radical wing of the party. He was briefly a member of the [[Socialist League (UK, 1932)|Socialist League]], which had been formed by former [[Independent Labour Party]] (ILP) members, who opposed the ILP's disaffiliation from the main Labour Party in 1932. At one point he agreed with the proposition put forward by Cripps that gradual reform was inadequate and that a socialist government would have to pass an emergency powers act, allowing it to rule by decree to overcome any opposition by vested interests until it was safe to restore democracy. He admired [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s strong-armed rule and use of major generals to control England. After looking more closely at Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and even his former colleague Oswald Mosley, leader of the new blackshirt fascist movement in Britain, Attlee retreated from his radicalism, and distanced himself from the League, and argued instead that the Labour Party must adhere to constitutional methods and stand forthright for democracy and against [[totalitarianism]] of either the left or right. He always supported the crown, and as Prime Minister was close to King George&nbsp;VI.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Attlee |first=Clement |date=18 February 1952 |title=Tribute from Labor's Attlee to George and the monarchy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dFQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA30 |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |volume=32 |number=7 |quote=It was my privilege for six years to serve King George as First Minister of the Crown and for five years during the war as Deputy Prime Minister. The longer I served him the greater was my respect and admiration for him. I can never forget his kindness and consideration to me. He had a great sense of duty, high courage, good judgment and warm human sympathy. He was in the fullest sense of the term a good man.}}</ref>{{sfn|Bew|2017|pages=23, 173–188, 208}}

===Leader of the Opposition===
[[George Lansbury]], a committed [[pacifist]], resigned as the Leader of the Labour Party at the 1935 Party Conference on 8 October, after delegates voted in favour of sanctions against Italy for [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|its aggression]] against [[Abyssinia]]. Lansbury had strongly opposed the policy, and felt unable to continue leading the party. Taking advantage of the disarray in the Labour Party, the Prime Minister [[Stanley Baldwin]] announced on 19 October that a general election would be held on 14 November. With no time for a leadership contest, the party agreed that Attlee should serve as interim leader, on the understanding that a leadership election would be held after the general election.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=116–117}} Attlee therefore led Labour through the [[1935 United Kingdom general election|1935 election]], which saw the party stage a partial comeback from its disastrous 1931 performance, winning 38 per cent of the vote, the highest share Labour had won up to that point, and gaining over one hundred seats.{{sfn|Thomas-Symonds|2012|pp=68–70}}

Attlee stood in the subsequent [[1935 Labour Party leadership election|leadership election]], held soon afterward, where he was opposed by [[Herbert Morrison]], who had just re-entered parliament in the recent election, and [[Arthur Greenwood]]: Morrison was seen as the favourite, but was distrusted by many sections of the party, especially the left wing. Arthur Greenwood meanwhile was a popular figure in the party; however, his leadership bid was severely hampered by his [[alcohol problem]]. Attlee was able to come across as a competent and unifying figure, particularly having already led the party through a general election. He went on to come first in both the first and second ballots, formally being elected Leader of the Labour Party on 3 December 1935.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=121–130}}

Throughout the 1920s and most of the 1930s, the Labour Party's official policy had been to oppose rearmament, instead supporting internationalism and [[collective security]] under the [[League of Nations]].{{sfn|Vickers|2013|p=92}} At the 1934 Labour Party Conference, Attlee declared that, "We have absolutely abandoned any idea of nationalist loyalty. We are deliberately putting a world order before our loyalty to our own country. We say we want to see put on the statute book something which will make our people citizens of the world before they are citizens of this country".{{sfn|Talus|1945|p=17}} During a debate on defence in Commons a year later, Attlee said "We are told (in the White Paper) that there is danger against which we have to guard ourselves. We do not think you can do it by national defence. We think you can only do it by moving forward to a new world. A world of law, the abolition of national armaments with a world force and a world economic system. I shall be told that that is quite impossible".<ref>{{Hansard|1935/mar/11/defence|access-date=20 March 2013}}</ref> Shortly after those comments, [[Adolf Hitler]] proclaimed that German rearmament offered no threat to world peace. Attlee responded the next day noting that Hitler's speech, although containing unfavourable references to the [[Soviet Union]], created "A chance to call a halt in the armaments race&nbsp;... We do not think that our answer to Herr Hitler should be just rearmament. We are in an age of rearmaments, but we on this side cannot accept that position".<ref>{{Hansard|1935/may/22/defence-policy|access-date=20 March 2013}}</ref>

Attlee played little part in the events that would lead up to the [[abdication of Edward&nbsp;VIII]], for despite Baldwin's threat to step down if [[Edward VIII|Edward]] attempted to remain on the throne after marrying [[Wallis Simpson]], Labour was widely accepted not to be a viable alternative government, owing to the National Government's overwhelming majority in the Commons. Attlee, along with Liberal leader [[Archibald Sinclair]], was eventually consulted with by Baldwin on 24 November 1936, and Attlee agreed with both Baldwin and Sinclair that Edward could not remain on the throne, firmly eliminating any prospect of any alternative government forming were Baldwin to resign.{{sfn|Williams|2003}}

In April 1936, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, [[Neville Chamberlain]], introduced a Budget which increased the amount spent on the armed forces. Attlee made a radio broadcast in opposition to it, saying:
{{blockquote|[The budget] was the natural expression of the character of the present Government. There was hardly any increase allowed for the services which went to build up the life of the people, education and health. Everything was devoted to piling up the instruments of death. The Chancellor expressed great regret that he should have to spend so much on armaments, but said that it was absolutely necessary and was due only to the actions of other nations. One would think to listen to him that the Government had no responsibility for the state of world affairs. [...] The Government has now resolved to enter upon an arms race, and the people will have to pay for their mistake in believing that it could be trusted to carry out a policy of peace. [...] This is a War Budget. We can look in the future for no advance in Social Legislation. All available resources are to be devoted to armaments.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 April 1936 |title=Mr. Attlee on a war budget |pages=16 |work=[[The Times]]}}</ref>}}

In June 1936, the Conservative MP [[Duff Cooper]] called for an Anglo-French alliance against possible German aggression and called for all parties to support one. Attlee condemned this: "We say that any suggestion of an alliance of this kind—an alliance in which one country is bound to another, right or wrong, by some overwhelming necessity—is contrary to the spirit of the League of Nations, is contrary to the Covenant, is contrary to Locarno is contrary to the obligations which this country has undertaken, and is contrary to the professed policy of this Government".<ref>{{Hansard|1936/jun/29/mr-duff-cooprrs-speech|access-date=9 January 2016}}</ref> At the Labour Party conference at Edinburgh in October Attlee reiterated that "There can be no question of our supporting the Government in its rearmament policy".{{sfn|Talus|1945|p=37}}

However, with the rising threat from [[Nazi Germany]], and the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations, this policy eventually lost credibility. By 1937, Labour had jettisoned its pacifist position and came to support rearmament and oppose Neville Chamberlain's policy of [[appeasement]].{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=131–134}}

At the end of 1937, Attlee and a party of three Labour MPs visited Spain and visited the [[British Battalion]] of the [[International Brigades]] fighting in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. One of the companies was named the "Major Attlee Company" in his honour.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=134–135}} Attlee was supportive of the Republican government, and at the 1937 Labour conference moved the wider Labour Party towards opposing what he considered the "farce" of the [[Non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War|Non-Intervention Committee]] organised by the British and French governments. In the House of Commons, Attlee stated, "I cannot understand the delusion that if Franco wins with Italian and German aid, he will immediately become independent. I think it is a ridiculous proposition."<ref>{{Hansard|1939/jan/31/foreign-affairs#column_72|access-date=3 April 2021}}</ref> Dalton, the Labour Party's spokesman on foreign policy, also thought that Franco would ally with Germany and Italy. However, Franco's subsequent behaviour proved it was not such a ridiculous proposition.<ref>{{cite book|last=Holroyd-Doveton|first=John|title=Maxim Litvinov: A Biography|publisher=Woodland Publications|year=2013|pages=395}}</ref> As Dalton later acknowledged, Franco skilfully maintained Spanish neutrality, whereas Hitler would likely have occupied Spain if Franco had lost the Civil War.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dalton|first=Hugh|title=The Fateful Years; Memoirs 1931–1945|publisher=Frederick Muller|year=1957|location=London|pages=97}}</ref>

In 1938, Attlee opposed the [[Munich Agreement]], in which Chamberlain negotiated with Hitler to give Germany the German-speaking parts of [[Czechoslovakia]], the [[Sudetenland]]: <blockquote>We all feel relief that war has not come this time... we cannot, however, feel that peace has been established, but that we have nothing but an armistice in a state of war. We have been unable to go in for care-free rejoicing. We have felt that we are in the midst of a tragedy... [and] humiliation. This has not been a victory for reason and humanity. It has been a victory for brute force. At every stage of the proceedings there have been time limits laid down... [the] terms laid down as ultimata. We have seen to-day a gallant, civilised and democratic people betrayed and handed over to a ruthless despotism... The events of these last few days constitute one of the greatest diplomatic defeats that this country and France have ever sustained. There can be no doubt that it is a tremendous victory for Herr Hitler. Without firing a shot, by the mere display of military force, he has achieved a dominating position in Europe which Germany failed to win after four years of war. He has overturned the balance of power in Europe... [and] destroyed the last fortress of democracy in Eastern Europe which stood in the way of his ambition. He has opened his way to the food, the oil and the resources which he requires in order to consolidate his military power, and he has successfully defeated and reduced to impotence the forces that might have stood against the rule of violence.<ref>{{Hansard|1938/oct/03/prime-ministers-statement#column_51|title=Prime Minister's Statement|access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref> [...] The cause [of the crisis which we have undergone] was not the existence of minorities in Czechoslovakia; it was not that the position of the Sudeten Germans had become intolerable. It was not the wonderful principle of self-determination. It was because Herr Hitler had decided that the time was ripe for another step forward in his design to dominate Europe... The minorities question is no new one. [...] [And] short of a drastic and entire reshuffling of these populations there is no possible solution to the problem of minorities in Europe except toleration.<ref>{{Hansard|1938/oct/03/prime-ministers-statement#column_54|title=Prime Minister's Statement|access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref></blockquote>

However, the new Czechoslovakian state did not provide equal rights to the Slovaks and Sudeten Germans,<ref>{{cite book |last=Holroyd-Doveton |first=John |title=Maxim Litvinov: A Biography |publisher=Woodland Publications |year=2013 |pages=320}}</ref> with the historian [[Arnold J. Toynbee]] already having noted that "for the Germans, Magyars and Poles, who account between them for more than one quarter of the whole population, the present regime in Czechoslovakia is not essentially different from the regimes in the surrounding countries".<ref>{{cite news |last=Toynbee |first=Arnold J. |author-link=Arnold J. Toynbee |title=Czechoslovakia's German problem |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_economist_1937-07-24_128_4900/page/183/mode/1up |newspaper=The Economist |publisher=The Economist Intelligence Unit N.A., Incorporated |volume=128 |pages=183 |date=24 July 1937 |access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref> [[Anthony Eden]] in the Munich debate acknowledged that there had been "discrimination, even severe discrimination" against the Sudeten Germans.<ref>{{Hansard|1938/oct/03/prime-ministers-statement#column_81|title=Prime Minister's Statement|access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref>

In 1937, Attlee wrote a book entitled ''The Labour Party in Perspective'' that sold fairly well in which he set out some of his views. He argued that there was no point in Labour compromising on its socialist principles in the belief that this would achieve electoral success. He wrote: "I find that the proposition often reduces itself to this – that if the Labour Party would drop its socialism and adopt a Liberal platform, many Liberals would be pleased to support it. I have heard it said more than once that if Labour would only drop its policy of [[nationalisation]] everyone would be pleased, and it would soon obtain a majority. I am convinced it would be fatal for the Labour Party." He also wrote that there was no point in "watering down Labour's socialist creed in order to attract new adherents who cannot accept the full socialist faith. On the contrary, I believe that it is only a clear and bold policy that will attract this support".{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=140–141}}

In the late 1930s, Attlee sponsored a Jewish mother and her two children, enabling them to leave Germany in 1939 and move to the UK. On arriving in Britain, Attlee invited one of the children into his home in [[Stanmore]], north-west London, where he stayed for several months.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/20/clement-attlee-child-refugee-paul-willer-fled-nazis-1939|title=Clement Attlee took in Jewish child refugee who fled Nazis|last=Syal|first=Rajeev|date=20 November 2018|work=The Guardian|access-date=20 November 2018}}</ref>

==Deputy Prime Minister==
[[File:Attlee 1941 P 75.jpg|thumb|Attlee as Lord Privy Seal, visiting a munitions factory in 1941]]
Attlee remained as Leader of the Opposition when the [[Second World War]] broke out in September 1939. The ensuing disastrous [[Norwegian campaign]] would result in a [[Norway Debate|motion of no confidence]] in [[Neville Chamberlain]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/norway_campaign_06.shtml|title=The Norway Campaign in World War Two|publisher=BBC|date=30 March 2011|access-date=2 October 2011}}</ref> Although Chamberlain survived this, the reputation of his administration was so badly and publicly damaged that it became clear a [[coalition government]] would be necessary. Even if Attlee had personally been prepared to serve under Chamberlain in an emergency coalition government, he would never have been able to carry Labour with him. Consequently, Chamberlain tendered his resignation, and Labour and the Conservatives entered a coalition government led by [[Winston Churchill]] on 10 May 1940,{{sfn|Howell|2006}} with Attlee joining the Cabinet as [[Lord Privy Seal]] on 12 May.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=34856|page=3107|date=24 May 1940}}</ref>

Attlee and Churchill quickly agreed that the [[War cabinet#Churchill war ministry|War Cabinet]] would consist of three Conservatives (initially Churchill, Chamberlain and [[Lord Halifax]]) and two Labour members (initially himself and [[Arthur Greenwood]]) and that Labour should have slightly more than one third of the posts in the coalition government.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=157–158}} Attlee and Greenwood played a vital role in supporting Churchill during a series of [[1940 British war cabinet crisis|War Cabinet debates]] over whether or not to negotiate peace terms with Hitler following the [[Fall of France]] in May 1940; both supported Churchill and gave him the majority he needed in the War Cabinet to continue Britain's resistance.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=163–164}}{{sfn|Marr|2007}}

Only Attlee and Churchill remained in the War Cabinet from the formation of the Government of National Unity in May 1940 through to the election in May 1945. Attlee was initially the Lord Privy Seal, before becoming Britain's first ever [[Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Deputy Prime Minister]] in 1942, as well as becoming the [[Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs|Dominions Secretary]]{{sfn|Howell|2006}}{{sfn|Marr|2007}} and [[Lord President of the Council]] on 28 September 1943.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=36193|page=4365|date=1 October 1943}}</ref>

Attlee himself played a generally low key but vital role in the wartime government, working behind the scenes and in committees to ensure the smooth operation of government. In the [[Churchill war ministry|coalition government]], three inter-connected committees effectively ran the country. Churchill chaired the first two, the [[War cabinet]] and the Defence Committee, with Attlee deputising for him in these, and answering for the government in Parliament when Churchill was absent. Attlee himself instituted, and later chaired the third body, the [[Lord President's Committee]], which was responsible for overseeing domestic affairs. As Churchill was most concerned with overseeing the war effort, this arrangement suited both men. Attlee himself had largely been responsible for creating these arrangements with Churchill's backing, streamlining the machinery of government and abolishing many committees. He also acted as a conciliator in the government, smoothing over tensions which frequently arose between Labour and Conservative Ministers.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|p=164}}{{sfn|Howell|2006}}<ref name="govclem">{{cite web|title=Clement Attlee: enigmatic, out of time – and formidable|url=https://history.blog.gov.uk/2014/03/11/clement-attlee-enigmatic-out-of-time-and-formidable/|first=Robert|last= Crowcroft|date=11 March 2014 |publisher=Gov.uk|access-date=3 August 2017}}</ref>

Many Labour activists were baffled by the top leadership role for a man they regarded as having little charisma; [[Beatrice Webb]] wrote in her diary in early 1940:
:He looked and spoke like an insignificant elderly clerk, without distinction in the voice, manner or substance of his discourse. To realise that this little nonentity is the Parliamentary Leader of the Labour Party&nbsp;... and presumably the future P.M. [Prime Minister] is pitiable".<ref>Quoted by Paul Addison in {{cite book|author=V. Bogdanor|title=From New Jerusalem to New Labour: British Prime Ministers from Attlee to Blair|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_etNDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|year=2016|page=9|publisher=Springer |isbn=9780230297005}}</ref>

[[File:Attlee with GeorgeVI HU 59486.jpg|thumb|Attlee meeting [[King George&nbsp;VI]] following Labour's 1945 election victory]]

=== 1945 election ===
{{main|1945 United Kingdom general election}}
Following the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of the [[European theatre of World War II|War in Europe]] in May 1945, Attlee and Churchill favoured the coalition government remaining in place until [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] had been defeated. However, [[Herbert Morrison]] made it clear that the Labour Party would not be willing to accept this, and Churchill was forced to tender his resignation as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] and call an immediate election.{{sfn|Howell|2006}}

The war had set in motion profound social changes within Britain and had ultimately led to a widespread popular desire for [[Reform movement|social reform]]. This mood was epitomised in the [[Beveridge Report]] of 1942, by the Liberal economist [[William Beveridge]]. The ''Report'' assumed that the maintenance of full employment would be the aim of post-war governments, and that this would provide the basis for the [[welfare state]]. Immediately upon its release, it sold hundreds of thousands of copies. All major parties committed themselves to fulfilling this aim, but most historians say that Attlee's Labour Party was seen by the electorate as the party most likely to follow it through.<ref>Steven Fielding, "What did 'the people' want?: the meaning of the 1945 general election". ''Historical Journal'' 35#3 (1992): 623–639.</ref><ref name="Addison">{{cite magazine|last=Addison|first=Dr Paul|title=Why Churchill Lost in 1945|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/election_01.shtml|magazine=BBC History|access-date=9 August 2017}}</ref>

Labour campaigned on the theme of "Let Us Face the Future", positioning themselves as the party best placed to rebuild Britain following the war,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/man/lab45.htm |title=British Labour Party election manifesto, 1945 [archived] |access-date=9 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720200817/http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/man/lab45.htm|archive-date=20 July 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and were widely viewed as having run a strong and positive campaign, while the Conservative campaign centred entirely on Churchill.<ref name="Addison"/> Despite opinion polls indicating a strong Labour lead, opinion polls were then viewed as a novelty which had not proven their worth, and most commentators expected that Churchill's prestige and status as a "war hero" would ensure a comfortable Conservative victory.<ref name="Addison"/> Before polling day, ''[[The Guardian|The Manchester Guardian]]'' surmised that "the chances of Labour sweeping the country and obtaining a clear majority&nbsp;... are pretty remote".<ref>''The Manchester Guardian'' 4 July 1945</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2021}} The ''[[News of the World]]'' predicted a working Conservative majority, while in [[Glasgow]] a pundit forecast the result as Conservatives 360, Labour 220, Others 60.<ref name ="Kynaston">{{cite book |last=Kynaston |first=David |author-link=David Kynaston |title=Austerity Britain 1945–51 |date=2008 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location=London |isbn=978-0-7475-9923-4 |pages=70–71}}</ref> Churchill, however, made some costly errors during the campaign. In particular, his suggestion during one radio broadcast that a future Labour Government would require "some form of a gestapo" to implement their policies was widely regarded as being in very bad taste and massively backfired.{{sfn|Howell|2006}}

When the results of the election were announced on 26 July, they came as a surprise to most, including Attlee himself. Labour had won power by a huge landslide, winning 47.7 per cent of the vote to the Conservatives' 36 per cent.<ref name="C. Whiting 1967">R. C. Whiting, "Attlee, Clement Richard, first Earl Attlee (1883–1967)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', 2004.</ref> This gave them 393 seats in the House of Commons, a working majority of 146. This was the first time in history that the Labour Party had won a majority in [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/in_depth/election_battles/1945_over.stm|work=BBC News|title=VOTE2001 – THE ELECTION BATTLES 1945–1997}}</ref> When Attlee went to see [[King George&nbsp;VI]] at [[Buckingham Palace]] to be appointed Prime Minister, the notoriously [[wikt:laconic|laconic]] Attlee and the famously tongue-tied King stood in silence; Attlee finally volunteered the remark, "I've won the election". The King replied "I know. I heard it on the Six O'Clock News".<ref>{{cite book|author=Kynaston, David|title=Austerity Britain, 1945–1951|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7zQx0VRTkgC&pg=PT52|year=2010|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|page=75|isbn=9780802779588}}</ref>

==Prime Minister<span class="anchor" id="Premiership"></span><!-- linked from redirects [[Premiership of Clement Attlee]], [[Prime ministership of Clement Attlee]] -->==
{{Main|Attlee ministry}}
{{see also|Post-war Britain (1945–1979)
}}
{{Infobox administration
| image = Clement Attlee.jpg
| caption = Attlee in 1950
| name = Premiership of Clement Attlee
| term_start = 26 July 1945
| term_end = 26 October 1951
| cabinet = [[Attlee ministry]]
| party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| election = {{hlist|[[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]]|[[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950]]}}
| monarch = [[George VI]]
| seat = [[10 Downing Street]]
| predecessor = [[First premiership of Winston Churchill|Winston Churchill]]
| successor = [[Second premiership of Winston Churchill|Winston Churchill]]
|seal=Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government, 1901-1952).svg|seal_caption=Coat of Arms of HM Government}}

===Domestic policy===
Francis (1995) argues there was consensus both in the Labour's national executive committee and at party conferences on a definition of socialism that stressed moral improvement as well as material improvement. The Attlee government was committed to rebuilding British society as an ethical commonwealth, using public ownership and controls to abolish extremes of wealth and poverty. Labour's ideology contrasted sharply with the contemporary Conservative Party's defence of individualism, inherited privileges, and income inequality.<ref>Francis, Martin. "[https://academic.oup.com/tcbh/article-abstract/6/2/220/1665829?redirectedFrom=fulltext Economics and Ethics: The Nature of Labour's Socialism, 1945–1951]", ''Twentieth Century British History'' (1995) 6#2, pp 220–43.<!--publisher, ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> On 5 July 1948, Clement Attlee replied to a letter dated 22 June from [[James Murray (Durham politician)|James Murray]] and ten other MPs who raised concerns about West Indians who arrived on board the {{HMT|Empire Windrush}}.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/attlees-britain/empire-windrush-2/ |title = The National Archives – Homepage}}</ref> As for the prime minister himself, he was not much focused on economic policy, letting others handle the issues.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alec Cairncross|title=Years of Recovery: British Economic Policy 1945–51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UWj_AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|year=2013|page=49|publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136597701}}</ref>

====Nationalisation====
Attlee's government also carried out their manifesto commitment for [[nationalisation]] of basic industries and public utilities. The [[Bank of England]] and civil aviation were nationalised in 1946. [[National Coal Board|Coal mining]], the [[British Rail|railways]], road haulage, canals and [[Cable & Wireless plc|Cable and Wireless]] were nationalised in 1947, and electricity and gas followed in 1948. The [[Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain|steel industry]] was nationalised in 1951. By 1951 about 20 per cent of the British economy had been taken into [[public ownership]].<ref name="A History of the British Labour Party"/>

Nationalisation failed to provide workers with a greater say in the running of the industries in which they worked. It did, however, bring about significant material gains for workers in the form of higher wages, reduced working hours,<ref>{{cite book |last=Pelling |first=Henry |title=The Labour Governments, 1945–51}}<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> and improvements in working conditions, especially in regards to safety.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cawood |first=Ian |title=Britain in the Twentieth Century}}<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> As historian Eric Shaw noted of the years following nationalisation, the electricity and gas supply companies became "impressive models of public enterprise" in terms of efficiency, and the [[National Coal Board]] was not only profitable, but working conditions for miners had significantly improved as well.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite book |last=Shaw |first=Eric |title=The Labour Party since 1945}}<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

Within a few years of nationalisation, a number of progressive measures had been carried out which did much to improve conditions in the mines, including better pay, a five-day working week, a national safety scheme (with proper standards at all the collieries), a ban on boys under the age of 16 going underground, the introduction of training for newcomers before going down to the coalface, and the making of pithead baths into a standard facility.<ref>Kynaston, David. ''Austerity Britain 1945–1951''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

The newly established National Coal Board offered sick pay and holiday pay to miners.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/intermediate2/history/cradle_to_the_grave/welfare_state/revision/11|title=The Labour Government 1945–51 – The Welfare State: Revision, Page 11|access-date=25 March 2016|work=bbc.co.uk|archive-date=28 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328121655/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/intermediate2/history/cradle_to_the_grave/welfare_state/revision/11/|url-status=dead}}</ref> As noted by Martin Francis:
<blockquote>Union leaders saw nationalisation as a means to pursue a more advantageous position within a framework of continued conflict, rather than as an opportunity to replace the old adversarial form of industrial relations. Moreover, most workers in nationalised industries exhibited an essentially instrumentalist attitude, favouring public ownership because it secured job security and improved wages rather than because it promised the creation of a new set of socialist relationships in the workplace.<ref name="autogenerated5">Francis, Martin. ''Ideas and Policies Under Labour, 1945–1951''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref></blockquote>

====Agriculture====
The Attlee government placed strong emphasis on improving the quality of life in rural areas, benefiting both farmers and other consumers. Security of tenure for farmers was introduced, while consumers were protected by food subsidies and the redistributive effects of deficiency payments. Between 1945 and 1951, the quality of rural life was improved by improvements in gas, electricity, and water services, as well as in leisure and public amenities. In addition, the 1947 Transport Act improved provision of rural bus services, while the [[Agriculture Act 1947]] established a more generous subsidy system for farmers.{{sfn|Morgan|1984}} Legislation was also passed in 1947 and 1948 which established a permanent Agricultural Wages Board to fix minimum wages for agricultural workers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/farming-agriculture-acts.htm|title=The Cabinet Papers &#124; Farming and the Agriculture Acts|publisher=Nationalarchives.gov.uk|access-date=2 October 2011}}</ref><ref>Self, Peter & Herbert J. Storing. ''The State and the Farmer''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

Attlee's government made it possible for farm workers to borrow up to 90 per cent of the cost of building their own houses, and received a subsidy of £15 a year for 40 years towards that cost.<ref name="autogenerated5"/> Grants were also made to meet up to half the cost of supplying water to farm buildings and fields, the government met half the cost of bracken eradication and lime spreading, and grants were paid for bringing hill farming land into use that had previously been considered unfit for farming purposes.<ref name="auto"/>

In 1946, the National Agricultural Advisory Service was set up to supply agricultural advice and information.<ref name="google4">{{cite book|title=Paying for Agricultural {roductivity|last1=Alston |first1=J.M. |last2=Pardey |first2=P.G.|last3=Smith |first3=V.H. |year=1999 |publisher=International Food Policy Research Institute|isbn=9780801861857|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3liAwAAQBAJ|page=181|access-date=5 October 2014}}</ref> The [[Hill Farming Act 1946]] introduced for upland areas a system of grants for buildings, land improvement, and infrastructural improvements such as roads and electrification. The Act also continued a system of headage payments for hill sheep and cattle that had been introduced during the war. The [[Agricultural Holdings Act 1948]] enabled (in effect) tenant farmers to have lifelong tenancies and made provision for compensation in the event of cessations of tenancies.<ref name="google5">{{cite book|title=Rural Change and Planning: England and Wales in the Twentieth Century|author1=Cherry, I.&nbsp;G.|author2=A.&nbsp;W. Rogers|date=2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781135827359|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mH45485hjsgC|page=80|access-date=5 October 2014}}</ref> In addition, the ''Livestock Rearing Act 1951''<ref name="data">{{cite web|url=http://legislation.data.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/14-15/18/introduction/1991-02-01/data.htm?wrap=true|title=Livestock Rearing Act 1951 (c. 18)|publisher=legislation.data.gov.uk|access-date=5 October 2014}}</ref> extended the provisions of the Hill Farming Act 1946 to the upland store cattle and sheep sector.<ref name="google6">{{cite book|title=Cherished Heartland: Future of the Uplands in Wales|author1=Midmore, P.|author2=R.&nbsp;J. Moore-Colyer|date=2006|publisher=Institute of Welsh Affairs|isbn=9781904773061|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSc3GUjfIwwC|access-date=5 October 2014}}</ref>

At a time of world food shortages, it was vital that farmers produced the maximum possible quantities. The government encouraged farmers via subsidies for modernisation, while the National Agricultural Advisory Service provided expertise and price guarantees. As a result of the Attlee government's initiatives in agriculture, there was a 20 per cent increase in output between 1947 and 1952, while Britain adopted one of the most mechanised and efficient farming industries in the world.{{sfn|Lowe|1997}}

====Education====
The Attlee government ensured provisions of the [[Education Act 1944]] were fully implemented, with free secondary education becoming a right for the first time. Fees in state grammar schools were eliminated, while new, modern secondary schools were constructed.<ref>Hopkins, Eric. ''Industrialisation and Society: A Social History, 1830–1951''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

The school leaving age was raised to 15 in 1947, an accomplishment helped brought into fruition by initiatives such as the [[HORSA]] ("Huts Operation for Raising the School-leaving Age") scheme and the S.F.O.R.S.A. (furniture) scheme.<ref name="lib-161.lse.ac.uk">{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:deb599ziv|title=Next steps in education|access-date=9 January 2016}}</ref> University scholarships were introduced to ensure that no one who was qualified "should be deprived of a university education for financial reasons",<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SqHbQYSsGvUC&q=ellen+wilkinson+free+school+meals&pg=PA21|title=Education Policy|access-date=9 January 2016|isbn=9781446271568|last1=Abbott|first1=Ian|last2=Rathbone|first2=Michael|last3=Whitehead|first3=Phillip|date=12 November 2012}}</ref> while a large school building programme was organised.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mSpBQAAQBAJ&q=ellen+wilkinson+university+scholarships&pg=PA120|title=The Home Front in Britain|access-date=9 January 2016|isbn=9781137348999|last1=Lomas|first1=Janis|date=29 October 2014|publisher=Springer }}</ref> A rapid increase in the number of trained teachers took place, and the number of new school places was increased.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SqHbQYSsGvUC&q=Tomlinson+was+successful+in+increasing+the+number+of+new+school+places&pg=PA22|title=Education Policy|access-date=9 January 2016|isbn=9781446271568|last1=Abbott|first1=Ian|last2=Rathbone|first2=Michael|last3=Whitehead|first3=Phillip|date=12 November 2012}}</ref>

Increased Treasury funds were made available for education, particularly for upgrading school buildings suffering from years of neglect and war damage.<ref name="autogenerated2">Jefferys, Kevin. ''The Labour Party since 1945''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> Prefabricated classrooms were built, and 928 new primary schools were constructed between 1945 and 1950. The provision of free school meals was expanded, and opportunities for university entrants were increased.<ref>Hartley, Cathy. ''A Historical Dictionary of British Women''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> State scholarships to universities were increased,<ref>Pelling, Henry & Alastair J. Reid. ''A Short History of the Labour Party''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> and the government adopted a policy of supplementing university scholarships awards to a level sufficient to cover fees plus maintenance.<ref name="lib-161.lse.ac.uk"/>

Many thousands of ex-servicemen were assisted to go through college who could never have contemplated it before the war.{{sfn|Munro|1948}} Free milk was also made available to all schoolchildren for the first time.<ref>Oddy, Derek J. ''From Plain Fare to Fusion Food: British Diet from the 1890s to the 1990s''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> In addition, spending on technical education rose, and the number of nursery schools was increased.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaD1Gn0Wls0C&q=labour+government+1945-1951+nursery+schools+increased&pg=PA244|title=Democratic Socialism and Economic Policy: The Attlee Years, 1945–1951|author=Tomlinson, Jim|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, UK|page=244|year=1997|access-date=21 July 2012|isbn=9780521892599}}</ref> Salaries for teachers were also improved, and funds were allocated towards improving existing schools.<ref name="autogenerated1945">Pritt, Denis Nowell. ''The Labour Government 1945–51''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

In 1947 the [[Arts Council of Great Britain]] was set up to encourage the arts.<ref name="google7">{{cite book|title=Freedom and Faith: A Question of Scottish Identity|author=Smith, D.|date=2013|publisher=St. Andrew Press, Ltd|isbn=9780861538133|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iYb-AQAAQBAJ|page=54|access-date=5 October 2014}}</ref>

The [[Ministry of Education (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Education]] was established under the 1944 Act, and free County Colleges were set up for the compulsory part-time instruction of teenagers between the ages of 15 and 18 who were not in full-time education.<ref>Hodge, B. & W.&nbsp;L. Mellor. ''Higher School Certificate History''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> An Emergency Training Scheme was also introduced which turned out an extra 25,000 teachers in 1945–1951.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:YdHEFfT32noJ:campbeltowngrammar.org.uk/downloads/history/5_year/british_higher/labour-reforms/i-assessment/1945-1951_labour_government.doc+%E2%80%9CPrefab%E2%80%9D+classrooms+were+also+built+and+928+new+primary+schools+were+constructed+between+1945+and+1950&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgaOtfB49c9TMEFcKCx0vUvwvLMyzSWQ9JMXlhiobC4Nc_-tDp2dZDqxDPSU6ylDlCONx_3vjFQ7Fc3VaJMijATeUPQ9lRI_EbAVSjjKj4Wb-s5sWyh0gIQ-oyKgx9L9VZIEDfB&sig=AHIEtbTl0DuRvchpzLCqCLa8NHX25FRRPA|title=Powered by Google Docs|access-date=2 October 2011}}</ref> In 1947, Regional Advisory Councils were set up to bring together industry and education to find out the needs of young workers "and advise on the provision required, and to secure reasonable economy of provision".<ref>''Whitaker's Almanack'', J. Whitaker & Sons, 1987<!--page(s); ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> That same year, thirteen Area Training Organisations were set up in England and one in Wales to coordinate teacher training.<ref name="educationengland">{{cite web|url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/history/timeline.html|title=Education in England – Timeline|author=Gillard, Derek|publisher=educationengland.org.uk|access-date=5 October 2014}}</ref>

Attlee's government, however, failed to introduce the [[comprehensive education]] for which many socialists had hoped. This reform was eventually carried out by [[Harold Wilson]]'s government. During its time in office, the Attlee government increased spending on education by over 50 per cent, from £6.5&nbsp;billion to £10&nbsp;billion.{{sfn|Beech|Lee|2008}}

====Economy====
[[File:Overzicht van de markt, Bestanddeelnr 191-0944.jpg|thumb|[[Petticoat Lane Market]] in London, 1947]]
The most significant problem facing Attlee and his ministers remained the economy, as the [[war effort]] had left Britain nearly bankrupt.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | last = Gilbert | first = Bentley Brinkerhoff  | title = Britain since 1945 Labour and the welfare state (1945–51)| encyclopedia = Britannica  | url = https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom/Britain-since-1945 | date = 2021 }}</ref> Overseas investments had been used up to pay for the war. The transition to a peacetime economy, and the maintaining of strategic military commitments abroad led to continuous and severe problems with the [[balance of trade]]. This resulted in strict [[rationing]] of food and other essential goods continuing in the post war period to force a reduction in consumption in an effort to limit imports, boost exports, and stabilise the Pound Sterling so that Britain could trade its way out of its financial state.<ref name="Cowcroft Theakston">{{cite book |last1=Cowcroft |first1=Robert |last2=Theakston |first2=Kevin |editor1-last=Heppell |editor1-first=T |editor2-last=Theakston |editor2-first=Kevin |title=How Labour Governments Fall: From Ramsay Macdonald to Gordon Brown |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-230-36180-5 |url=https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/85710/2/Fall%20of%20Attlee%20Govt.pdf |access-date=5 December 2023 |chapter=The Fall of the Attlee Government, 1951|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK }}</ref>

The abrupt end of the American [[Lend-Lease]] programme in August 1945 almost caused a crisis. Some relief was provided by the [[Anglo-American loan]], negotiated in December 1945. The conditions attached to the loan included making the [[pound sterling|pound]] fully [[convertibility|convertible]] to the US dollar. When this was introduced in July 1947, it led to a [[currency crisis]] and convertibility had to be suspended after just five weeks.<ref name="A History of the British Labour Party"/> The UK benefited from the American [[Marshall Aid]] program in 1948, and the economic situation improved significantly. Another balance of payments crisis in 1949 forced Chancellor of the Exchequer, [[Stafford Cripps]], into devaluation of the pound.<ref name="A History of the British Labour Party"/>

Despite these problems, one of the main achievements of Attlee's government was the maintenance of near [[full employment]]. The government maintained most of the wartime controls over the economy, including control over the allocation of materials and manpower, and unemployment rarely rose above 500,000, or 3 per cent of the total workforce.<ref name="A History of the British Labour Party"/> Labour shortages proved a more frequent problem. The inflation rate was also kept low during his term.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> The rate of unemployment rarely rose above 2 per cent during Attlee's time in office, whilst there was no hard-core of long-term unemployed. Both production and productivity rose as a result of new equipment, while the average working week was shortened.<ref>Thompson, David. ''England in the Twentieth Century (1914–63)''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

The government was less successful in housing, which was the responsibility of [[Aneurin Bevan]]. The government had a target to build 400,000 new houses a year to replace those which had been destroyed in the war, but shortages of materials and manpower meant that less than half this number were built. Nevertheless, millions of people were rehoused as a result of the Attlee government's housing policies. Between August 1945 and December 1951, 1,016,349 new homes were completed in England, Scotland, and Wales.{{sfn|Morgan|1984}}

When the Attlee government was voted out of office in 1951, the economy had been improved compared to 1945. The period from 1946 to 1951 saw continuous full employment and steadily rising living standards, which increased by about 10 per cent each year. During that same period, the economy grew by 3 per cent a year, and by 1951 the UK had "the best economic performance in Europe, while output per person was increasing faster than in the United States".<ref>''Ten Years of New Labour'' (edited by Matt Beech and Simon Lee)<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> Careful planning after 1945 also ensured that demobilisation was carried out without having a negative impact upon economic recovery, and that unemployment stayed at very low levels.<ref name="autogenerated2"/> In addition, the number of motor cars on the roads rose from 3&nbsp;million to 5&nbsp;million from 1945 to 1951, and seaside holidays were taken by far more people than ever before.{{sfn|Hill|1970}} A Monopolies and Restrictive Practices (Inquiry and Control) Act was passed in 1948, which allowed for investigations of restrictive practices and monopolies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crabbe |first1=R.J.W. |last2=Poyser |first2=C.A. |title=Pension and Widows' and Orphans' Funds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PX0oAAAAQBAJ&q=united+kingdom+Superannuation+%28Miscellaneous+Provisions%29+Act+1948&pg=PA210 |date=22 August 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=9 January 2016 |isbn=9781107621749}}</ref> However, some economic historians have argued that the UK failed to develop economically after the war, with failure to support industry leaving the economy not recovering as effectively as Germany.<ref name="Cowcroft Theakston" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Derek |title=1945-51: Labour and the creation of the welfare state |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/14/past.education |access-date=5 December 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=14 March 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Myers |first1=John |title=The plot against Mercia |url=https://unherd.com/2020/09/the-plot-against-mercia/ |website=[[UnHerd]] |access-date=5 December 2023 |date=13 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Barnett |first1=Correlli |author-link=Correlli Barnett|title=The Lost Victory: British Dreams and British Realities |date=1995 |publisher=Macmillan|pages=170–171}}</ref>

====Energy====
1947 proved a particularly difficult year for the government; an [[Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom|exceptionally cold winter]] that year caused coal mines to freeze and cease production, creating widespread [[Power outage|power cuts]] and food shortages. The [[Ministry of Power (United Kingdom)|Minister of Fuel and Power]], [[Emanuel Shinwell]] was widely blamed for failing to ensure adequate coal stocks, and soon resigned from his post. The Conservatives capitalised on the crisis with the slogan 'Starve with Strachey and shiver with Shinwell' (referring to the Minister of Food [[John Strachey (politician)|John Strachey]]).<ref>{{cite web |last=Sandbrook |first=Dominic |author-link=Dominic Sandbrook |title=Winter of 1947 |url=http://www.jubileeriver.co.uk/100110%20-%20winter%20of%201947.htm |url-status=dead |publisher=Jubileeriver.co.uk |date=9 January 2010 |access-date=20 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728181223/http://www.jubileeriver.co.uk/100110%20-%20winter%20of%201947.htm |archive-date=28 July 2011}}</ref>

The crisis led to an unsuccessful plot by [[Hugh Dalton]] to replace Attlee as Prime Minister with [[Ernest Bevin]]. Later that year [[Stafford Cripps]] tried to persuade Attlee to stand aside for Bevin. These plots petered out after Bevin refused to cooperate. Later that year, Dalton resigned as Chancellor after inadvertently leaking details of the budget to a journalist. He was replaced by Cripps.<ref>{{cite book |last=Foot |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Foot |title=Aneurin Bevan: A Biography: Volume 2: 1945–1960 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jeyDZ_1h1cC&pg=PT75 |publisher=Faber & Faber |year=2011 |page=75 |isbn=9780571280858}}</ref>

===Foreign policy===
In foreign affairs, the Attlee government was concerned with four main issues: post-war Europe, the onset of the Cold War, the establishment of the United Nations, and decolonisation. The first two were closely related, and Attlee was assisted by [[Foreign Secretary]] [[Ernest Bevin]]. Attlee also attended the later stages of the [[Potsdam Conference]], where he negotiated with President [[Harry S. Truman]] and [[Joseph Stalin]].[[File:Photograph of British Prime Minister Clement Attlee shaking hands with Secretary of State James Byrnes upon his... - NARA - 199245.jpg|thumb|Attlee shaking hands with US Secretary of State [[James F. Byrnes]] upon his arrival at National Airport in Washington, 1945]][[File:Potsdam big three.jpg|thumb|Attlee with [[Harry S. Truman]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] at the [[Potsdam Conference]], 1945]]In the immediate aftermath of the war, the Government faced the challenge of managing relations with Britain's former war-time ally, Stalin and the [[Soviet Union]]. Ernest Bevin was a passionate [[anti-communist]], based largely on his experience of fighting communist influence in the trade union movement. Bevin's initial approach to the USSR as Foreign Secretary was "wary and suspicious, but not automatically hostile".{{sfn|Morgan|1984}} Attlee himself sought warm relations with Stalin. He put his trust in the United Nations, rejected notions that the Soviet Union was bent on world conquest, and warned that treating Moscow as an enemy would turn it into one. This put Attlee at sword's point with his foreign minister, the Foreign Office, and the military who all saw the Soviets as a growing threat to Britain's role in the Middle East. Suddenly in January 1947, Attlee reversed his position and agreed with Bevin on a hardline anti-Soviet policy.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Smith Raymond, Zametica John |title=The Cold Warrior: Clement Attlee reconsidered, 1945–7 |journal=International Affairs |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=237–252 |year=1985 |jstor=2617482 |doi=10.2307/2617482}}</ref>

In an early "good-will" gesture that was later heavily criticised, the Attlee government allowed the Soviets to purchase, under the terms of a 1946 UK-USSR [[Trade agreement]], a total of 25 [[Rolls-Royce Nene]] [[jet engine]]s in September 1947 and March 1948. The agreement included an agreement not to use them for military purposes. The price was fixed under a commercial contract; a total of 55 jet engines were sold to the USSR in 1947.<ref>{{Hansard|1948/nov/22/jet-engines-foreign-sales|access-date=28 April 2020}}</ref> However, the [[Cold War]] intensified during this period and the Soviets, who at the time were well behind the West in jet technology, [[reverse-engineered]] the Nene and installed their own version in the [[MiG-15]] interceptor. This was used to good effect against US-UK forces in the subsequent [[Korean War]], as well as in several later MiG models.<ref>Gordon, Yefim. ''Mikoyan–Gurevich MIG-15: The Soviet Union's Long-Lived Korean War Fighter'', Midland Press (2001), {{ISBN|978-1857801057}}.</ref>

After Stalin took political control of most of Eastern Europe, and began to subvert other governments in the Balkans, Attlee's and Bevin's worst fears of Soviet intentions were realised. The Attlee government then became instrumental in the creation of the successful [[NATO]] defence alliance to protect Western Europe against any Soviet expansion.{{sfnm |1a1=Morgan |1y=1984 |1loc=ch.&nbsp;6 |2a1=Thomas-Symonds |2y=2012 |2pp=2–4, 127}} In a crucial contribution to the economic stability of post-war Europe, Attlee's Cabinet was instrumental in promoting the American [[Marshall Plan]] for the economic recovery of Europe. He called it one of the "most bold, enlightened and good-natured acts in the history of nations".<ref>{{cite book |last=Field |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead |title=Attlee's Great Contemporaries: The Politics of Character |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5-6BwAAQBAJ&pg=PR38 |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2009 |page=38 |isbn=9781441129444}}</ref>

A group of Labour MPs, organised under the banner of "[[Keep Left (pamphlet)|Keep Left]]", urged the government to steer a middle way between the two emerging superpowers, and advocated the creation of a "third force" of European powers to stand between the US and USSR. However, deteriorating relations between Britain and the USSR, as well as Britain's economic reliance on America following the Marshall Plan, steered policy towards supporting the US.<ref name="A History of the British Labour Party"/> In January 1947, fear of both Soviet and American nuclear intentions led to a secret meeting of the Cabinet, where the decision was made to press ahead with the development of Britain's independent [[nuclear deterrent]], an issue which later caused a split in the Labour Party. Britain's first successful nuclear test, however, did not occur until 1952, one year after Attlee had left office.<ref name="A History of the British Labour Party"/>

The London dock strike of July 1949, led by Communists, was suppressed when the Attlee government sent in 13,000 Army troops and passed special legislation to promptly end the strike. His response reveals Attlee's growing concern that Soviet expansionism, supported by the British Communist Party, was a genuine threat to national security, and that the docks were highly vulnerable to sabotage ordered by Moscow. He noted that the strike was caused not by local grievances, but to help communist unions who were on strike in Canada. Attlee agreed with MI5 that he faced "a very present menace".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Deery |first=Phillip |title='A Very Present Menace'? Attlee, Communism and the Cold War |journal=Australian Journal of Politics and History |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=69–93 |year=1998 |doi=10.1111/1467-8497.00005}}</ref>

[[File:Bevin Attlee H 42138.jpg|thumb|Foreign Secretary [[Ernest Bevin]] (left) with Attlee in 1945]]

====Decolonisation====
Decolonisation was never a major election issue, but Attlee gave the matter a great deal of attention and was the chief leader in beginning the process of [[decolonisation]] of the [[British Empire]].<ref>{{cite book|author=David Wilsford|title=Political Leaders of Contemporary Western Europe: A Biographical Dictionary|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|url=https://archive.org/details/politicalleaders00wils|url-access=registration|year=1995|page=[https://archive.org/details/politicalleaders00wils/page/21 21]|isbn=9780313286230}}</ref><ref>Nicholas Owen, "Attlee governments: The end of empire 1945–51". ''Contemporary British History'' 3#4 (1990): 12–16.</ref>

===== East Asia =====
In August 1948, the Chinese Communists' victories caused Attlee to begin preparing for a Communist takeover of China. It kept open consulates in Communist-controlled areas and rejected the Chinese Nationalists' requests that British citizens assist in the defence of Shanghai. By December, the government concluded that although British property in China would likely be nationalised, British traders would benefit in the long run from a stable, industrialising Communist China. Retaining Hong Kong was especially important to him; although the Chinese Communists promised to not interfere with its rule, Britain reinforced the [[Hong Kong Garrison]] during 1949. When the victorious Chinese Communists government declared on 1 October 1949 that it would exchange diplomats with any country that ended relations with the Chinese Nationalists, Britain became the first western country to formally recognise the People's Republic of China in January 1950.<ref name="jstor260389">{{cite journal |last=Wolf |first=David C. |title='To Secure a Convenience': Britain Recognizes China – 1950 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=299–326 |year=1983 |s2cid=162218504 |jstor=260389 |doi=10.1177/002200948301800207}}</ref> In 1954, a Labour Party delegation including Attlee visited China at the invitation of then Foreign Minister [[Zhou Enlai]]. Attlee became the first high-ranking western politician to meet [[Mao Zedong]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Letter from Mao Zedong to Clement Attlee sells for £605,000 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/15/mao-zedong-clement-attlee-letter-sothebys-auction |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=15 December 2015 |access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref>

===== South Asia =====
Attlee orchestrated [[Partition of India|the granting of independence to India and Pakistan]] in 1947. Attlee in 1928–1934 had been a member of the [[Simon Commission|Indian Statutory Commission]] (otherwise known as the Simon Commission). He became the Labour Party expert on India and by 1934 was committed to granting India the same independent dominion status that Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa had recently been given.{{sfn|Bew|2017|pp=186-187}} He faced strong resistance from the die-hard Conservative imperialists, led by Churchill, who opposed both independence and efforts led by Prime Minister [[Stanley Baldwin]] to set up a system of limited local control by Indians themselves.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herman |first=Arthur |title=Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age |year=2008 |pages=321–325}}</ref> Attlee and the Labour leadership were sympathetic to both the Congress led by [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] and the Pakistan movement led by [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]]. During the Second World War, Attlee was in charge of Indian affairs. He set up the [[Cripps Mission]] in 1942, which tried and failed to bring the factions together. When Congress called for passive resistance in the [[Quit India]] movement of 1942–1945, it was the British regime ordered the widespread arrest and internment for the duration of tens of thousands of Congress leaders as part of its efforts to crush the revolt.{{sfn|Bew|2017|p=433}}

Labour's election Manifesto in 1945 called for "the advancement of India to responsible self-government".<ref>{{cite book |last=Craig |first=F. W. S. | author-link = F. W. S. Craig |title=British General Election Manifestos: 1918–1966 |year=1970 |page=105}}</ref> In 1942 the [[British Raj]] tried to enlist all major political parties in support of the war effort. Congress, led by Nehru and [[Gandhi]], demanded immediate independence and full control by Congress of all of India. That demand was rejected by the British, and Congress opposed the war effort with its "[[Quit India]]" campaign. The Raj immediately responded in 1942 by imprisoning the major national, regional and local Congress leaders for the duration. Attlee did not object.<ref>Herman, ''Gandhi & Churchill'' (2008) p 486-95.</ref> By contrast, the [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]], led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, strongly supported the war effort. They greatly enlarged their membership and won favour from London for their decision. Attlee retained a fondness for Congress and until 1946, accepted their thesis that they were a non-religious party that accepted Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and everyone else.<ref>Kenneth Harris, ''Attlee'' (1982) pp 362–64</ref> Nevertheless, this difference in opinion between the Congress and the Muslim League towards the British war effort encouraged Attlee and his government to consider further negotiations with the Muslim League.

The Muslim League insisted that it was the only true representative of all of the Muslims of India. With violence escalating in India after the war, but with British financial power at a low ebb, large-scale military involvement was impossible. Viceroy Wavell said he needed a further seven army divisions to prevent communal violence if independence negotiations failed. No divisions were available; independence was the only option.<ref>David Chandler, ''The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army'' (1994) p. 331</ref> Given the increasing demands of the Muslim League, independence implied a partition that set off heavily Muslim Pakistan from the main portion of India.<ref>Harris, ''Attlee'' (1982) pp 367–69.</ref> After becoming Prime Minister in 1945 Attlee originally planned to give India Dominion status in 1948.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-136/churchill-and-india-again-a-again-a-again-a-again/|title=Churchill and India: Again & Again & Again & Again|date=4 July 2013|website=International Churchill Society}}</ref>

Attlee suggested in his memoirs that "traditional" colonial rule in Asia was no longer viable. He said that he expected it to meet renewed opposition after the war both by local national movements as well as by the United States.<ref>{{cite book| author=Attlee, Clement|title=As It Happened|publisher=Viking Press|date=1954|page=254 }}</ref> The prime minister's biographer John Bew says that Attlee hoped for a transition to a multilateral world order and a Commonwealth, and that the old British empire "should not be supported beyond its natural lifespan" and instead be ended "on the right note." His exchequer Hugh Dalton meanwhile feared that post-war Britain could no longer afford to garrison its empire. <ref>{{cite book| author=Bew, John|title=Citizen Clem|publisher=Quercus Editions Limited|date=2016|page=414 }}</ref>

Ultimately the Labour government gave full independence to India and Pakistan in 1947 through the [[Indian Independence Act 1947|Indian Independence Act]]. This involved creating a demarcation between the two regions which was known as the [[Radcliffe Line]]. The boundary between the newly created states of Pakistan and India involved the widespread resettlement of millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. Almost immediately, extreme anti-Hindu and anti-Sikh violence ensued in [[Lahore]], [[Multan]] and [[Dacca]] when the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]] province and the Bengal province were split in the [[Partition of India]]. This was followed by a rapid increase in widespread anti-Muslim violence in several areas including [[Amritsar]], [[Rajkot]], [[Jaipur]], [[Calcutta]] and [[New Delhi|Delhi]]. Historian Yasmin Khan estimates that over a million people were killed of which several were women and children.<ref>Yasmin Khan, ''The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan'' (Yale UP, 2005) pp 6, 83–103, 211.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Peter Lyon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vLwOck15eboC&pg=PA19 |title=Conflict Between India and Pakistan: An Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2008 |isbn=9781576077122 |page=19}}</ref> Gandhi himself was [[Assassination_of_Mahatma_Gandhi|assassinated]] in January 1948.<ref>"Gandhi Is Killed By A Hindu; India Shaken, World Mourns; 15 Die In Rioting In Bombay Three Shots Fired" [https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0130.html ''New York Times'' 30 January 1948]</ref> Attlee remarked Gandhi as the "greatest citizen" of India and added, "this one man has been the major factor in every consideration of the Indian problem. He had become the expression of the aspirations of the Indian people for independence".<ref name="British Broadcasting">{{cite book | author=British Broadcasting Corporation | title=London Calling | publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation | issue=nos. 432-457 | year=1948 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_h_HxjR8uz8C | access-date=2023-05-19 | page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=H. S. L. | last1 =  Polak | author1-link = Henry Polak | first2 = H. N. | last2 =  Brailsford | author2-link = H. N. Brailsford | first3 = Frederick | last3 = Pethick-Lawrence | author3-link = Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGQfAAAAMAAJ |title=Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of Modern India |publisher=Anmol Publications |year=1986 |page=303}}</ref>{{sfn|Bew|2017|p=441}}

Historian Andrew Roberts says the independence of India was a "national humiliation" but it was necessitated by urgent financial, administrative, strategic and political needs.<ref>Andrew Roberts, ''Eminent Churchillians'' (1994) p 78.</ref> Churchill in 1940–1945 had tightened the hold on India and imprisoned the Congress leadership, with Attlee's approval. Labour had looked forward to making it a fully independent dominion like Canada or Australia. Many of the Congress leaders in the India had studied in England, and were highly regarded as fellow idealistic socialists by Labour leaders. Attlee was the Labour expert on India and took special charge of decolonisation.<ref>Kenneth Harris, ''Attlee'' (1982) pp 362–387.</ref> Attlee found that Churchill's viceroy, [[Field Marshal Wavell]], was too imperialistic, too keen on military solutions, and too neglectful of Indian political alignments.<ref>Irial Glynn, "'An Untouchable in the Presence of Brahmins' Lord Wavell's Disastrous Relationship with Whitehall During His Time as Viceroy to India, 1943–7". ''Modern Asian Studies'' 41#3 (2007): 639–663.</ref> The new Viceroy was [[Lord Mountbatten]], the dashing war hero and a cousin of the King.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Moore R. J. | year = 1981 | title = Mountbatten, India, and the Commonwealth | journal = Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics | volume = 19 | issue = 1| pages = 5–43 | doi=10.1080/14662048108447372| doi-access =  }}</ref> 

Attlee also sponsored the peaceful transition to independence in 1948 of Burma (Myanmar) and [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]] (Sri Lanka).<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul H. Kratoska|title=South East Asia, Colonial History: Peaceful transitions to independence (1945–1963)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yookbQZ-0yUC|year=2001|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780415247849}}</ref>

===== Palestine =====
[[File:VE day Jerusalem 1945.jpg|thumb|right|[[VE Day]] celebrations in British-controlled [[Jerusalem]] (1945)]]
One of the most urgent problems facing Attlee concerned the future of the [[Mandatory Palestine|British mandate in Palestine]], which had become too troublesome and expensive to handle. British policies in Palestine were perceived by the [[Zionism|Zionist movement]] and the Truman administration to be pro-Arab and anti-Jewish, and Britain soon found itself unable to maintain public order in the face of a [[Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine|Jewish insurgency]] and a [[1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine|civil war]].

During this period, 70,000 Holocaust survivors attempted to reach Palestine as part of the [[Aliyah Bet]] refugee movement. Attlee's government tried several tactics to prevent the migration.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Cyprus Detention Camps |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/cyprus-detention-camps |access-date=2023-02-08 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref> Five ships were bombed by the [[Secret Intelligence Service]] (though with no casualties) with a fake Palestinian group created to take responsibility.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Operation Embarrass? You bet: Britain's secret war on the Jews - The Jewish Chronicle |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/operation-embarrass-you-bet-britain-s-secret-war-on-the-jews-1.18403 |access-date=2023-02-08 |website=[[The Jewish Chronicle]]}}</ref> The navy apprehended over 50,000 refugees en route, interning them in [[Cyprus internment camps|detention camps in Cyprus]]. Conditions in the camps were harsh and faced global criticism. Later, the refugee ship [[Exodus 1947]] would be sent back to mainland Europe, instead of being taken to Cyprus.<ref name=":0" />

In response to the increasingly unpopular mandate, Attlee ordered the evacuation of all British military personnel and handed over the issue to the United Nations, a decision which was widely supported by the general public in Britain.<ref>Ellen Jenny Ravndal, "Exit Britain: British Withdrawal From the Palestine Mandate in the Early Cold War, 1947–1948". ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' 21#3 (2010): 416–433.</ref> With the establishment of the state of [[Israel]] in 1948, the camps in Cyprus were eventually closed, with their former occupants finally completing their journey to the new country.<ref name=":0" />

===== Africa =====
The government's policies with regard to the other colonies, particularly those in Africa, focused on keeping them as strategic Cold War assets while modernising their economies. The Labour Party had long attracted aspiring leaders from Africa and had developed elaborate plans before the war. Implementing them overnight with an empty treasury proved too challenging.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kelemen |first=Paul |title=Planning for Africa: The British Labour Party's Colonial Development Policy, 1920–1964 |journal=Journal of Agrarian Change |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=76–98 |year=2007 |doi=10.1111/j.1471-0366.2007.00140.x|doi-access=free |bibcode=2007JAgrC...7...76K }}</ref> A major military base was built in Kenya, and the African colonies came under an unprecedented degree of direct control from London. Development schemes were implemented to help solve Britain's post-war [[balance of payments]] crisis and raise African living standards. This "new colonialism" worked slowly, and had failures such as the [[Tanganyika groundnut scheme]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hyam |first=Ronald |title=Africa and the Labour government, 1945–1951 |journal=Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=148–172 |year=1988 |doi=10.1080/03086538808582773}}</ref>

===Elections===
The [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 election]] gave Labour a massively reduced majority of five seats compared to the triple-digit majority of 1945. Although re-elected, the result was seen by Attlee as very disappointing, and was widely attributed to the effects of post-war austerity denting Labour's appeal to middle-class voters.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393273.stm|work=BBC News|title=1950: Labour majority slashed|date=5 April 2005}}</ref> With such a small majority leaving him dependent on a small number of MPs to govern, Attlee's second term was much tamer than his first. Some major reforms were nevertheless passed, particularly regarding industry in urban areas and regulations to limit air and water pollution.{{sfn|Morgan|1984|pp=409–461}}<ref>H. G. Nicholas, ''The British general election of 1950'' (1999).</ref>

By 1951, the Attlee government was exhausted, with several of its most senior ministers ailing or ageing, and with a lack of new ideas.{{sfn|Morgan|1984|p=460}} Attlee's record for settling internal differences in the Labour Party fell in April 1951, when there was a damaging split over an austerity Budget brought in by the Chancellor, [[Hugh Gaitskell]], to pay for the cost of Britain's participation in the [[Korean War]]. [[Aneurin Bevan]] resigned to protest against the new charges for "teeth and spectacles" in the National Health Service introduced by that Budget, and was joined in this action by several senior ministers, including the future Prime Minister [[Harold Wilson]], then the [[President of the Board of Trade]]. Thus escalated a battle between the left and right wings of the Party that continues today.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Leach|title=British Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l6McBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA129|year=2011|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|page=129|display-authors=etal|isbn=9780230344228}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Finding it increasingly impossible to govern, Attlee's only chance was to call [[1951 United Kingdom general election|a snap election]] in October 1951, in the hope of achieving a more workable majority and to regain authority.<ref>Robert Pearce, "The 1950 and 1951 General Elections in Britain: Robert Pearce Asks Why Labour's Period in Office under Clement Attlee Came to an End" ''History Review'' (March 2008) v 60 [https://www.questia.com/article/1G1-175181454/the-1950-and-1951-general-elections-in-britain-robert online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019034952/https://www.questia.com/article/1G1-175181454/the-1950-and-1951-general-elections-in-britain-robert |date=19 October 2015 }}</ref> The gamble failed: Labour narrowly lost to the Conservative Party, despite winning considerably more votes (achieving the largest Labour vote in electoral history). Attlee tendered his resignation as Prime Minister the following day, after six years and three months in office.<ref>Robert Crowcroft and Kevin Theakston. "The Fall of the Attlee Government, 1951". in Timothy Heppell and Kevin Theakston, eds. ''How Labour Governments Fall'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). pp 61–82.</ref>

==Return to opposition==
Following the defeat in 1951, Attlee continued to lead the party as Leader of the Opposition. His last four years as leader were, however, widely seen as one of the Labour Party's weaker periods.<ref name="A History of the British Labour Party">Thorpe, Andrew. (2001) ''A History of the British Labour Party'', Palgrave; {{ISBN|0-333-92908-X}}</ref>

The period was dominated by infighting between the Labour Party's right wing, led by [[Hugh Gaitskell]], and its left, led by [[Aneurin Bevan]]. Many Labour MPs felt that Attlee should have retired following 1951 election and allowed a younger man to lead the party. Bevan openly called for him to stand down in the summer of 1954.<ref>Williams, Charles. ''Harold Macmillan'' (2009), p. 221<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> One of his main reasons for staying on as leader was to frustrate the leadership ambitions of [[Herbert Morrison]], whom Attlee disliked for both political and personal reasons.<ref name="A History of the British Labour Party"/> At one time, Attlee had favoured Aneurin Bevan to succeed him as leader, but this became problematic after Bevan almost irrevocably split the party.{{sfn|Beckett|1998}}

Attlee, now aged 72, contested the [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955 general election]] against [[Anthony Eden]], which saw Labour lose 18 seats, and the Conservatives increase their majority.

In an interview with the ''[[News Chronicle]]'' columnist [[Percy Cudlipp]] in mid-September 1955, Attlee made clear his own thinking together with his preference for the leadership succession, stating:
{{blockquote|Labour has nothing to gain by dwelling in the past. Nor do I think we can impress the nation by adopting a futile left-wingism. I regard myself as Left of Centre which is where a Party Leader ought to be. It is no use asking, 'What would [[Keir Hardie]] have done?' We must have at the top men brought up in the present age, not, as I was, in the Victorian Age.<ref>{{cite book|title=Prospect and Reality: Great Britain 1945-1955|publisher=Collins|year=1985|author=Thomas Edward Broadie Howarth|isbn=9780002162814 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=62SGAAAAIAAJ}}</ref>}}
He retired as Leader of the Labour Party on 7 December 1955, having led the party for twenty years, and on 14 December [[Hugh Gaitskell]] was elected as his successor.{{sfn|Bew|2017|p=532}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Attlee: A Life in Politics|first=Nicklaus |last=Thomas-Symonds|page=260|year=2010|publisher=I B Tauris|place=London}}</ref>

== Global policy ==
He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a [[world constitution]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961 |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B149-F04-022.1.8 |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B154-F05-028.1.6 |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}</ref> As a result, for the first time in human history, a [[World Constituent Assembly]] convened to draft and adopt a [[Constitution for the Federation of Earth]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Preparing earth constitution {{!}} Global Strategies & Solutions {{!}} The Encyclopedia of World Problems |url=http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 |url-status= |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Encyclopedia of World Problems {{!}} Union of International Associations (UIA)}}</ref>

==Retirement==
[[File:President John F. Kennedy with Clement Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, Former British Prime Minister and Labour Party Leader (02).jpg|thumb|right|Attlee with [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1961]]
He subsequently retired from the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] and was elevated to the peerage as '''[[Earl Attlee]]''' and '''Viscount Prestwood''' on 16 December 1955,<ref name="C. Whiting 1967"/> taking his seat in the [[House of Lords]] on 25 January.<ref>{{Hansard|house=lords|url=1956/jan/25/earl-attlee}}</ref> He believed Eden had been forced into taking a strong stand on the [[Suez Crisis]] by his backbenchers.{{sfn|Bew|2016|p=538}} In 1958, Attlee, along with numerous notables, established the [[Homosexual Law Reform Society]]: this campaigned for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in private by consenting adults, a reform that was voted through Parliament nine years later.<ref>{{cite book |last=Harrison |first=Brian |title=Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951—1970 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oVH0fVcMx5cC&pg=PP166 |year=2009 |page=166 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780191606786}}</ref> In May 1961, he travelled to Washington, D.C., to meet with [[President Kennedy]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Rowe |first=Abbie |title=MEETING WITH CLEMENT ATTLEE, 1ST EARL ATTLEE, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER AND LABOUR PARTY LEADER, 12:00PM |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKWHP/1961/Month%2005/Day%2016/JFKWHP-1961-05-16-B |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |date=16 May 1961 |access-date=19 January 2021}}</ref>

In 1962, he spoke twice in the House of Lords against the British government's application for the UK to join the [[European Communities]] ("Common Market"). In his second speech delivered in November, Attlee claimed that Britain had a separate parliamentary tradition from the [[Continental Europe]]an countries that comprised the EC. He also claimed that if Britain became a member, EC rules would prevent the British government from planning the economy and that Britain's traditional policy had been outward-looking rather than Continental.<ref>{{Hansard|1962/nov/08/britain-and-the-common-market|house=lords|access-date=28 April 2020}}</ref>

He attended [[Death and state funeral of Winston Churchill|Winston Churchill's funeral]] in January 1965. He was frail by that time, and had to remain seated in the freezing cold as the coffin was carried, having tired himself out by standing at the rehearsal the previous day. He lived to see the Labour Party return to power under [[Harold Wilson]] in 1964, and also to see his old constituency of [[Walthamstow West]] fall to the Conservatives in a [[1967 Walthamstow West by-election|by-election in September 1967]].<ref>Beckett 2015, p.467</ref>

==Death==
Attlee died peacefully in his sleep of [[pneumonia]], at the age of 84 at [[Westminster Hospital]] on 8 October 1967.{{sfn|Beckett|1998}} Two thousand people attended his funeral in November, including the then-Prime Minister [[Harold Wilson]] and the [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent|Duke of Kent]], representing [[Elizabeth II|the Queen]]. He was cremated and his ashes were buried at [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Prime ministers' funerals from Pitt to Heath|work=BBC News|date=15 April 2013|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22078727|access-date=4 September 2016|last1=Parkinson|first1=Justin|last2=Davies|first2=Chris}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Earl Attlee's Remains Interred Aka Service Of Memorial And Burial For Earl Attlee (1967)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5iUfLJlLfI&hd=1| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/C5iUfLJlLfI| archive-date=30 October 2021|website=Youtube|publisher=British Pathe|access-date=18 July 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Upon his death, the title passed to his son [[Martin Richard Attlee, 2nd Earl Attlee]] (1927–1991), who defected from Labour to the SDP in 1981. It is now held by Clement Attlee's grandson [[John Richard Attlee, 3rd Earl Attlee]]. The third earl (a member of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]]) retained his seat in the Lords as one of the [[hereditary peer]]s to remain under an amendment to Labour's [[House of Lords Act 1999]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Hereditary Peers in the House of Lords Since 1999|url=http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/LLN-2014-014/LLN-2014-014.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150609014726/http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/LLN-2014-014/LLN-2014-014.pdf |archive-date=9 June 2015 |url-status=live|access-date=29 May 2021|website=researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk}}</ref>

Attlee's estate was sworn for probate purposes at a value of £7,295,<ref>"Attlee the rt hon Clement Richard of 1 Kings Bench Walk Temple London EC4 died 8 October 1967 Probate London 4 January £7295" in Probate Index for 1968 at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 7 August 2016</ref> (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|7295|1967|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}) a relatively modest sum for so prominent a figure, and only a fraction of the £75,394 in his father's estate when he died in 1908.<ref name=probate>"Attlee Henry of 10 Billiter-square London and Westcott Portinscull-road Putney Surrey died 19 November 1908" in Probate Index for 1908 at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 7 August 2016</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Clement Attlee by George Harcourt, 1946.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait by George Harcourt, 1946]]
The quotation about Attlee, "A modest man, but then he has so much to be modest about", is commonly ascribed to Churchill—though Churchill denied saying it, and respected Attlee's service in the [[War cabinet]].<ref>Arnstein, Walter L. ''Britain Yesterday and Today: 1830 to the Present'', Chapter 19, p. 363<!--publisher, ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> Attlee's modesty and quiet manner hid a great deal that has only come to light with historical reappraisal. Attlee himself is said to have responded to critics with a [[limerick (poetry)|limerick]]: "There were few who thought him a starter, Many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended PM, CH and OM, an Earl and a Knight of the Garter".<ref>Kenneth Harris, ''Attlee'' (1982)</ref>

The journalist and broadcaster [[Anthony Howard (journalist)|Anthony Howard]] called him "the greatest Prime Minister of the 20th century".<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogInrBNCaYM Anthony Howard – Clement Attlee: the greatest Prime Minister of 20th century (20/41)], video on YouTube.</ref>{{undue inline|date=December 2023}}

His leadership style of consensual government, acting as a chairman rather than a president, won him much praise from historians and politicians alike. [[Christopher Soames]], the British Ambassador to France during the Conservative government of [[Edward Heath]] and cabinet minister under [[Margaret Thatcher]], remarked that "Mrs Thatcher was not really running a team. Every time you have a Prime Minister who wants to make all the decisions, it mainly leads to bad results. Attlee didn't. That's why he was so damn good".<ref>Hennessy, Peter. ''The Prime Minister: The Office and its Holders since 1945'', Chapter 7, p. 150<!--publisher, ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

Thatcher herself wrote in her 1995 memoirs, which charted her life from her beginnings in [[Grantham]] to her victory at the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]], that she admired Attlee, writing: "Of Clement Attlee, however, I was an admirer. He was a serious man and a patriot. Quite contrary to the general tendency of politicians in the 1990s, he was all substance and no show".<ref>{{cite web |title=Clement Attlee (excerpts from M, Thatcher in primary sources section towards bottom) |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/TUattlee.htm |publisher=Spartacus Educational |access-date=2 August 2017}}</ref>

Attlee's government presided over the successful transition from a [[wartime economy]] to peacetime, tackling problems of demobilisation, shortages of foreign currency, and adverse deficits in trade balances and [[government expenditure]]. Further domestic policies that he brought about included the creation of the [[National Health Service]] and the post-war [[Welfare state]], which became key to the reconstruction of post-war Britain. Attlee and his ministers did much to transform the UK into a more prosperous and [[egalitarian]] society during their time in office with reductions in poverty and a rise in the general economic security of the population.<ref>Tanner, Duncan; [[Pat Thane]] & Nick Tiratsoo. ''Labour's First Century''.<!--publisher, page(s), ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

[[File:Clement Attlee statue - Limehouse library.jpg|thumb|[[Statue of Clement Attlee|Statue of Attlee]] in its former position outside [[Limehouse Library]]]]

In foreign affairs, he did much to assist with the post-war economic recovery of Europe. He proved a loyal ally of the US at the onset of the [[Cold War]]. Due to his style of leadership, it was not he, but [[Ernest Bevin]] who masterminded foreign policy. It was Attlee's government that decided Britain should have an independent nuclear weapons programme, and work on it began in 1947.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Regina Cowen Karp|title=Security with Nuclear Weapons?: Different Perspectives on National Security|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsJZqRhObqYC&pg=PA145|year=1991|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=145ff|isbn=9780198278399}}</ref>

Bevin, Attlee's Foreign Secretary, famously stated that "We've got to have it [nuclear weapons] and it's got to have a bloody [[Union Jack]] on it". The first operational [[Operation Hurricane|British nuclear bomb]] was not detonated until October 1952, about one year after Attlee had left office. Independent British atomic research was prompted partly by the US [[McMahon Act]], which nullified wartime expectations of postwar US–UK collaboration in nuclear research, and prohibited Americans from communicating nuclear technology even to allied countries. British atomic bomb research was kept secret even from some members of Attlee's own cabinet, whose loyalty or discretion seemed uncertain.<ref>Peter Hennessy, ''Cabinets and the Bomb'', Oxford University Press, 2007.</ref>

Although a [[socialist]], Attlee still believed in the [[British Empire]] of his youth. He thought of it as an institution that was a power for good in the world. Nevertheless, he saw that a large part of it needed to be self-governing. Using the Dominions of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand as a model, he continued the transformation of the empire into the modern-day [[British Commonwealth]].<ref>{{cite journal | author = Lloyd Lorna | year = 1997 | title = Britain and the transformation from empire to Commonwealth: The significance of the immediate post-war years | journal = The Round Table | volume = 86 | issue = 343| pages = 333–360 | doi=10.1080/00358539708454371}}</ref>

His greatest achievement, surpassing many of these, was perhaps the establishment of a [[Post-war consensus|political and economic consensus]] about the governance of Britain that all three major parties subscribed to for three decades, fixing the arena of political discourse until the late-1970s.<ref>Peter Clarke, "Attlee: The Making of the Postwar Consensus" in Peter Clarke, ''A Question of Leadership: Gladstone to Thatcher'' (Harmondsworth, 1992), pp. 193–21</ref> In 2004, [[Historical rankings of prime ministers of the United Kingdom|he was voted]] the most successful British Prime Minister of the 20th century by a poll of 139 academics organised by [[Ipsos MORI]].<ref name="ipsos">{{cite web |url=http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=661 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912105223/http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=661 |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 September 2011 |title=Rating British Prime Ministers |publisher=Ipsos MORI |date=29 November 2004 |access-date=2 October 2011 }}</ref>

[[File:Clement Richard Attlee 1883-1967 Prime Minister lived here (crop).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Blue plaque erected in 1984 by Greater London Council at 17 Monkhams Avenue]]
A [[blue plaque]] unveiled in 1979 commemorates Attlee at 17 Monkhams Avenue, in Woodford Green in the [[London Borough of Redbridge]].<ref name='EngHet'>{{cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/discover/blue-plaques/search/attlee-richard-clement-1883-1976|title=ATTLEE, RICHARD CLEMENT (1883–1976)|publisher=English Heritage|access-date=5 August 2012}}</ref>

Attlee was elected a [[List of fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1947|Fellow of the Royal Society in 1947]].<ref name=frs>{{Cite journal|last1=Bridges|first1=Lord
|author-link = Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1968.0002|title=Clement Richard Attlee First Earl Attlee. 1883–1967|journal=[[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]]|volume=14|pages=15–36|year=1968|jstor=769437|doi-access=free}}</ref> Attlee was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Queen Mary College on 15 December 1948.<ref>''The Times'', 16 December 1948, p.&nbsp;3.</ref>

In the 1960s a new suburb near [[Curepipe]] in [[British Mauritius]] was given the name ''Cité Atlee''{{sic}} in his honour.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Luckoo |first1=Priya |title=Cité Atlee souffle ses 50 bougies |date=13 May 2016 |url=https://lexpress.mu/article/281611/cite-atlee-souffle-50-bougies |publisher=L'Express |access-date=13 May 2016}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=December 2022}}

=== Statues ===
[[File:Attlee QMUL 1.jpg|thumb|The [[Statue of Clement Attlee]] in its new position at [[Queen Mary University of London]]]]
On 30 November 1988, a bronze [[statue of Clement Attlee]] was unveiled by [[Harold Wilson]] (the next [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] after Attlee) outside [[Limehouse Library]] in Attlee's former constituency.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~eastlondonpostcard/POM2004/Jan04.htm|title=December03|publisher=Btinternet.com|date=30 November 1988|access-date=2 October 2011|archive-date=16 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916085401/http://www.btinternet.com/~eastlondonpostcard/POM2004/Jan04.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> By then Wilson was the last surviving member of Attlee's cabinet,<ref name="ELA"/> and the unveiling of the statue would be one of the last public appearances by Wilson, who was by that point in the early stages of [[Alzheimer's disease]]; he died at the age of 79 in May 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/harold-wilson-2|title=Harold Wilson|publisher=Number 10|access-date=2 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011161640/http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/harold-wilson-2/|archive-date=11 October 2011}}</ref>

Limehouse Library was closed in 2003, after which the statue was vandalised. The council surrounded it with protective hoarding for four years, before eventually removing it for repair and recasting in 2009.<ref name="ELA">{{cite web |title=Vandalised Attlee statue being moved to safety |url=http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/vandalised-attlee-statue-being-moved-to-safety-1-670119 |publisher=East London Advertiser |access-date=3 August 2017 |date=12 November 2009 |archive-date=3 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803130103/http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/vandalised-attlee-statue-being-moved-to-safety-1-670119 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The restored statue was unveiled by [[Peter Mandelson]] in April 2011, in its new position less than a mile away at the [[Queen Mary University of London]]'s [[Mile End]] campus.<ref name=Clem-statue-to-QMUL>{{cite web |title=Lord Mandelson joins Lord Hennessy to unveil Clement Attlee statue |url=http://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/items/hss/46923.html |publisher=[[Queen Mary University of London]] |access-date=8 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818091440/http://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/items/hss/46923.html |archive-date=18 August 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

There is also a statue of Clement Attlee in the Houses of Parliament<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/ivor-roberts-jones/clement-richard-1st-earl-attlee-viscount-prestwood-1883-1967-prime-minister-1945-51/s69 |title=Artwork – Clement Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee |website=UK Parliament |access-date=4 January 2019}}</ref> that was erected, instead of a bust, by parliamentary vote in 1979. The sculptor was [[Ivor Roberts-Jones]].

=== Cultural depictions ===
{{further|Cultural depictions of British prime ministers#Clement Attlee}}

==Personal life==
Attlee met [[Violet Millar]] while on a long trip with friends to Italy in 1921. They fell in love{{sfn|Bew|2016|p=115}} and were soon engaged, marrying at [[Christ Church, Hampstead]], on 10 January 1922. It would come to be a devoted marriage, with Attlee providing protection and Violet providing a home that was an escape for Attlee from political turmoil. She died in 1964.{{sfn|Bew|2017|pp=115–118}} They had four children:
* Lady Janet Helen (1923–2019),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Janet Helen Attlee Shipton |url=https://www.standard.net/announcements/obituaries/janet-helen-attlee-shipton/article_f7b0e70c-4ba8-5a83-8838-ff4f4635942d.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216130128/https://www.standard.net/announcements/obituaries/janet-helen-attlee-shipton/article_f7b0e70c-4ba8-5a83-8838-ff4f4635942d.html |archive-date=16 February 2019 |access-date=12 March 2019 |website=Standard-Examiner}}</ref> she married the scientist [[Harold Shipton]] (1920–2007)<ref>"Professor Harold Shipton", ''The Times'' (London), 14 May 2007.</ref> at [[Ellesborough]] Parish Church in 1947.<ref>{{cite web |title=Janet Attlee's wedding 1947 |url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/janet-attlees-wedding |publisher=British Pathe}}</ref>
* Lady Felicity Ann (1925–2007), married the business executive [[J. Keith Harwood|John Keith Harwood]] (1926–1989) at [[Little Hampden]] in 1955<ref>{{cite web |title=Felicity Attlee weds 1955 |url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/news-flashes-felicity-attlee-weds/query/Attlee |publisher=British Pathe}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/24/obituaries/j-keith-harwood-62-ex-macy-s-executive.html "J. Keith Harwood, 62; Ex-Macy's Executive"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 24 May 1989, p. 25.</ref>
* [[Martin Attlee, 2nd Earl Attlee|Martin Richard, Viscount Prestwood, later 2nd Earl Attlee]] (1927–1991), married Anne Henderson on 16 February 1955.
* Lady Alison Elizabeth (1930–2016),<ref>{{cite web |title=DAVIS – Deaths Announcements – Telegraph Announcements |url=http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/209433/davis |website=announcements.telegraph.co.uk |access-date=24 December 2016 |archive-date=24 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224095442/http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/209433/davis |url-status=dead }}</ref> married Richard Davis at [[Great Missenden]] in 1952.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mr. Attlee's Daughter Weds – Alison Attlee… 1952 |url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/mr-attlees-daughter-weds-alison-attlee-to-r-davis |access-date=25 March 2016 |publisher=British Pathe}}</ref>

=== Religious views ===
Although his parents were devout Anglicans, with one of his brothers becoming a clergyman and one of his sisters a [[missionary]], Attlee himself is usually regarded as an agnostic. In an interview he described himself as "incapable of religious feeling", saying that he believed in "the ethics of Christianity" but not "the mumbo-jumbo". When asked whether he was an agnostic, Attlee replied "I don't know".{{sfn|Brookshire|1995|p=15}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://heritage.humanists.uk/clement-attlee/|title=Clement Attlee|work=Humanist Heritage|publisher=[[Humanists UK]]|accessdate=14 April 2023}}</ref>

==Honours and arms==
{{Main|List of honours of Clement Attlee }}
{{Infobox emblem wide
|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Earl.svg|centre|150px]] [[File:Arms of Clement Attlee.svg|centre|150px]]
|crest = On a Mount Vert two Lions addorsed Or
|coronet = A [[Coronet|coronet of an Earl]]
|escutcheon =Azure, on a Chevron Or between three Hearts of the Last winged Argent as many Lions rampant Sable 
|supporters = On either side a Welsh Terrier sejant Proper
|motto = ''[[Labor vincit omnia]]'' (Labour conquers all)
}}

==See also==
*[[Briggs Plan]]
*[[Ethical socialism]]
*[[Information Research Department]]
*[[Malayan Emergency]]
*[[New village]]
*[[Postwar Britain]]

==References==

=== Citations ===
{{reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="auto">''Fifty Facts for Labour'', published by the Labour Party, Transport House, Smith Square, London, SW1, October 1951.</ref>
{{sfn|Beckett|1998}}
}}

=== Notes ===
{{reflist|group=note}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Attlee |first=Clement Richard |title=The Social Worker |year=1920 |publisher=G. Bell |location=[[London]] |url=https://archive.org/details/socialworker00attliala}}
* {{cite book |last=Beckett |first=Francis |date=1998 |title=Clem Attlee: A Biography |publisher=Blake |isbn=978-1860661013 |author1-link=Francis Beckett}}
* {{cite book |last=Bew |first=John |title=Citizen Clem: A Biography of Attlee |publisher=Riverrun |year=2016}} 
* {{cite book |last=Bew |first=John |title=Clement Attlee: The Man Who Made Modern Britain |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g1jODQAAQBAJ|year=2017|isbn=9780190203405}}
* {{cite book |last=Brookshire |first=Jerry Hardman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tn27AAAAIAAJ |title=Clement Attlee |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1995 |isbn=0-7190-3244-X |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last=Bullock |first=Alan |title=Ernest Bevin: Foreign Secretary |year=1983 |chapter=8}}
* {{cite book |last=Howell |first=David |year=2006 |title=Attlee |series=20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century |publisher=Haus Publishing |isbn=1904950647 |editor-last=Beckett |editor-first=Francis}}
* {{cite book |last=Marr |first=Andrew |title=A History of Modern Britain |publisher=[[Pan Books]] |year=2007 |edition=2009}}
* {{cite book |last=Pearce |first=Robert |date=1997 |title=Attlee |publisher=Longman |isbn=0582256909}}
* {{cite book |title=Ten Years of New Labour |first1=Matt |last1=Beech |first2=Simon |last2=Lee |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=2008 |isbn=978-0230574434}} 
* {{cite book |last=Hill |first=C. P. |title=British Economic and Social History, 1700–1964 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton Educational |edition=3rd rev. |isbn=978-0713116243 |date=1970}}
* {{cite journal |url=http://staging.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/P/09611/09611(1946-22).pdf |journal=Industrial Safety Survey |volume=XXII |issue=1 |date=1946 |location=Montreal |title=Development of industrial hygiene in Canada |first1=Kingsley |last1=Kay |pages=1–11 |pmid=20279825 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025114625/http://staging.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/P/09611/09611(1946-22).pdf |archive-date=25 October 2016}}
* {{cite book |last=Lowe |first=Norman |title=Mastering Modern World History |series=Palgrave Master Series |date=1997 |edition=3rd rev. |isbn=978-0333685235 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan}}
* {{cite book |last=Morgan |first=Kenneth O. |author-link=Kenneth O. Morgan |title=Labour in Power, 1945–51 |publisher=OUP |date=1984 |isbn=978-0192158659}}
* {{cite book |editor1-first=Donald |editor1-last=Munro |title=Socialism: The British Way |date=1948 |publisher=Essential Books}}
* {{cite book |first=Nicklaus |last=Thomas-Symonds |title=Attlee: A Life in Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GqT3AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT68 |date=2012 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-1780762159}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Reeves |first1=Rachel |last2=McIvor |first2=Martin |year=2014 |title=Clement Attlee and the foundations of the British welfare state |journal=Renewal: A Journal of Labour Politics |volume=22 |issue=3/4}}
* {{cite book |author=Talus |title=Your Alternative Government |location=London |publisher=Eyre and Spottiswoode |year=1945}}
* {{cite book |last=Vickers |first=Rhiannon |title=The Labour Party and the World |volume=1: The Evolution of Labour's Foreign Policy, 1900–51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XbLCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |year=2013 |isbn=9781847791313}}
* {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Susan |year=2003 |title=The People's King: The True Story of the Abdication |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=0-7139-9573-4}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
'''Biographical'''
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Beckett, Francis. ''Clem Attlee'' (1998) – updated and revised and expanded edition, ''Clem Attlee: Labour's Great Reformer'' (2015)
* Bew, John. ''Citizen Clem: A Biography of Attlee,'' (London: 2016, British edition); ''Clement Attlee: The Man Who Made Modern Britain'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017, U.S. edition)
* Burridge, Trevor. ''Clement Attlee: A Political Biography'' (1985), scholarly
* Cohen, David. ''Churchill & Attlee: The Unlikely Allies who Won the War'' (Biteback Publishing, 2018), popular
* Crowcroft, Robert. ''Attlee's War: World War II and the Making of a Labour Leader'' (IB Tauris, 2011)
* Harris, Kenneth. ''Attlee'' (1982), scholarly authorised biography
* Howell, David. ''Attlee'' (2006)
* Jago, Michael. ''Clement Attlee: The Inevitable Prime Minister'' (2014)
* Pearce, Robert. ''Attlee'' (1997), 206pp
* Thomas-Symonds, Nicklaus. ''Attlee: A Life in Politics'' (IB Tauris, 2010).
* Whiting, R. C. "Attlee, Clement Richard, first Earl Attlee (1883–1967)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', 2004; online edn, Jan 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30498, accessed 12 June 2013] doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30498
{{refend}}

'''Biographies of his cabinet and associates'''
{{refbegin}}
* Rosen, Greg. ed. ''Dictionary of Labour Biography''. ([[Politicos Publishing]], 2002); {{ISBN|1-902301-18-8}}
* Morgan, Kenneth O. ''Labour people: Leaders and Lieutenants, Hardie to Kinnock'' (1987)
{{refend}}

'''Scholarly studies'''
{{refbegin}}
* [[Addison, Paul]]. ''No Turning Back: The Peaceful Revolutions of Post-War Britain'' (2011) [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0192192671/ excerpt and text search]
* {{cite book|author=Brady, Robert A. |title=Crisis in Britain. Plans and Achievements of the Labour Government...|url=https://archive.org/details/crisisinbritainp0000brad|url-access=registration |year=1950|publisher=University of California Press}}, detailed coverage of nationalisation, welfare state and planning.
* Crowcroft, Robert, and Kevin Theakston. "The Fall of the Attlee Government, 1951", in Timothy Heppell and Kevin Theakston, eds. ''How Labour Governments Fall'' (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2013). PP 61–82.
* Francis, Martin. ''Ideas and policies under Labour, 1945–1951: building a new Britain'' ([[Manchester University Press]], 1997).
* Golant, W. "The Emergence of CR Attlee as Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party in 1935", ''Historical Journal'', 13#2 (1970): 318–332. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/263794 in JSTOR]
* {{cite book|last=Hennessy|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Hennessy|title=Never Again: Britain 1945–51|publisher=Penguin Books|edition=2|year=2006|location=London|isbn=0-14-101602-7}}
* Jackson, Ben. "Citizen and Subject: Clement Attlee's Socialism", ''History Workshop Journal'' (2018). Vol. 86 pp 291–298. [https://www.academia.edu/download/57528258/Attlee_review_article.pdf online]{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}.
* Jeffreys, Kevin. "The Attlee Years, 1935–1955", in Brivati, Brian, and Heffernan, Richard, eds., ''The Labour Party: A Centenary History'', Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2000. 68–86.
* Kynaston, David. ''Austerity Britain, 1945–1951'' (2008).
* Mioni, Michele. "The Attlee government and welfare state reforms in post-war Italian Socialism (1945–51): Between universalism and class policies", ''Labor History'', 57#2 (2016): 277–297. DOI:10.1080/0023656X.2015.1116811
* Morgan, Kenneth O. ''Labour in Power 1945–1951'' (1984), 564 pp.
* Ovendale, R. ed., ''The foreign policy of the British Labour governments, 1945–51'' (1984) ·
* [[Martin Pugh (author)|Pugh, Martin]]. ''[[Speak for Britain!: A New History of the Labour Party]]'' (2011) [https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Britain-History-Labour-Party/dp/0099520788/ excerpt and text search]
* {{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Raymond |last2=Zametica |first2=John |title=The Cold Warrior: Clement Attlee Reconsidered, 1945-7 |journal=International Affairs |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=237–252 |year=1985 |jstor=2617482 |doi=10.2307/2617482}}
* Swift, John. ''Labour in Crisis: Clement Attlee & the Labour Party in Opposition, 1931–1940'' (2001)
* Tomlinson, Jim. ''Democratic Socialism and Economic Policy: The Attlee Years, 1945–1951'' (2002) [https://www.amazon.com/Democratic-Socialism-Economic-Policy-1945-1951/dp/0521892597/ Excerpt and text search]
* Weiler, Peter. "British Labour and the cold war: the foreign policy of the Labour governments, 1945–1951", ''Journal of British Studies'', 26#1 (1987): 54–82. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/175554 in JSTOR]
{{refend}}

=== Works ===
{{refbegin}}
* Clement Attlee published his memoirs, ''As it Happened'', in 1954.
* Francis Williams' ''A Prime Minister Remembers'', based on interviews with Attlee, was published in 1961.
{{refend}}

;Attlee's other publications
{{refbegin|30em}}
* ''The Social Worker'' (1920)
* ''Metropolitan Borough Councils Their Constitution, Powers and Duties'' – Fabian Tract No 190 (1920)
* ''The Town Councillor'' (1925)
* ''The Will and the Way to Socialism'' (1935)
* ''The Labour Party in Perspective'' (1937)
* ''Collective Security Under the United Nations'' (1958)
* ''Empire into Commonwealth'' (1961)
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Clement Attlee}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Hansard-contribs|mr-clement-attlee|Clement Attlee}}
*[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/churchillexhibition/churchill-and-ww2/new-commons-chamber/ Clement Attlee – Thanksgiving Speech 1950 – UK Parliament Living Heritage]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080825210325/http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/clement-attlee More about Clement Attlee] on the [[10 Downing Street|Downing Street]] website.
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Clement Attlee}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Attlee, Clement R.|name=Clement Attlee|author=yes}}
* {{Librivox author|id=8947}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100505013820/http://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=people%2FAttlee%2C+Clement Annotated bibliography for Clement Attlee from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues]
* {{NPG name|name=Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/000740}}
*[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/houseoflords/house-of-lords-reform/from-the-collections/from-the-parliamentary-collections-the-parliament-act/clement-attlee/ Drawing of Clement Attlee in the UK Parliamentary Collections]

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef |before=[[William Pearce (Liberal politician)|William Pearce]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=Member of Parliament for [[Limehouse (UK Parliament constituency)|Limehouse]] |years=[[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922]]–[[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950]]}}
{{s-non|reason=Constituency abolished}}
{{s-bef |before=[[Valentine McEntee]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=Member of Parliament for [[Walthamstow West (UK Parliament constituency)|Walthamstow West]] |years=[[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950]]–[[1956 Walthamstow West by-election|1955]]}}
{{s-aft |after=[[Edward Redhead]]}}

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{{s-bef |rows=3 |before=[[Winston Churchill]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] |years=1945–1951}}
{{s-aft |rows=2 |after=[[Winston Churchill]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[First Lord of the Treasury]] |years=1945–1951}}
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{{s-ttl |title=[[Leader of the Opposition (UK)|Leader of the Opposition]] |years=1951–1955}}
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{{s-ttl |title=[[Secretary of State for Defence|Minister of Defence]] |years=1945–1946}}
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{{s-new|office}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the<br/>[[Fabian Society|New Fabian Research Bureau]]|years=1931–1934}}
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{{s-aft |after=[[Arthur Greenwood]]}}
{{s-bef |before=[[George Lansbury]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]] |years=1935–1955}}
{{s-aft |after=[[Hugh Gaitskell]]}}

{{s-civ}}
{{succession box|title=Mayor of Stepney|years=1919–1920|before=F. J. Miles|after=Thomas Joseph Cahill}}

{{s-reg|uk}}
{{s-new|creation}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Earl Attlee]]<br />[[Viscount Prestwood]]|years=1955–1967}}
{{s-aft |after=[[Martin Attlee, 2nd Earl Attlee|Martin Attlee]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Navboxes|list=
{{Clement Attlee}}
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{{UK Labour Party}}
{{Labour Party leadership election, 1935}}
{{Social democracy|state=collapsed}}
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{{Portal bar|Biography|Politics|United Kingdom|Socialism}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Attlee, Clement}}
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