Attlee cabinet
The Attlee Cabinet was formed by Prime Minister Clement Attlee on July 27, 1945. Attlee was a total of 2283 days in office until his replacement by Prime Minister Winston Churchill on October 27, 1951.
General elections in 1945, 1950 and 1951
Attlee formed the cabinet after the Labor Party won the general election on July 5, 1945 . In these elections the Labor Party won 11,557,821 votes and improved its result by 11.7 percentage points to 49.7 percent. At the same time, with 393 members of the House of Commons , it had 239 more members in the House of Commons than in the general election of November 14, 1935 . The Conservative Party under Prime Minister Winston Churchill , on the other hand, suffered heavy losses and only got 8,716,211 votes and lost 11.6 percentage points, so that it only got 36.2 percent. At the same time, 190 MPs lost their lower house mandate, so that theConservative Tories only had 197 members of the House of Commons.
However, this overwhelming absolute majority was reduced to a majority of only five votes in the subsequent general election on February 23, 1950 .
The next election to the House of Commons finally took place on October 25, 1951 , just under 20 months after the last election. Labor called these new elections in the hope of winning more seats. Although Labor gained votes, it lost seats due to majority voting. The Conservative Party also gained votes. Although it was still behind the Labor Party in terms of votes, it got 17 more seats than it, so Churchill was again Prime Minister.
Leading politicians
In addition to Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who was also chairman of the Labor Party, was Ernest Bevin , who until shortly before his death in April 1951. Secretary of State (Foreign Secretary) was to the leaders of the government. Hugh Dalton was Chancellor of the Exchequer (Chancellor of the Exchequer) , but had resigned in 1947 while James Chuter-Ede the post of interior minister during the tenure Attlee (Home Secretary) held.
Other important figures in the Attlee Cabinet were the Vice Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons , Herbert Morrison , who replaced Bevin as Secretary of State in March 1951, and Stafford Cripps , who was initially Minister of Commerce (President of the Board of Trade ) , but replaced Dalton as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1947. Hugh Gaitskell held first some less significant items and in 1950 was in turn succeeded Cripps as Chancellor of the Exchequer, while Aneurin "Nye" Bevan Health Minister (Minister for Health) was. Arthur Greenwood served as Lord Privy Seal ( Lord Privy Seal ) and Paymaster General ( Paymaster General ) , while later prime minister Harold Wilson became the youngest cabinet member in the 20th century, when it in 1947 at the age of 31 years took over the post of trade minister. The most significant of the few women in government was Ellen Wilkinson , who was Minister for Education until her sudden death in 1947 .
Government policy 1945 to 1951
Attlee's reign was marked by austerity measures, which continued the rationing begun during the war and ultimately even extended it to bread. The living conditions were poor and instead of an expansion of the economy it was slow to replace the wealth destroyed or consumed in the war. However, the economic crisis of the 1930s did not return, so that almost full employment was necessary due to the expansion measures. Soldiers returning from captivity were taken back into the economy and society.
Subsequently, the government nationalized 20 percent of the economy, including coal, railways, freight, the Bank of England , civil aviation, wired and wireless communications, electricity, gas and steel. However, no money was available for the modernization of these branches of industry and there were no attempts at handing control over to the members of the trade unions .
On the other hand, the Attlee government launched a major expansion of the welfare state one, such as through the Family Support Act (Family Allowance Act 1945) and the law establishing the National Health Service NHS (National Health Service Act 1946) , by the nationalization of the hospitals and the free universal medical treatment was introduced. The National Insurance Act 1946 introduced adult sickness and unemployment benefits and old age pensions. Ultimately, the National Assistance Act 1948 introduced a safety net for all people who were not otherwise covered.
The Education Act 1944, passed in 1944 , was also expanded, and the New Towns Act 1946 promoted the construction of planned cities in the suburbs. Since there was a lack of funds for most projects, the government invoked Keynesianism to justify extensive control of national deficits and surpluses for planning.
In foreign policy, the government began its involvement with the United Nations and, in negotiations with the United States and Canada, achieved a loan of US $ 5 billion in 1946 . In 1948 Great Britain joined the Marshall Plan . In 1947, however, it had to give up support from Greece in the civil war there , and asked the USA to accept this support within the framework of their so-called Truman Doctrine . On the other hand, it took an active role in supporting the US in the Cold War and in building NATO . During this time the United Kingdom granted its previous colonies India , Pakistan , Ceylon and Burma independence and strengthened the Commonwealth of Nations .
Members of the cabinet from 1945 to 1951
Web links
- UK Governments (rulers.org)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andrew Marr: A History of Modern Britain , p. 111, 2007
- ↑ Stephen J. Lee: Aspects of British Political History 1914-1995 , pp. 185-189, 1996
- ^ Alan Sked / Chris Cook: Post-War Britain: A Political History , p. 223, 1993
- ↑ Stephen J. Lee, supra, pp. 261-266, 310-312
- ↑ The office of Deputy Prime Minister was abolished in March 1951
- ↑ Morrison was also Leader of the House of Commons between July 1945 and March 1951
- ↑ From July 1946 to March 1947, Greenwood was also paymaster general
- ↑ The Viscount Addision continued to be the leader of the House of Lords from October 1947
- ↑ The Viscount Addison was additionally paymaster general from July 1948 to April 1949
- ↑ In March 1951, Chuter-Ede also became leader of the House of Commons, which until then was held by Vice Prime Minister Morrison
- ↑ In July 1947, the Office of Dominion Affairs was renamed the Ministry for the Affairs of the Commonwealth of Nations
- ↑ The Viscount Addison was also the leader of the House of Lords from July 1945 to October 1947
- ↑ After India's independence, the Ministry was renamed the Ministry for Burma (Burma Office) in August 1947
- ↑ After Burma gained independence, the Ministry for Burma was dissolved in January 1948
- ↑ Since October 1946 the First Lord of the Admiralty was no longer a member of the Cabinet
- ↑ Since October 1946, the Minister of War was no longer a member of the cabinet
- ↑ Since October 1946 the aviation minister was no longer a member of the cabinet
- ^ Since January 1951 the Minister of Health was no longer a member of the cabinet
- ↑ Since October 1947 the Minister for Fuels and Energy was no longer a member of the cabinet
- ↑ In January 1951 the ministerial office was renamed Minister for Local Government and Planning