The Labour Party, 1945–64

Abstract

In 1945 the Labour Party, partly to its own surprise, achieved an over-all majority for the first time in its history. The new government had none of the limitations said to have shackled previous Labour governments, but it did not interpret the election results as a victory for ‘socialism’; the reforms of the Labour government were essentially uncontroversial and fully in keeping with the consensus that had emerged from the Second World War. The Bank of England, civil aviation, coal, gas, electricity, inland transport and iron and steel were nationalised, but only the nationalisation of iron and steel was controversial and only the last two were to be denationalised. Even the government was lukewarm over iron and steel, leaving it to the last; moreover, compensation was extremely generous for the previous owners of all these industries. The form of public ownership was quite comforting for those suspicious of Labour’s nationalisation programme; public boards or corporations, as favoured by the main architect, Herbert Morrison, ensured a degree of management continuity.