The Governments of Postwar Britain

Abstract

Labour’s huge victory in the 1945 general election was based on the national desire for social change that was generated during the Second World War. Having gained a reputation for patriotism and governing competence since 1940, Labour was closely linked to the popular desire for government- sponsored social betterment, while the Conservatives were associated with the unemployment and appeasement of the 1930s. The polls pointed to a Labour victory, but were generally disbelieved as most commentators considered that Churchill’s wartime reputation would be sufficient to ensure Conservative success. In the event Labour achieved a landslide victory, gaining over 200 seats from the Conservatives on a 12 per cent swing and increasing its vote by 3.75 million compared with 1935. It took office in late July with an experienced team. Unpretentious but shrewd and experienced, the Labour leader, Clement Attlee, proved one of Britain’s most effective postwar prime ministers and he was well supported by the other members of Labour’s ‘Big Five’. The former TGWU leader, Ernest Bevin, was an inspired choice as foreign secretary; Herbert Morrison, leader of the House of Commons and lord president of the Council, ably supervised the government’s legislative programme; whilst Hugh Dalton, who had presided over Labour’s recovery of intellectual credibility in the 1930s, was chancellor of the exchequer until a political error over the budget forced him to give way to the austere Sir Stafford Cripps, who gained increasing influence over the inner sanctum of the government.