Product Description

Clement Attlee was a Labour politician and prime minister from 1945-51. He was the first Labour prime minister with an absolute Common's majority. Attlee's post-war government enacted a broad program of socialist legislation in spite of conditions of austerity in which rationing was actually extended. By the end of 1946 acts had been passed nationalizing the Bank of England and creating the National Health Service. The railways, the mines and supply of gas and electricity soon followed into public ownership. Meanwhile he had been closely involved in the process of dismantling the British Empire, with independence given to India, Pakistan, Ceylon and Burma. Yet he believed in Britain playing a strong role in world affairs, accepting British participation in the Korean War. His majority was reduced to six in the 1950 election and he lost the election of the following year.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #249648 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

Good introduction to Clem
This book is a good way to gain a general knowledge of the life of Clement Attlee.

The chapters on his early life and political beginnings are particularly good as they go into a lot of detail, whilst still being relatively consice and easy to read.

This, however, is not the case for the chapters on Attlee's time as PM which seem to generally meander through the period, without any noticeable structure and, although this makes it a light read, it meant I came away feeling I did know more about Attlee but not as much as I could've.

All in all though, this is a good book, especially for those in my position needing a book to flesh out the information learnt from college notes.