Labour Government 1945–1951

The Labour Party came to power in the United Kingdom after their unexpected victory in the July 1945 general elections. Party leader Clement Attlee became Prime Minister and hastily replaced his predecessor Winston Churchill at the Potsdam Conference in late July. Ernest Bevin was Foreign Secretary until shortly before his death in April 1951. Hugh Dalton became Chancellor of the Exchequer, but had to resign in 1947, while James Chuter Ede was Home Secretary for the whole length of the party's stay in power.

Other notable figures in the government included: Herbert Morrison, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons, who replaced Bevin as Foreign Secretary in March 1951; Sir Stafford Cripps was initially President of the Board of Trade but replaced Dalton as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1947; Hugh Gaitskell held several minor posts before replacing Cripps as Chancellor in 1950; Nye Bevan was Minister for Health; Arthur Greenwood was Lord Privy Seal and Paymaster-General while future Prime Minister Harold Wilson became the youngest member of the cabinet in the 20th century (at the age of 31) when he was made President of the Board of Trade in 1947. The most notable of the few female members of the government was Ellen Wilkinson, who was Secretary of State for Education until her early death in 1947.

Attlee's administration oversaw the nationalisation of basic industries such as coal mining and the steel industry, and for the creation of the state-owned British Railways while Health Secretary Nye Bevan was responsible for the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948. In foreign politics the government was concerned with the onset of the Cold War and decolonisation.

The Labour Party narrowly defeated the Conservative Party at the February 1950 general election. However, in the October 1951 general elections the Conservatives returned to power under Winston Churchill. Labour was to remain out of office for the next thirteen years, until 1964, when Harold Wilson became Prime Minister.

Members of the Cabinet are in bold face.

References

*D. Butler and G. Butler, "Twentieth Century British Political Facts 1900-2000"