Define clement attlee biography

With William Beveridge and Nye Bevan, Attlee was one of a trio of non-religious figures who pioneered the modern welfare state. Like them, Attlee was motivated by an enduring sense of social responsibility, which underpinned his socialism and his humanism. In a tribute printed in The Times after Attlee’s death, Conservative politician Edward Heath described him simply, and effectively, as ‘a man who cared deeply about people’.

In Humanists UK’s Holyoake Lecture, Owen Jones listed Attlee among those historic humanists whose examples can still inspire us today. He said:

Our history abounds with great humanists who helped build a society that was more free, just, creative and informed, like Marie Curie and William Beveridge, like Mary Wollstonecraft and Clement Attlee, like George Eliot and Stephen Hawking. Here is a tradition we should feel proud to stand in… Many of the noble aims of humanism may seem under threat today. But this age, too, will pass. A politics of humanism can help build a world that is free, just and equal. It is not inevitable – but it is necessary, and we all have a role in creating it.

Owen Jones, ‘Age of Extremes’ (adapted text of the Holyoake Lecture), printed in the New Humanist, Spring

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from to

"Attlee" redirects here. For other uses, see Atlee.

Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January &#;&#; 8 October ) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from to and Leader of the Labour Party from to Attlee was Deputy Prime Minister during the wartime coalition government under Winston Churchill, and Leader of the Opposition on three occasions: from to , briefly in and from to He remains the longest serving Labour leader.

Attlee was born into an upper middle class family, the son of a wealthy London solicitor. After attending Haileybury College and the University of Oxford, he practised as a barrister. The volunteer work he carried out in London's East End exposed him to poverty, and his political views shifted leftwards thereafter. He joined the Independent Labour Party, gave up his legal career, and began lecturing at the London School of Economics; with his work briefly interrupted by service as an officer in the First World War. In , he became mayor of Stepney and in was elected to Parliament as the Member for Limehouse. Attlee served in the first Labour minority government led by Ramsay MacDonald in , and then joined the Cabinet during MacDonald's second minority (–). After retaining his seat in Labour's landslide defeat of , he became the party's Deputy Leader. Elected Leader of the Labour Party in , and at first advocating pacificism and opposing re-armament, he became a critic of Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement in the lead-up to the Second World War. Attlee took Labour into the wartime coalition government in and served under Winston Churchill, initially as Lord Privy Seal and then as Deputy Prime Minister from

The Labour Party, led by Attlee, won a landslide victory in the general election, on their post-war recovery platform. They inherited a country close to bankruptcy following the Second Wor

Born to a middle-class family in London, Clement Attlee studied at Oxford University, and then trained as a lawyer. He went on to manage Haileybury House, a charitable youth organisation in Limehouse, east London. This experience clearly had a profound impact on Attlee, whose political views were shaped by the poverty he witnessed in London’s East End, and in , he joined the Independent Labour Party. Upon the advent of the First World War, he applied for a Commission and served as a Captain. His reputation as an effective, efficient leader gained him promotion to the rank of Major, a title that would stay with him beyond his military life.

On returning from the war, Attlee moved into politics, becoming Mayor of Stepney in and MP for Limehouse in He continued to rise within the Labour Party, and was elected its leader in , following the resignation of George Lansbury. During the Second World War, he was called into Winston Churchill’s coalition government, notably holding the title of Deputy Prime Minister from to When a general election was called at the peak of the war in Europe, Attlee led the Labour Party to a surprising landslide victory, winning seats to the Conservative’s , and 48% of the public vote.

His period as Prime Minister was one of intense activity. The notoriously blunt, relatively quiet man was nevertheless very skilled at quick, decisive action. His leadership style was apparently collective, but once the Prime Minister had let his Cabinet voice their opinions, he would quickly make decisions with military precision. As a result, practically all of Labour’s manifesto pledges were implemented under Attlee. Despite the Second World War leaving Britain effectively bankrupt, he managed the creation of the National Health Service, part of the Welfare State that sought to provide ‘cradle to the grave’ care for British citizens. On top of this, many of Britain’s largest industries – such as coal mining, electricity and the railways

(b. London, 3 Jan. ; d. London, 8 Oct. )

British; Prime Minister –51; Earl Clement Attlee's government (–51) is widely regarded as Labour's most successful government. The administration decisively shaped post-war Britain, establishing the policies for full employment, the welfare state, mixed economy, and passage from the British Empire to Commonwealth.

Attlee was born into a comfortable middle-class family and there was little in his background to suggest that he would lead a party of the left. His father was a city solicitor, able to send him to Haileybury. Attlee graduated from Oxford University and qualified as a barrister. His shock at witnessing poverty in London's East End, reinforced by his reading, made him into a socialist.

The East End was to be his political base for the next fifty years. In he began to manage a Boys' Club in Stepney and eventually combined this with lecturing in social administration at the London School of Economics. His distinguished record in the –18 war earned him the title ‘Major Attlee’ in the s. He became mayor of Stepney in and was elected as Labour MP for Limehouse in With a private income from his parents he was able to become a full-time politician. He was a middle-class university graduate in a party still recruited largely from the working class.

Attlee held junior office in the first Labour government in Between and he served as one of two Labour members on the Simon Commission on India. In the second Labour government (–31) he replaced Oswald Mosley as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, when the latter resigned in , and the following year he became Postmaster-General. When the minority government collapsed in , and Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald went off to lead the National Government, Attlee had no doubts about staying in the Labour Party. He regarded MacDonald's act as a betrayal.

Attlee gained from the devastation of the Labour Party in the general election. Just fifty Labour MPs were retu