A great leader? No, Attlee was a socialist menace
THE problem of Clement Attlee being regarded as ‘Labour’s greatest leader’ (Letters) is that he led his party from a landslide victory in 1945 to a less-than-working majority in 1950, defeat in 1951 and a worse defeat in 1955. Labour claimed credit for the welfare state and the NHS, but both had their origins in the 1942 Beveridge Report. Lord Beveridge was a Liberal and his report was commissioned by Churchill’s coalition government. Attlee’s government implemented the report, but as part of a policy of centralising power. The Conservatives wanted a free health service provided by local authorities, like education, but Aneurin Bevan insisted on a centralised service. Similarly, national assistance transferred the relief of poverty from local to central government. The result is the two cash-devouring monsters we have today. Labour’s own contribution was the nationalisation of a series of lossmaking industries in accordance with Marxist doctrine, which put a huge burden on an economy just emerging from war. The Americans wrote off the debt owed to them from the wartime lease-lend agreement, but Attlee’s government had to negotiate a new American loan, which has only just been repaid. He also devalued the pound by more than 30 per cent. After the war, rations were reduced (instead of being abolished) and bread and potatoes were put on ration for the first time. The excuse was a shortage of foreign currency, but dollars were available for the import of cigarettes, which weren’t rationed. The last straw came in 1948 when Germany moved to abolish rationing. In the 1950 general election, the number of Labour MPs was reduced to a majority so small Attlee had to call another election in 1951 — which Labour lost. Churchill’s second government abolished rationing. When he resigned in 1955 and Anthony Eden called a general election, the Tories increased their majority. Attlee resigned as Leader of the Opposition and Labour was out of power until 1964.
MADGE DARBY, London E1.