Attlee’s legacy

To The Daily Telegraph

Charles Moore writes that Keir Starmer is trying to find an answer to his problems “in the example of Clement Attlee”.

Politically, it is true, Attlee did well to win the 1945 election by a landslide. But we should recall that his administration was the most economically disastrous of the 20th century. The socialist nature of its policies resulted in Britain having an anaemic postwar recovery for more than a generation – roughly until the mid-1980s. The nationalisation of many industries led to low growth and enormous waste of resources. The German economy, under the leadership of free marketeer Ludwig Erhard, powered past that of Britain.

The housing and healthcare policies which Attlee allowed Nye Bevan to promote were equally disastrous. They led Britain to have the least effective healthcare system in the advanced world and some of the highest prices for housing. By all means let Attlee be remembered as a decent, patriotic man, but let us never again go anywhere near his policies.

James Bartholomew, London

To The Daily Telegraph

James Bartholomew may feel that Clement Attlee’s administration was disastrous, but it changed my life.

In October 1946, when my father was released from his war work, we (my mother, father and two sisters) returned to London. Our house had been bombed and my father had no job, so we squeezed into my grandmother’s small house.

In January 1947 we were given a wonderful prefab. Because of the recent Education Act, I was able to pass the 11-plus and attend a grammar school. My youngest sister, who had been sickly from birth and needed medicines that my parents struggled to afford, started to gain strength thanks to the NHS. For us, life was very much better under Attlee.

Joy Bradshaw, London