Clement Attlee

The Right Honourable Sir Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951. Despite his natural modesty and laconic style of speaking, he won a landslide election victory over Winston Churchill immediately after Churchill had led Britain through World War II. He was the first Labour Prime Minister to serve for a full Parliamentary term, and the first to have a majority in Parliament. The government he led put in place the post-war consensus, which enabled the nationalisation of major industries and public utilities to create a system of administration that was by and large accepted by both parties until Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. In 2004 he was voted as the most effective British Prime Minister in the 20th century in a poll of political academics organised by MORI.

Attlee's Cabinet 1950-1951

February 1950: A substantial reshuffle takes place following the General Election:

Related Topics:
February - 1950

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• Clement Attlee: Prime Minister
• Lord Jowitt: Lord Chancellor
• Herbert Morrison: Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
• Lord Addison: Lord Privy Seal
• Sir Stafford Cripps: Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Ernest Bevin: Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
• James Chuter Ede: Secretary of State for the Home Department
• Jim Griffiths: Secretary of State for the Colonies
• Patrick Gordon Walker: Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
• Harold Wilson: President of the Board of Trade
• Lord Alexander: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• George Tomlinson: Minister of Education
• Hector McNeil: Secretary of State for Scotland
• Tom Williams: Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
• George Isaacs: Minister of Labour and National Service
• Aneurin Bevan: Minister of Health
• Emanuel Shinwell: Minister of Defence
• Hugh Dalton: Minister of Town and Country Planning

Changes

• October 1950: Hugh Gaitskell succeeds Sir Stafford Cripps as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
• January 1951: Aneurin Bevan succeeds George Isaacs as Minister of Labour and National Service. Bevan's successor as Minister of Health is not in the cabinet. Hugh Dalton's post is renamed Minister of Local Government and Planning.
• March 1951: Herbert Morrison succeeds Ernest Bevin as Foreign Secretary. Lord Addison succeeds Morrison as Lord President. Bevin succeeds Addison as Lord Privy Seal. James Chuter Ede succeeds Morrison as Leader of the House of Commons whilst remaining Home Secretary.
• April 1951: Richard Stokes succeeds Ernest Bevin as Lord Privy Seal. Alf Robens succeeds Aneurin Bevan (resigned) as Minister of Labour and National Service. Sir Hartley Shawcross succeeds Harold Wilson (resigned) as President of the Board of Trade.