clement Attlee, Born 1883
Labour MP and Prime minister
This autobiography is by Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Minister during the wartime coalition government under Winston Churchill. Attlee was the son of a wealthy London solicitor. After Haileybury College and 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 left. He joined the Independent Labour Party, gave up his legal career, and began lecturing at the London School of Economics. He served as an officer in the First World War. In 1919, he became mayor of Stepney and in 1922 was elected Member of Parliament for Limehouse. After World War II, Attlee led Labour to a landslide victory at the 1945 general election. He nationalised public utilities and major industries, and implemented wide-ranging social reforms, including the National Insurance Act 1946 and the formation of the National Health Service in 1948.
Source: The life story of Clement Attlee archived here is his autobiography entitled ‘As it happened’ which was published in 1954. It was archived here in 2021, with acknowledgement and thanks, from the Faded Page website of Canada, which is at www.fadedpage.com.