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Distributed for Haus Publishing

Clem Attlee

Labour’s Great Reformer

New edition

Distributed for Haus Publishing

Clem Attlee

Labour’s Great Reformer

New edition

As British prime minister from 1945 to 1951, Clement Attlee built a legacy that includes today’s famous—and controversial—National Health Service, yet he is often remembered as a rather dull political figure. Rejecting Winston Churchill’s jibe that Attlee was a “modest little man with plenty to be modest about,” this biography makes the case that his reputation as Britain’s greatest reforming prime minister is fully deserved.

Building on his earlier work on Attlee and including new research and stories, many of which are published here for the first time, Francis Beckett highlights Attlee’s relevance for a new generation. A poet and dreamer, Attlee led a remarkable political life that saw, among other challenges, the beginning of the Cold War. Ultimately, this perceptive biography demonstrates that Attlee’s ideas have never been more relevant.

480 pages | 5 x 7 3/4 | © 2015

History: British and Irish History


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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
 
Introduction
1. Two nations
2. Mr Attlee makes himself indispensable
3. Major Attlee’s return to Limehouse
4. Disillusion
5. Leader of the Opposition
6. Mr Attlee has a word with the PM
7. The Prime Minister disposes
8. The Cold War and the beginning of the end of Empire
9. One nation: Building Jerusalem
10. Austerity Attlee
11. An Earl and a Knight of the Garter
 
A note on sources
Index

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