Editing Clement Attlee (section)

==Deputy Prime Minister==
{{see also|Churchill war ministry}}
[[File:Attlee 1941 P 75.jpg|thumb|Attlee as Lord Privy Seal, visiting a munitions factory in 1941]]
Attlee remained as Leader of the Opposition when the [[Second World War]] broke out in September 1939. The ensuing disastrous [[Norwegian campaign]] would result in a [[Norway Debate|motion of no confidence]] in [[Neville Chamberlain]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/norway_campaign_06.shtml|title=The Norway Campaign in World War Two|publisher=BBC|date=30 March 2011|access-date=2 October 2011|archive-date=19 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619180715/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/norway_campaign_06.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> Although Chamberlain survived this, the reputation of his administration was so badly and publicly damaged that it became clear a [[coalition government]] would be necessary. Even if Attlee had personally been prepared to serve under Chamberlain in an emergency coalition government, he would never have been able to carry Labour with him. Consequently, Chamberlain tendered his resignation, and Labour and the Conservatives entered a coalition government led by [[Winston Churchill]] on 10 May 1940,{{sfn|Howell|2006}} with Attlee joining the Cabinet as [[Lord Privy Seal]] on 12 May.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=34856|page=3107|date=24 May 1940}}</ref>

Attlee and Churchill quickly agreed that the [[War cabinet#Churchill war ministry|War Cabinet]] would consist of three Conservatives (initially Churchill, Chamberlain and [[Lord Halifax]]) and two Labour members (initially himself and [[Arthur Greenwood]]) and that Labour should have slightly more than one third of the posts in the coalition government.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=157–158}} Attlee and Greenwood played a vital role in supporting Churchill during a series of [[1940 British war cabinet crisis|War Cabinet debates]] over whether or not to negotiate peace terms with Hitler following the [[Fall of France]] in May 1940; both supported Churchill and gave him the majority he needed in the War Cabinet to continue Britain's resistance.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|pp=163–164}}{{sfn|Marr|2007}}{{page needed|date=May 2024}}

Only Attlee and Churchill remained in the War Cabinet from the formation of the Government of National Unity in May 1940 through to the election in May 1945. Attlee was initially the Lord Privy Seal, before becoming Britain's first ever [[Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Deputy Prime Minister]] in 1942, as well as becoming the [[Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs|Dominions Secretary]]{{sfn|Howell|2006}}{{sfn|Marr|2007}}{{page needed|date=May 2024}} and [[Lord President of the Council]] on 28 September 1943.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=36193|page=4365|date=1 October 1943}}</ref>

Attlee himself played a generally low key but vital role in the wartime government, working behind the scenes and in committees to ensure the smooth operation of government. In the [[Churchill war ministry|coalition government]], three inter-connected committees effectively ran the country. Churchill chaired the first two, the [[War cabinet]] and the Defence Committee, with Attlee deputising for him in these, and answering for the government in Parliament when Churchill was absent. Attlee himself instituted, and later chaired the third body, the [[Lord President's Committee]], which was responsible for overseeing domestic affairs. As Churchill was most concerned with overseeing the war effort, this arrangement suited both men. Attlee himself had largely been responsible for creating these arrangements with Churchill's backing, streamlining the machinery of government and abolishing many committees. He also acted as a conciliator in the government, smoothing over tensions which frequently arose between Labour and Conservative Ministers.{{sfn|Beckett|1998|p=164}}{{sfn|Howell|2006}}<ref name="govclem">{{cite web|title=Clement Attlee: enigmatic, out of time – and formidable|url=https://history.blog.gov.uk/2014/03/11/clement-attlee-enigmatic-out-of-time-and-formidable/|first=Robert|last=Crowcroft|date=11 March 2014|publisher=Gov.uk|access-date=3 August 2017|archive-date=3 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803171136/https://history.blog.gov.uk/2014/03/11/clement-attlee-enigmatic-out-of-time-and-formidable/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Many Labour activists were baffled by the top leadership role for a man they regarded as having little charisma; [[Beatrice Webb]] wrote in her diary in early 1940:
:He looked and spoke like an insignificant elderly clerk, without distinction in the voice, manner or substance of his discourse. To realise that this little nonentity is the Parliamentary Leader of the Labour Party&nbsp;... and presumably the future P.M. [Prime Minister] is pitiable".<ref>Quoted by Paul Addison in {{cite book|author=V. Bogdanor|title=From New Jerusalem to New Labour: British Prime Ministers from Attlee to Blair|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_etNDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|year=2016|page=9|publisher=Springer |isbn=9780230297005}}</ref>

[[File:Attlee with GeorgeVI HU 59486.jpg|thumb|Attlee meeting King [[George&nbsp;VI]] following Labour's 1945 election victory]]

=== 1945 election ===
{{main|1945 United Kingdom general election}}
Following the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of the [[European theatre of World War II|War in Europe]] in May 1945, Attlee and Churchill favoured the coalition government remaining in place until [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] had been defeated. However, [[Herbert Morrison]] made it clear that the Labour Party would not be willing to accept this, and Churchill was forced to tender his resignation as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] and call an immediate election.{{sfn|Howell|2006}}

The war had set in motion profound social changes within Britain and had ultimately led to a widespread popular desire for [[social reform]]. This mood was epitomised in the [[Beveridge Report]] of 1942, by the Liberal economist [[William Beveridge]]. The ''Report'' assumed that the maintenance of full employment would be the aim of post-war governments, and that this would provide the basis for the [[welfare state]]. Immediately upon its release, it sold hundreds of thousands of copies. All major parties committed themselves to fulfilling this aim, but most historians say that Attlee's Labour Party was seen by the electorate as the party most likely to follow it through.<ref>Steven Fielding, "What did 'the people' want?: the meaning of the 1945 general election". ''Historical Journal'' 35#3 (1992): 623–639.</ref><ref name="Addison">{{cite magazine|last=Addison|first=Dr Paul|title=Why Churchill Lost in 1945|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/election_01.shtml|magazine=BBC History|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-date=26 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226004022/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/election_01.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>

Labour campaigned on the theme of "Let Us Face the Future", positioning themselves as the party best placed to rebuild Britain following the war,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/man/lab45.htm |title=British Labour Party election manifesto, 1945 [archived] |access-date=9 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720200817/http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/man/lab45.htm|archive-date=20 July 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and were widely viewed as having run a strong and positive campaign, while the Conservative campaign centred entirely on Churchill.<ref name="Addison"/> Despite opinion polls indicating a strong Labour lead, opinion polls were then viewed as a novelty which had not proven their worth, and most commentators expected that Churchill's prestige and status as a "war hero" would ensure a comfortable Conservative victory.<ref name="Addison"/> Before polling day, ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'' surmised that "the chances of Labour sweeping the country and obtaining a clear majority&nbsp;... are pretty remote".<ref>''The Manchester Guardian'' 4 July 1945</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2021}} The ''[[News of the World]]'' predicted a working Conservative majority, while in [[Glasgow]] a pundit forecast the result as Conservatives 360, Labour 220, Others 60.<ref name ="Kynaston">{{cite book |last=Kynaston |first=David |author-link=David Kynaston |title=Austerity Britain 1945–51 |date=2008 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location=London |isbn=978-0-7475-9923-4 |pages=70–71}}</ref> Churchill, however, made some costly errors during the campaign. In particular, his suggestion during one radio broadcast that a future Labour Government would require "some form of a gestapo" to implement their policies was widely regarded as being in very bad taste and massively backfired.{{sfn|Howell|2006}}

When the results of the election were announced on 26 July, they came as a surprise to most, including Attlee himself. Labour had won power by a huge landslide, winning 47.7 per cent of the vote to the Conservatives' 36 per cent.<ref name="C. Whiting 1967">R. C. Whiting, "Attlee, Clement Richard, first Earl Attlee (1883–1967)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', 2004.</ref> This gave them 393 seats in the House of Commons, a working majority of 146. This was the first time in history that the Labour Party had won a majority in [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/in_depth/election_battles/1945_over.stm|work=BBC News|title=VOTE2001 – THE ELECTION BATTLES 1945–1997|access-date=19 December 2011|archive-date=3 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103151039/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/in_depth/election_battles/1945_over.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> When Attlee went to see King [[George&nbsp;VI]] at [[Buckingham Palace]] to be appointed Prime Minister, the notoriously [[wikt:laconic|laconic]] Attlee and the famously tongue-tied King stood in silence; Attlee finally volunteered the remark, "I've won the election". The King replied "I know. I heard it on the Six O'Clock News".<ref>{{cite book|author=Kynaston, David|title=Austerity Britain, 1945–1951|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7zQx0VRTkgC&pg=PT52|year=2010|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|page=75|isbn=9780802779588}}</ref>