Labour Party (UK): Difference between revisions

The party returned to government in 1940 as part of the [[Churchill war ministry|wartime coalition]]. When [[Neville Chamberlain]] resigned in the spring of 1940, incoming [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]] decided to bring the other main parties into a coalition similar to that of the First World War. Clement Attlee was appointed [[Lord Privy Seal]] and a member of the war cabinet, eventually becoming the United Kingdom's first [[Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Deputy Prime Minister]]. He took charge of domestic affairs during the war, working closely with Bevin as [[Secretary of State for Employment|Minister of Labour]]. The war set in motion profound demands 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>