“There were few who thought him a starter, Many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended PM, CH and OM, an Earl and a Knight of the Garter”
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Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. Attlee was deputy prime minister during the wartime coalition government under Winston Churchill, and Leader of the Opposition on three occasions: from 1935 to 1940, briefly in 1945 and from 1951 to 1955. He remains the lon…
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politics · Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 · politician · diplomat · professor · also Clement Attlee, Viscount Prestwood, Earl Attlee, Lord Attlee, Clement Richard Lord Attlee, Attlee
Born 3 January 1883 · Died 8 October 1967 · Q129006
91 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 4 entries
“I cannot understand the delusion that if Franco wins with Italian and German aid, he will immediately become independent. I think it is a ridiculous proposition.”
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“We are told (in the White Paper) that there is danger against which we have to guard ourselves. We do not think you can do it by national defence. We think you can only do it by moving forward to a new world. A world of law, the abolition of national armaments with a world force and a world economic system. I shall be told that that is quite impossible”
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Public attention spiked: 5,415 Wikipedia readers in one day, 3.6× the usual 1,501, with 1 article edits. Editors noted: clean up of :Category:CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN, see Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/CitationCleanerBot 7
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2025· 3 entries
The Guardian: Like Clement Attlee, Keir Starmer must rise to the occasion
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The "Craft Beer Co" public house in Limehouse rebranded as "The Clement Attlee", who was MP for the area from 1935 to 1955
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A relatively modest sum for so prominent a figure and only a fraction of the £75,394 in his father's estate when he died in 1908
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2023· 1 entry
The Independent: In a political age devoid of decency and talent, the lessons we can learn from Clement Attlee
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2019· 1 entry
FACTLY rated the claim “Nehru wrote a letter to the then British Prime Minister Clement Attlee telling him that Bose, a ‘British War Criminal’, is in Russia and asking him to take necessary action, which he may deem fit.” FALSE.
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2004· 1 entry
Was voted the most successful British prime minister of the 20th century by a poll of 139 academics organised by Ipsos MORI
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1979· 1 entry
Commemorates Attlee at 17 Monkhams Avenue, in Woodford Green in the London Borough of Redbridge
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1967· 7 entries
Died 1967-10-08.
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“We are told in the White Paper that there is danger against which we have to guard ourselves. We do not think you can do it by national defence. We think you can only do it by moving forward to a new world – a world of law, the abolition of national armaments with a world force and a world economic system. I shall be told that that is quite impossible.”
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Career landmark: funeral.
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“We have absolutely abandoned any idea of nationalist loyalty. We are deliberately putting a world order before our loyalty to our own country.”
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“Opis: komentując niewielkie rozmiary Clementa Attlee.”
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“The aim of the Nazis was to enslave all the peoples, who were to be the mere instruments of the Germans, the Herrenfolk, the master class. To that we opposed the democratic ideal, whereby we saw the world as a community of nations, differing in their qualities but united in a comity of nations, like the citizens of a town, but recognizing each other's rights and uniting for common purposes.”
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“There is a denial of the value of the individual. Christianity affirms the value of each individual soul. Nazism denies it. The individual is sacrificed to the idol of the German Leader, German State or the German race. The ordinary citizen is allowed to hear and think only as the rulers decree.”
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1964· 1 entry
And also to see his old constituency of Walthamstow West fall to the Conservatives in a by-election in September 1967
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1962· 1 entry
Spoke twice in the House of Lords against the British government's application for the UK to join the European Communities ("Common Market")
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1958· 2 entries
Described the Israelis as extremely aggressive against the neighbouring Arab states and the Balfour Declaration as a mistake
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Attlee, along with numerous notables, established the Homosexual Law Reform Society: this campaigned for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in private by consenting adults, a reform that was voted through Parliamen
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1956· 2 entries
Awarded Knight of the Garter (1956).
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Career landmark: member of the House of Lords (1956–1967).
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1955· 2 entries
Martin Richard, Viscount Prestwood, later 2nd Earl Attlee (1927–1991), married Anne Henderson on 16 February 1955
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Career landmark: member of the 41st Parliament of the United Kingdom (1955–1955).
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1954· 2 entries
For his support of the League of Nations and the United Nations, and received further nominations in 1955 and 1964, but was unsuccessful on each occasion
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A Labour Party delegation including Attlee visited China at the invitation of then Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai
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1951· 6 entries
Awarded Order of Merit (1951).
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A comforts allowance was introduced that was automatically paid to war pensioners "receiving unemployability supplement and constant attendance allowance"
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Career landmark: Leader of the Opposition (1951–1955).
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Career landmark: member of the 40th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1951–1955).
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Attlee continued to lead the party as Leader of the Opposition
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The economy had been improved compared to 1945
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1950· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the 39th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1950–1951).
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1949· 3 entries
Forced Chancellor of the Exchequer, Stafford Cripps, into devaluation of the pound
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Unemployment, sickness and maternity benefits were exempted from taxation
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Promoted the NATO military alliance against the Soviet bloc
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1948· 8 entries
The camps in Cyprus were eventually closed, with their former occupants completing their journey to the new country
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And the economic situation improved significantly
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And the enlargement of public subsidies for council house building
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Helped the social services provided by local authorities
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Which allowed for investigations of restrictive practices and monopolies
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For individual and families in general, particularly special groups such as the mentally disordered, deprived children, the elderly, and the handicapped
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Between 1948 and 1951, Attlee's government increased spending on health from £6 billion to £11 billion: an increase of over 80%, and from 2.1% to 3.6% of GDP.
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Of Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
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1947· 2 entries
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society (1947).
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And electricity and gas followed in 1948
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1945· 8 entries
Election won: 1945 election.
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Awarded Companion of Honour (1945).
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Campaign: 1945 election.
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Career landmark: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1945–1951).
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Career landmark: member of the 38th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1945–1950).
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Career landmark: Leader of the Opposition (1945–1945).
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Called for "the advancement of India to responsible self-government"
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Attlee originally planned to give India dominion status in 1948
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1943· 1 entry
Career landmark: Lord President of the Council (1943–1945).
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1942· 4 entries
As well as becoming the Dominions Secretary and Lord President of the Council on 28 September 1943
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Which tried and failed to bring the factions together and unite behind the war effort
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Career landmark: Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs (1942–1943).
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Career landmark: Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1942–1945).
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1940· 2 entries
And served under Winston Churchill, initially as Lord Privy Seal and then as deputy prime minister from 1942
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Career landmark: Lord Privy Seal (1940–1942).
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1938· 1 entry
Attlee opposed the Munich Agreement, in which Chamberlain negotiated with Hitler to give Germany the German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland: We all feel relief that war has not come this time
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1937· 1 entry
Attlee wrote a book entitled The Labour Party in Perspective that sold fairly well in which he set out some of his views
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1935· 5 entries
Career landmark: member of the 37th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1935–1945).
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And at first advocating pacificism and opposing re-armament, he became a critic of Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement in the lead-up to the Second World War
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Career landmark: Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom (1935).
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Career landmark: Leader of the Opposition (1935–1940).
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Career landmark: Leader of the Labour Party (1935–1955).
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1934· 1 entry
“We have absolutely abandoned any idea of nationalist loyalty. We are deliberately putting a world order before our loyalty to our own country. We say we want to see put on the statute book something which will make our people citizens of the world before they are citizens of this country”
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1932· 1 entry
Career landmark: Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (1932–1935).
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1931· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the 36th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1931–1935).
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1930· 1 entry
Career landmark: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1930–1931).
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1927· 2 entries
Was appointed a member of the multi-party Simon Commission, a royal commission set up to examine the possibility of granting self-rule to India
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Martin Richard, Viscount Prestwood, later 2nd Earl Attlee (1927–1991), married Anne Henderson on 16 February 1955.
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1924· 2 entries
And then joined the Cabinet during MacDonald's second minority (1929–1931)
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When he served as Under-Secretary of State for War in the short-lived first Labour government, led by Ramsay MacDonald
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1921· 1 entry
George Lansbury, the Labour mayor of the neighbouring borough of Poplar, and future Labour Party leader, launched the Poplar Rates Rebellion; a campaign of disobedience seeking to equalise the poor relief burden across a
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1920· 1 entry
While mayor, he wrote his first book, The Social Worker, which set out many of the principles that informed his political philosophy and that were to underpin the actions of his government in later years
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1919· 1 entry
Became mayor of Stepney and in 1922 was elected to Parliament as the Member for Limehouse
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1911· 1 entry
Was employed by the Government as an "official explainer"—touring the country to explain Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George's National Insurance Act
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1909· 2 entries
Before becoming a secretary for Toynbee Hall
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Stood unsuccessfully at his first election, as an ILP candidate for Stepney Borough Council
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1908· 1 entry
Leaving an estate valued for probate at £75,394 (equivalent to £7,841,644 in 2025)
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1906· 1 entry
Attlee became a volunteer at Haileybury House, a charitable club for working-class boys in Stepney in the East End of London run by his old school, and from 1907 to 1909 he served as the club's manager
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1901· 1 entry
Attlee went up to University College, Oxford, reading modern history
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1899· 1 entry
Published an attack on striking London cab-drivers in the school magazine, predicting they would soon have to "beg for their fares"
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1898· 1 entry
Purchased a 200-acre (81 ha) estate, Comarques in Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex
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1896· 1 entry
Followed his brothers to Haileybury College, where he was a middling student
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1883· 1 entry
Born 1883-01-03.
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