Clement attlee died

With William Beveridge and Nye Bevan, Attlee was one of a trio of non-religious figures who pioneered the modern welfare state. Like them, Attlee was motivated by an enduring sense of social responsibility, which underpinned his socialism and his humanism. In a tribute printed in The Times after Attlee’s death, Conservative politician Edward Heath described him simply, and effectively, as ‘a man who cared deeply about people’.

In Humanists UK’s 2016 Holyoake Lecture, Owen Jones listed Attlee among those historic humanists whose examples can still inspire us today. He said:

Our history abounds with great humanists who helped build a society that was more free, just, creative and informed, like Marie Curie and William Beveridge, like Mary Wollstonecraft and Clement Attlee, like George Eliot and Stephen Hawking. Here is a tradition we should feel proud to stand in… Many of the noble aims of humanism may seem under threat today. But this age, too, will pass. A politics of humanism can help build a world that is free, just and equal. It is not inevitable – but it is necessary, and

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Clement Attlee

Born to a middle-class family in London, Clement Attlee studied at Oxford University, and then trained as a lawyer. He went on to manage Haileybury House, a charitable youth organisation in Limehouse, east London. This experience clearly had a profound impact on Attlee, whose political views were shaped by the poverty he witnessed in London’s East End, and in 1908, he joined the Independent Labour Party. Upon the advent of the First World War, he applied for a Commission and served as a Captain. His reputation as an effective, efficient leader gained him promotion to the rank of Major, a title that would stay with him beyond his military life.

On returning from the war, Attlee moved into politics, becoming Mayor of Stepney in 1919 and MP for Limehouse in 1922. He continued to rise within the Labour Party, and was elected its leader in 1935, following the resignation of George Lansbury. During the Second World War, he was called into Winston Churchill’s coalition government, notably holding the title of Deputy Prime Minister from 1942 to 1945. When a general elec

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Clement Attlee (1883 - 1967)

Clement Attlee, 1950  ©Attlee was the British Labour Party leader for 20 years, and presided over the 1945 - 1951 Labour government. This was the most significant reforming administration of 20th century Britain. It introduced the National Health Service, nationalised one fifth of the British economy, and granted independence to India.

Attlee was born on 2 January 1883. He had a conventional middle-class upbringing, and after going to Oxford University began a career as a barrister. However, he abandoned this to become a social worker in the East End of London, and later joined the Labour Party. He served in the army in World War One.

Attlee rose through the rank and file of the Labour Party which gave him a knowledge of Labour's culture and ethos that others from a similar social background, such as Hugh Dalton and Stafford Cripps, lacked. Attlee became member of parliament for Stepney in 1922 and served as a junior minister in the 1924 and 1929 - 1931 MacDonald governments. He became party leader in 1935, largely by default as many of his m