Attlee - 2nd Edition by Nick Thomas-Symonds (Paperback)

About the Book

By examining the myths that have arisen around this key figure of British political life, this biography offers a vivid portrait of the man and his politics.

Book Synopsis

Clement Attlee - the man who created the welfare state and decolonised vast swathes of the British Empire, including India - has been acclaimed by many as Britain's greatest twentieth-century Prime Minister. Yet somehow Attlee the man remains elusive and little known. How did such a moderate, modest man bring about so many enduring changes? What are the secrets of his leadership style? And how do his personal attributes account for both his spectacular successes and his apparent failures? When Attlee became Prime Minister in July 1945 he was the leader of a Labour party that had won a landslide victory. With almost 50 percent of the popular vote, Attlee seemed to have achieved the platform for Labour to dominate post-war British politics. Yet just 6 years and 3 months after the 1945 victory, and despite all Attlee's governments had appeared to achieve, Labour was out of office, condemned to opposition for a further 13 years. This presents one of the great paradoxes of twentieth-century British history: how Attlee's government achieved so much, but lost power so quickly. But perhaps the greatest paradox was Attlee himself.
Attlee's obituary in "The Times" in 1967 stated that 'much of what he did was memorable; very little that he said'. This new biography, based on extensive research into Attlee's papers and first-hand interviews, examines the myths that have arisen around this key figure of British political life and provides a vivid portrait of the man and his politics.

Review Quotes

"a thoroughly impressive piece of work - authoritative, reliable and perceptive ... This is rightly billed as a 'political biography' and in the realm of politics it is remarkably sure-footed" --Anthony Howard

"[a] brisk, well-written and admirably clear-sighted biography" --Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

"Very interesting and well researched. The reader gets a real sense of Attlee's life and politics, and the portrait of him is well-rounded and nuanced. This biography will be very useful for students seeking to gain a clear understanding of Attlee and marks a useful addition to the canon of Labour history" --Matthew Worley, Lecturer in History, University of Reading

"... to paraphrase Churchill, this was unquestionably Labour's finest hour. But how much of this can be attributed to the leadership of Clement Attlee himself? This is the question at the heart of Nick Thomas-Symonds excellent biography." --Guy Lodge, LSE Review of Books

"... goes a long way towards explaining the Attlee enigma" --Vernon Bogdanor, New Statesman

About the Author

Nick Thomas-Symonds is the current Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade. Previously a barrister and academic, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2012 and has been the Member of Parliament for Torfaen since 2015. He is the author of Nye: The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan (2014) and Harold Wilson: The Winner (2022).