Clement Attlee - Prime Minister

Prime Minister

As Prime Minister, Attlee appointed Ernest Bevin as Foreign Secretary and Hugh Dalton was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer (although it had widely been expected to be the other way around). Stafford Cripps became President of the Board of Trade, Herbert Morrison was given the post of Deputy Prime Minister and given overall control of Labour's nationalisation programme, Aneurin Bevan became Minister of Health, and Ellen Wilkinson, the only woman to serve in Attlee's government, became Minister of Education.

Attlee's government proved itself to be a radical reforming administration. In the 1945-46 session alone, pensions and other benefits were substantially increased, and from 1945 to 1948, over 200 public Acts of Parliament were passed, with eight major pieces of legislation placed on the statute book in 1946 alone.