In May 1946 John Parker, a junior minister in the postwar Labour government, was tipped off by No 10 that he might be sacked. Desperate to keep his ministerial post, he asked for an audience with the prime minister to plead his case. He asked, quite simply, why he was to be sacked. The prime minister listened courteously and, when Parker had finished speaking, replied in five words: “Not up to the job.” Discussion over. Clement Attlee returned to work on his papers and the Times crossword.
Attlee’s treatment of Parker was symptomatic of the way he ran his government. He was brisk and efficient and needed effective ministers. In today’s parlance, he wanted people who could “deliver”. Attlee was far from being the most charismatic of Labour politicians of that era, but he proved to be far and away their best leader. As the historian Peter Hennessy has noted: “Because of the innate decency of the man and his effectiveness as a prime minister — chairing a cabinet room full of difficult prima-donnaish characters — he always commanded the respect of people with different political persuasions from his own.”
While Attlee’s predecessor, Churchill, was undoubtedly far more charismatic, Attlee brought efficiency and commitment, albeit coupled with a certain dryness, even woodenness, of approach. But it worked.
His government’s record speaks for itself. In the space of six years, some three million servicemen were successfully demobbed; a significant programme of economic reform, including nationalisation of the Bank of England, was delivered; the welfare state was established, and the National Health Service was open for business in July 1948. Nato was founded, the UK nuclear deterrent was created and the transition to Indian independence was overseen by Attlee. All that and the Festival of Britain in 1951.
Fast forward 75 years and the political story, by comparison, is less impressive. To take just one example, Attlee, supported by Aneurin Bevan, his health secretary, established the NHS, free to all at the point of delivery, within only three years. For how long have today’s politicians of all parties promised, but failed to deliver, a national social care service to match the NHS?
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Tuesday is the 140th anniversary of Attlee’s birth. Perhaps some of our politicians might reflect on his approach. He may not have been the most dynamic man and his language bordered on the monosyllabic. But in the era of flamboyant politicians, many of whom promise the world yet often deliver almost nothing, perhaps we need the quieter Attlee style of premiership once again.
Alun Evans is chairman of the Attlee Foundation