Man for a Crisis
A remarkable political career suggests that social mobility is of benefit to us all.
Churchill considered him ‘by far the most distinguished man that the Labour Party has thrown up in my time’. Attlee, Churchill’s wartime deputy, reflecting on his political allies, declared: ‘There’s the man I miss.’ Despite their different temperaments, Churchill and Attlee shared a profound admiration for Ernest Bevin. At a time of concern in Britain over a decline in social mobility, the life and career of the man who, during the Second World War, controlled the nation’s labour force, is worth reflecting on.
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