Coming to the Forefront, 1883–1931

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the development of Clement Attlee and the Labour Party from the collapse of the second Labour Government in August 1931, and the electoral disasters which followed this, to their entry into Churchill’s coalition in May 1940. From being driven from office as unfit to govern, Labour had recovered to a point where it was seen as essential to the effective prosecution of the war, and Attlee had emerged from the relative obscurity of a junior government post to be a central figure in the direction of the war effort. How this recovery was effected, and Attlee’s role in it, is a subject meriting serious examination.