167-472: [REDACTED] Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967), was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. Attlee was Deputy Prime Minister during the wartime coalition government under Winston Churchill , and Leader of the Opposition on three occasions: from 1935 to 1940, briefly in 1945 and from 1951 to 1955. He remains
334-533: A barrister at the Inner Temple and was called to the bar in March 1906. He worked for a time at his father's law firm Druces and Attlee but did not enjoy the work, and had no particular ambition to succeed in the legal profession. He also played football for non-League club Fleet . Attlee's father died in 1908, leaving an estate valued for probate at £75,394 (equivalent to £9,943,044 in 2023). In 1906, Attlee became
501-466: A civil action against Attlee and the other Labour members of the committee (although not against the Conservative members who had also supported this). The court found against Attlee and his fellow councillors and they were ordered to pay £300 damages. The decision was later reversed on appeal, but the financial problems caused by the episode almost forced Attlee out of politics. In 1927, he was appointed
668-425: A civilised community, although it may be composed of self-reliant individuals, there will be some persons who will be unable at some period of their lives to look after themselves, and the question of what is to happen to them may be solved in three ways – they may be neglected, they may be cared for by the organised community as of right, or they may be left to the goodwill of individuals in the community. [...] Charity
835-492: A constitutional anomaly in the 21st century. Both contend that such powers lack direct democratic legitimacy due to not being regulated by parliamentary statutes and raise concerns over accountability. Elliot and Thomas have pointed out that judicial intervention in cases such as Miller I and Miller II , where the Supreme Court exercised scrutiny over the use of prerogative powers by the government to prorogue parliament during
1002-551: A drastic and entire reshuffling of these populations there is no possible solution to the problem of minorities in Europe except toleration. However, the new Czechoslovakian state did not provide equal rights to the Slovaks and Sudeten Germans, with the historian Arnold J. Toynbee already having noted that "for the Germans, Magyars and Poles, who account between them for more than one quarter of
1169-623: A few of his allies formed a National Government with the Conservatives and Liberals , leading them to be expelled from Labour. MacDonald offered Attlee a job in the National Government, but he turned down the offer and opted to stay loyal to the main Labour party. After Ramsay MacDonald formed the National Government, Labour was deeply divided. Attlee had long been close to MacDonald and now felt betrayed—as did most Labour politicians. During
1336-424: A halt in the armaments race ... We do not think that our answer to Herr Hitler should be just rearmament. We are in an age of rearmaments, but we on this side cannot accept that position". Attlee played little part in the events that would lead up to the abdication of Edward VIII , for despite Baldwin's threat to step down if Edward attempted to remain on the throne after marrying Wallis Simpson , Labour
1503-467: A landslide victory in the 1945 general election , on their post-war recovery platform. They inherited a country close to bankruptcy following the Second World War and beset by food, housing and resource shortages. Attlee led the construction of the first Labour majority government , which aimed to maintain full employment , a mixed economy and a greatly enlarged system of social services provided by
1670-584: A lifelong dislike of Morrison. At the 1922 general election , Attlee became the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Limehouse in Stepney . At the time, he admired Ramsay MacDonald and helped him get elected as Labour Party leader at the 1922 leadership election . He served as MacDonald's Parliamentary Private Secretary for the brief 1922 parliament. His first taste of ministerial office came in 1924, when he served as Under-Secretary of State for War in
1837-508: A majority. I am convinced it would be fatal for the Labour Party." He also wrote that there was no point in "watering down Labour's socialist creed in order to attract new adherents who cannot accept the full socialist faith. On the contrary, I believe that it is only a clear and bold policy that will attract this support". In the late 1930s, Attlee sponsored a Jewish mother and her two children, enabling them to leave Germany in 1939 and move to
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#17330855868662004-496: A man of character. Despite his mishandling of the Red Letter episode, I had not appreciated his defects until he took office a second time. I then realised his reluctance to take positive action and noted with dismay his increasing vanity and snobbery, while his habit of telling me, a junior Minister, the poor opinion he had of all his Cabinet colleagues made an unpleasant impression. I had not, however, expected that he would perpetrate
2171-445: A member of the multi-party Simon Commission , a royal commission set up to examine the possibility of granting self-rule to India . Due to the time he needed to devote to the commission, and contrary to a promise MacDonald made to Attlee to induce him to serve on the commission, he was not initially offered a ministerial post in the second Labour government , which entered office after the 1929 general election . Attlee's service on
2338-763: A new constitution was agreed on, based on the behind-the-curtain lobbying of the Soulbury Commission. At the elections of 1947, the UNP won a minority of the seats in Parliament but cobbled together a coalition with the Sinhala Maha Sabha of Solomon Bandaranaike and the Tamil Congress of G.G. Ponnambalam. The successful inclusions of the Tamil-communalist leader Ponnambalam, and his Sinhala counterpart Bandaranaike were
2505-479: A new world. A world of law, the abolition of national armaments with a world force and a world economic system. I shall be told that that is quite impossible". Shortly after those comments, Adolf Hitler proclaimed that German rearmament offered no threat to world peace. Attlee responded the next day noting that Hitler's speech, although containing unfavourable references to the Soviet Union , created "A chance to call
2672-510: A partly elected assembly, and not until 1920 that elected members outnumbered official appointees. Universal suffrage was introduced in 1931, over the protests of the Sinhalese, Tamil and Burgher elite who objected to the common people being allowed to vote. Sivasundaram argues, reinforcing the analysis first made by famed local historian, G.C. Mendis in his book, Ceylon Under the British , that
2839-532: A remarkable political balancing act by Senanayake. However, the vacuum in Tamil Nationalist politics created by Ponnamblam's transition to a moderate opened the field for the Tamil Arasu Kachchi, a Tamil sovereignist party (rendered into English as the "Federal" party) led by S. J. V. Chelvanaykam, the lawyer son of a Christian minister. The multiracial population of Ceylon was numerous enough to support
3006-560: A rift between him and his older brother Tom, who, as a conscientious objector , spent much of the war in prison. After a period spent fighting in Gallipoli, Attlee collapsed after falling ill with dysentery and was put on a ship bound for England to recover. When he woke up he wanted to get back to action as soon as possible, and asked to be let off the ship in Malta, where he stayed in hospital in order to recover. His hospitalisation coincided with
3173-409: A ruthless despotism... The events of these last few days constitute one of the greatest diplomatic defeats that this country and France have ever sustained. There can be no doubt that it is a tremendous victory for Herr Hitler. Without firing a shot, by the mere display of military force, he has achieved a dominating position in Europe which Germany failed to win after four years of war. He has overturned
3340-584: A senior partner in the law firm of Druces, also serving a term as president of the Law Society of England and Wales . In 1898 he purchased a 200-acre (81 ha) estate, Comarques in Thorpe-le-Soken , Essex. At the age of nine, Attlee was sent to board at Northaw Place , a boys' preparatory school in Hertfordshire . In 1896 he followed his brothers to Haileybury College , where he was a middling student. He
3507-614: A series of War Cabinet debates over whether or not to negotiate peace terms with Hitler following the Fall of France in May 1940; both supported Churchill and gave him the majority he needed in the War Cabinet to continue Britain's resistance. Only Attlee and Churchill remained in the War Cabinet from the formation of the Government of National Unity in May 1940 through to the election in May 1945. Attlee
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#17330855868663674-493: A solicitor, and his mother was Ellen Bravery Watson, daughter of Thomas Simons Watson, secretary for the Art Union of London . His parents were "committed Anglicans" who read prayers and psalms each morning at breakfast. Attlee grew up in a two-storey villa with a large garden and tennis court, staffed by three servants and a gardener. His father, a political Liberal , had inherited family interests in milling and brewing, and became
3841-538: A special relationship with Britain. Meanwhile, the Marxists, identifying the war as a sideshow between rival empires and desiring a proletarian revolution , chose a path of agitation disproportionate to their negligible combat strength and diametrically opposed to the "constitutionalist" approach of Senanayake and other Ethnic Sinhalese leaders. A small garrison on the Cocos Islands , crewed by Ceylonese, attempted to expel
4008-423: A staple of the British market, bringing great wealth to a small class of European tea planters. To work the estates, the planters imported large numbers of Tamil workers as indentured labourers from south India, who soon made up 10% of the island's population. These workers lived in harsh conditions and were accommodated in line rooms , not very different from cattle sheds. The British colonial government favoured
4175-435: A state of war. We have been unable to go in for care-free rejoicing. We have felt that we are in the midst of a tragedy... [and] humiliation. This has not been a victory for reason and humanity. It has been a victory for brute force. At every stage of the proceedings there have been time limits laid down... [the] terms laid down as ultimata. We have seen to-day a gallant, civilised and democratic people betrayed and handed over to
4342-526: A total population of 2.8 million, consisting of 1.8 million Sinhalese; 687,000 Ceylon and Indian Tamils; 185,000 Moors; as well as 4,800 Europeans; 17,900 Burghers and Eurasians; 8,900 Malays; 2,200 Veddhas; and 7,500 other. The Censuses of 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 had shown Ceylon Tamils and Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka grouped together. By 1911 Indian Tamils were shown as a separate category. The population statistics reveal that by 1911, Indian Tamils constituted 12.9%, whereas Sri Lankan Tamils formed 12.8% of
4509-552: A volunteer at Haileybury House, a charitable club for working-class boys in Stepney in the East End of London run by his old school, and from 1907 to 1909 he served as the club's manager. Until then, his political views had been more conservative. However, after his shock at the poverty and deprivation he saw while working with the slum children, he came to the view that private charity would never be sufficient to alleviate poverty and that only direct action and income redistribution by
4676-441: A vote of no confidence, they are often expected to resign from office or request the monarch dissolve parliament to call a general election. The prime minister acts as the principal advisor to the monarch, who is the head of state, a capacity that has evolved gradually during the history of the office. Bagehot says that despite the monarch holding certain theoretical executive powers, in practice, these powers are often executed upon
4843-694: A workable solution that would allow for inter-communal differences. This was replaced by the Soulbury Commission proposals that led to the Dominion of Ceylon of 1948–1972, after which the Free, Sovereign and the Independent Republic of Sri Lanka was established. The Ceylon Defence Force (CDF) was the military of British Ceylon. Established in 1881 as the Ceylon Volunteers, as the military reserve in
5010-565: A world order before our loyalty to our own country. We say we want to see put on the statute book something which will make our people citizens of the world before they are citizens of this country". During a debate on defence in Commons a year later, Attlee said "We are told (in the White Paper) that there is danger against which we have to guard ourselves. We do not think you can do it by national defence. We think you can only do it by moving forward to
5177-463: Is able to wield considerable power in the passing of legislation through their ability to manage party discipline and cohesion in voting patterns. Bogdanor states that this largely depends upon the prime minister being the leader of the largest party in the Commons, which can pass legislation without any or little resistance if they can command the confidence of the House. This aspect of prime ministerial power
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5344-574: Is an important legal document because it specifies the conditions which the British promised for the Kandyan territory. It took the ruling families of Kandy less than two years to realise that the authority of the British government was a fundamentally different one to that of the (deposed) Nayakkar dynasty. Soon the Kandyans rebelled against the British and waged a guerrilla war. Discontent with British activities soon boiled over into open rebellion, commencing in
5511-413: Is authorised with broader support from and within the government. The prime minister must constantly maintain the confidence of the House of Commons because, as Bagehot notes, the power of the prime minister derives from their ability to command a majority in the House in order to pass legislation and continue the functions of government. If a prime minister loses the confidence of the House, which occurs in
5678-497: Is based on an uncodified constitution , meaning that it is not set out in any single document. The British constitution consists of many documents, and most importantly for the evolution of the office of the prime minister, it is based on customs known as constitutional conventions that became accepted practice. In 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs: In this country we live ... under an unwritten Constitution. It
5845-577: Is bound to another, right or wrong, by some overwhelming necessity—is contrary to the spirit of the League of Nations, is contrary to the Covenant, is contrary to Locarno is contrary to the obligations which this country has undertaken, and is contrary to the professed policy of this Government". At the Labour Party conference at Edinburgh in October Attlee reiterated that "There can be no question of our supporting
6012-467: Is informal and often carried out by the office of Whips, who makes sure that MPs remain loyal and vote on the government line. The political scientist Anthony King said that the prime minister's influence over legislation is further solidified through their ability to shape policy before it reaches parliament. King further argued that the shaping of legislation, on many occasions, involves the collaborative efforts of cabinet ministers and civil servants, but
6179-602: Is often ranked as one of the greatest British prime ministers , receiving particular praise for his government's welfare state reforms, creation of the NHS, continuation of the " Special Relationship " with the US, and involvement in NATO. Attlee was born on 3 January 1883 in Putney , Surrey (now part of London), into an upper middle-class family, the seventh of eight children. His father was Henry Attlee,
6346-587: Is often through party discipline and having a reliable majority of MPs who vote in support of the government's priorities. Another essential part of the parliamentary powers possessed by the prime minister is determining the composition of the Cabinet. According to Professor Robert Hazell, the prime minister not only chooses cabinet members but also dictates the collective decision-making process of members as well. The prime minister most often would chair cabinet meetings and may determine their frequency, thereby controlling
6513-400: Is only possible without loss of dignity between equals. A right established by law, such as that to an old age pension, is less galling than an allowance made by a rich man to a poor one, dependent on his view of the recipient's character, and terminable at his caprice. In 1921, George Lansbury , the Labour mayor of the neighbouring borough of Poplar , and future Labour Party leader, launched
6680-711: Is true that we have on the Statute-book great instruments like Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and the Bill of Rights which define and secure many of our rights and privileges; but the great bulk of our constitutional liberties and ... our constitutional practices do not derive their validity and sanction from any Bill which has received the formal assent of the King, Lords and Commons. They rest on usage, custom, convention, often of slow growth in their early stages, not always uniform, but which in
6847-436: The 1935 election , which saw the party stage a partial comeback from its disastrous 1931 performance, winning 38 per cent of the vote, the highest share Labour had won up to that point, and gaining over one hundred seats. Attlee stood in the subsequent leadership election , held soon afterward, where he was opposed by Herbert Morrison , who had just re-entered parliament in the recent election, and Arthur Greenwood : Morrison
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7014-494: The 2024 general election . The position of prime minister was not created; it evolved slowly and organically over three hundred years due to numerous Acts of Parliament , political developments, and accidents of history. The office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective. The origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement (1688–1720) and
7181-586: The Battle of Sari Bair , which saw a large number of his comrades killed. Upon returning to action, he was informed that his company had been chosen to hold the final lines during the evacuation of Suvla . As such, he was the penultimate man to be evacuated from Suvla Bay , the last being General Stanley Maude . The Gallipoli Campaign had been engineered by the First Lord of the Admiralty , Winston Churchill . Although it
7348-589: The British possessions included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of Sri Lanka . The British Ceylon period is the history of Sri Lanka between 1815 and 1948. It follows the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom into the hands of the British Empire. It ended over 2300 years of Sinhalese monarchy rule on the island. The British rule on the island lasted until 1948 when the country regained independence following
7515-771: The Cold War . He supported the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe with American money and, in 1949, promoted the NATO military alliance against the Soviet bloc . After leading Labour to a narrow victory at the 1950 general election , he sent British troops to fight alongside South Korea in the Korean War . Despite his social reforms and economic programme food, housing and resource shortages persisted throughout his premiership, alongside recurrent currency crises and dependence on US aid. His party
7682-448: The G7 and G20 . 58 people (55 men and 3 women) have served as prime minister, the first of whom was Robert Walpole taking office on 3 April 1721. The longest-serving prime minister was also Walpole, who served over 20 years, and the shortest-serving was Liz Truss , who served seven weeks. The current prime minister is Keir Starmer , who succeeded Rishi Sunak on 5 July 2024, following
7849-512: The Leader of the Opposition . On the verge of resigning from Parliament, he was persuaded to stay by Stafford Cripps, a wealthy socialist, who agreed to make a donation to party funds to pay him an additional salary until Lansbury could take over again. During 1932–33 Attlee flirted with, and then drew back from radicalism – influenced by Stafford Cripps, who was then on the radical wing of the party. He
8016-676: The London School of Economics . Attlee returned to local politics in the immediate post-war period, becoming mayor of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney , one of London's most deprived inner-city boroughs, in 1919. During his time as mayor, the council undertook action to tackle slum landlords who charged high rents but refused to spend money on keeping their property in habitable condition. The council served and enforced legal orders on homeowners to repair their property. It also appointed health visitors and sanitary inspectors, reducing
8183-563: The London School of Economics ; with his work briefly interrupted by service as an officer in the First World War . In 1919, he became mayor of Stepney and in 1922 was elected as the Member for Limehouse . Attlee served in the first Labour minority government led by Ramsay MacDonald in 1924, and then joined the Cabinet during MacDonald's second minority (1929–1931). After retaining his seat in Labour's landslide defeat of 1931 , he became
8350-758: The Minority Report as he was very active in Fabian Society circles, in which he would go round visiting many political societies—Liberal, Conservative and socialist—to explain and popularise the ideas, as well as recruiting lecturers deemed suitable to work on the campaign. In 1911, he was employed by the Government as an "official explainer"—touring the country to explain Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George 's National Insurance Act . He spent
8517-580: The National Parks system, passed the New Towns Act 1946 and established the town and country planning system . Attlee's foreign policy focused on decolonisation efforts, including the partition of India (1947), the independence of Burma and Ceylon , and the dissolution of the British mandates of Palestine and Transjordan . Attlee and Bevin encouraged the United States to take a vigorous role in
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#17330855868668684-586: The Poplar Rates Rebellion ; a campaign of disobedience seeking to equalise the poor relief burden across all the London boroughs. Attlee, who was a personal friend of Lansbury, strongly supported this. However, Herbert Morrison , the Labour mayor of nearby Hackney , and one of the main figures in the London Labour Party , strongly denounced Lansbury and the rebellion. During this period, Attlee developed
8851-523: The Sri Lankan independence movement . Periodization of Sri Lanka history: The first Europeans to visit Ceylon in modern times were the Portuguese : Lourenço de Almeida arrived in 1505, finding the island divided into seven warring kingdoms and unable to fend off intruders. The Portuguese founded a fort at the port city of Colombo in 1517 and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592
9018-605: The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union , was successful in keeping check over the authority of both the prime minister and the government. The evolving usage of prerogative powers also has signalled tension between tradition and accountability. Authors Paul Craig and Adam Tomkins state that the absence of a written constitution gives a prime minister greater leeway in employing their given prerogative powers without limits that in turn would create uncertainty although
9185-400: The advice of the prime minister, the sovereign exercises many statutory and prerogative powers, including high judicial, political, official and Church of England ecclesiastical appointments; the conferral of peerages and some knighthoods, decorations and other important honours. Bagehot identifies the prime minister as the leader of the "efficient" part of government that functions within
9352-492: The caste system , and claimed that the protection of Tamil rights requires the Tamils (45% of the population in 1931) having an equal number of seats in parliament to that of the Sinhalese (about 72% of the population). This "50-50" or "balanced representation" policy became the hallmark of Tamil politics of the time. Ponnambalam also accused the British of having established colonization in "traditional Tamil areas", and having favoured
9519-533: The "farce" of the Non-Intervention Committee organised by the British and French governments. In the House of Commons, Attlee stated, "I cannot understand the delusion that if Franco wins with Italian and German aid, he will immediately become independent. I think it is a ridiculous proposition." Dalton, the Labour Party's spokesman on foreign policy, also thought that Franco would ally with Germany and Italy. However, Franco's subsequent behaviour proved it
9686-437: The "machinery of government" that allows them to guide legislation that align with their party's political and ideological priorities. Brazier argues that the legislative power of the prime minister has greatly expanded following the post-war period and that as a result, the prime minister now directly authorises supervision over government bills and has a consequential role in the introduction of legislation. The prime minister
9853-749: The British Crown colony of Ceylon, by 1910 it grew into the Ceylon Defence Force, a regular force responsible for the defence of Ceylon. The CDF was under the command of the General Officer Commanding, Ceylon , of the British Army in Ceylon if mobilised. However, mobilisation could be carried out only under orders from the Governor . The Ceylon Defence Force has seen action in a number of wars such as
10020-402: The British Empire in the war, with Lord Louis Mountbatten using Colombo as his headquarters for the Eastern Theater. Oliver Goonatilleka successfully exploited the markets for the country's rubber and other agricultural products to replenish the treasury. Nonetheless, Sinhalese continued to agitate for independence and Sinhalese sovereignty, using the opportunities offered by the war to establish
10187-440: The British system, there is a unity of powers rather than separation . Walter Bagehot described the office of prime minister as the "keystone of the Cabinet arch" that maintained while the prime minister can hold significant power over the executive, it is often exercised collectively through the Cabinet (Government). Ministerial responsibility is also an aspect of a prime minister's executive authority. The prime minister leads
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#173308558686610354-416: The British used geographical knowledge to defeat the Kandyan holdouts in the mountainous and jungle areas in the centre of Ceylon. They used local informants and British surveyors to map the island, and then built a network of roads to open the central region. This made possible export production of plantation agriculture, as well as tighter military control. With its trading ports of Trincomalee and Colombo,
10521-403: The British would allow him to retain power. The Kandyan treaty which was signed in 1815 was called the Kandyan Convention and stated the terms under which the Kandyans would live as a British protectorate. The Buddhist religion was to be given protection by the Crown , and Christianity would not be imposed on the population, as had happened during Portuguese and Dutch rule. The Kandyan Convention
10688-458: The British. It has been claimed that the LSSP had some hand in the action, though this is far from clear. Three of the participants were the only British Subject Peoples to be shot for "mutiny" during World War II. Sri Lankans in Singapore and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the Indian National Army . The constitutionalists, led by D. S. Senanayake, (the first prime minister) succeeded in winning independence. The Soulbury constitution
10855-404: The Buddhists by the Buddhist temporalities act. The Soulbury Commission rejected these submissions by Ponnambalam, and even noted their unacceptable communal character. Sinhalese writers pointed out the large immigration of Tamils to the southern urban centres, especially after the opening of the Jaffna-Colombo railway. Meanwhile, Senanayake, Baron Jayatilleke, Oliver Gunatilleke and others lobbied
11022-416: The Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alone. However, they taxed the people far more heavily than the Portuguese had done. A mixed Dutch-Sri Lankan people known as Burgher people are the legacy of Dutch rule. In the late 18th century the Dutch, weakened by their wars against Great Britain , were conquered by Napoleonic France , and their leaders became refugees in London. No longer able to govern their part of
11189-432: The Cabinet as Lord Privy Seal on 12 May. Attlee and Churchill quickly agreed that the War Cabinet would consist of three Conservatives (initially Churchill, Chamberlain and Lord Halifax ) and two Labour members (initially himself and Arthur Greenwood ) and that Labour should have slightly more than one third of the posts in the coalition government. Attlee and Greenwood played a vital role in supporting Churchill during
11356-409: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Neville Chamberlain , introduced a Budget which increased the amount spent on the armed forces. Attlee made a radio broadcast in opposition to it, saying: [The budget] was the natural expression of the character of the present Government. There was hardly any increase allowed for the services which went to build up the life of the people, education and health. Everything
11523-434: The Commission equipped him with a thorough exposure to India and many of its political leaders. By 1933 he argued that British rule was alien to India and was unable to make the social and economic reforms necessary for India's progress. He became the British leader most sympathetic to Indian independence (as a dominion), preparing him for his role in deciding on independence in 1947. In May 1930, Labour MP Oswald Mosley left
11690-414: The European colonists; the Portuguese and the Dutch offspring of the past 440 odd years of colonial history was large enough to run a stable government. Unlike the previous rulers, the British embarked on a plantation programme which initially brought coffee plantations to the island. These were later wiped out by coffee rust . Coffee plants were replaced by tea and rubber plantations. This made Ceylon one of
11857-403: The Government in its rearmament policy". However, with the rising threat from Nazi Germany , and the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations, this policy eventually lost credibility. By 1937, Labour had jettisoned its pacifist position and came to support rearmament and oppose Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement . However Attlee and the Labour Party strongly opposed conscription when it
12024-638: The Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies from 1802 to 1833, then the Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies from 1833 to 1931 and finally the Island of Ceylon and its Dependencies from 1931 to 1948, was the British Crown colony of present-day Sri Lanka between 1796 and 4 February 1948. Initially, the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy , which was a protectorate, but from 1817 to 1948
12191-580: The Leader Arthur Henderson , lost their seats. Attlee, however, narrowly retained his Limehouse seat, with his majority being slashed from 7,288 to just 551. He was one of only three Labour MPs who had experience of government to retain their seats, along with George Lansbury and Stafford Cripps . Accordingly, Lansbury was elected Leader unopposed, with Attlee as his deputy. Most of the remaining Labour MPs after 1931 were elderly trade-union officials who could not contribute much to debates; Lansbury
12358-600: The Portuguese. In 1602, therefore, when the Dutch captain Joris van Spilbergen landed, the king of Kandy appealed to him for help. In 1669, the British sea captain Robert Knox landed by chance on Ceylon and was captured by the king of Kandy . He escaped 19 years later and wrote an account of his stay. This helped to bring the island to the attention of the British. The island attracted
12525-515: The Senanayake government to secure the independence of Sri Lanka. The shrewd cooperation with the British as well as diverting the needs of the war market to Ceylonese markets as a supply point, managed by Oliver Goonatilleke, also led to a very favourable fiscal situation for the newly independent government. During World War II, Sri Lanka was a front-line British base against the Japanese. Opposition to
12692-569: The Sinhalese moved their capital to the inland city of Kandy , a location more secure against attack from invaders. Intermittent warfare continued through the 16th century. Many Lowland Ceylonese were forced to convert to Christianity while the coastal Moors were religiously persecuted and forced to retreat to the Central highlands while some of them desired to leave the country. The Buddhist majority disliked Portuguese occupation and its influences and welcomed any power who might rescue them and defeat
12859-491: The Soulbury Commission without confronting them officially. The unofficial submissions contained what was to later become the draft constitution of 1944. The close collaboration of the D. S. Senanayake government with the war-time British administration led to the support of Lord Louis Mountbatten . His dispatches and a telegram to the Colonial office supporting Independence for Ceylon have been cited by historians as having helped
13026-527: The State Council, N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena , were aided in this struggle by Colvin R. de Silva , Leslie Goonewardene , Vivienne Goonewardene , Edmund Samarakkody and K. Natesa Iyer . They also demanded the replacement of English as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil. The Marxist groups were a tiny minority and yet their movement was viewed with grave suspicion by the British administration. The concerted (but ineffective) attempts to rouse
13193-719: The UK. On arriving in Britain, Attlee invited one of the children into his home in Stanmore , north-west London, where he stayed for several months. Attlee remained as Leader of the Opposition when the Second World War broke out in September 1939. The ensuing disastrous Norwegian campaign would result in a motion of no confidence in Neville Chamberlain . Although Chamberlain survived this,
13360-438: The abilities to declare war, negotiate treaties and deploy the armed forces have historically been part of the monarch's royal authority but have slowly evolved into a function of the office of prime minister. Despite this, the exercise of the prime minister's prerogative powers in these matters is under the oversight of parliament. It is often by convention that a prime minister must seek the approval of parliament before committing
13527-415: The advice and recommendation of the prime minister and the cabinet. This is considered a major principle of the "unity of powers" that exists within a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch "reigns but does not rule". According to Brazier, the prime minister advises the monarch on matters such as the dissolution of parliament and appointments to the House of Lords, but these decisions are often made with
13694-607: The agenda for policy and steering decisions in their preferred direction. Additionally, the prime minister can exercise considerable control over parliamentary time. Authors Alexander Horne and Gavin Drewry state that the prime minister uses this power through the Leader of the House of Commons , by which they are able to allocate time for government bills and often ensuring access to this time over private members' bills. The prime minister's parliamentary powers also extend to foreign relations. Contemporary historian Anthony Seldon says that
13861-613: The attention of the newly formed Dutch Republic when they were invited by the Sinhalese King to fight the Portuguese. It was in 1639 that the Dutch attacked in earnest but ended with an agreement (which was disrespected by both parties), and not until 1656 that Colombo fell. By 1660 the Dutch controlled the whole island except the kingdom of Kandy. The Dutch (who were Protestants) persecuted the Catholics (the left-over Portuguese settlers) but left
14028-459: The balance of power in Europe... [and] destroyed the last fortress of democracy in Eastern Europe which stood in the way of his ambition. He has opened his way to the food, the oil and the resources which he requires in order to consolidate his military power, and he has successfully defeated and reduced to impotence the forces that might have stood against the rule of violence. [...] The cause [of
14195-410: The cabinet which makes the holder of that office bear responsibility for the collective conduct of the government. Professor Rodney Brazier points out that the since the prime minister wields significant sway over policy, that power must be subjected to the conclusion and input of Cabinet ministers. This prevents the office of prime minister from becoming more dominant and also ensures that executive power
14362-529: The centuries. The office of prime minister itself is not explicitly mentioned in parliamentary law but is developed by constitutional conventions and therefore it is defined by precedent and tradition. Bogdanor notes that the prime minister's power in parliament is exhibited by their control of the executive (the Cabinet) and their ability to influence the legislative agenda. The ability of the prime minister to influence legislation, according to academic Philip Norton ,
14529-524: The colony was one of the very few sources of cinnamon in the world. The spice was extremely valuable, and the British East India Company began to cultivate it in 1767, but Ceylon remained the main producer until the end of the 18th century The laying of the railway was carried out during the Governorship of Sir Henry Ward . Other major works of the British include road-building projects and
14696-459: The confidence of the House of Commons , they sit as members of Parliament . The office of prime minister is not established by any statute or constitutional document, but exists only by long-established convention , whereby the monarch appoints as prime minister the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons. In practice, this is the leader of the political party that holds
14863-414: The consent of parliament. The prime minister leads the executive in directing government policy and maintaining coordination between government departments which is dependent upon the cooperation and consent of ministers. Foreign policy and national security are areas in which the prime minister has traditionally enjoyed more authority under what are known as prerogative powers. Vernon Bogdanor argues that
15030-484: The constitutional hierarchy, the premiership was given little formal recognition until the 20th century; the legal fiction was maintained that the sovereign still governed directly. The position was first mentioned in statute only in 1917, in the schedule of the Chequers Estate Act . Increasingly during the 20th century, the office and role of prime minister featured in statute law and official documents; however,
15197-595: The constitutionalists led to the arrival of the Donoughmore Commission reforms (1931) and the Soulbury Commission recommendations, which essentially upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of ministers headed by D. S. Senanayake . The Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, made the demand for outright independence a cornerstone of their policy. Its deputies in
15364-564: The country. Churchill chaired the first two, the War cabinet and the Defence Committee, with Attlee deputising for him in these, and answering for the government in Parliament when Churchill was absent. Attlee himself instituted, and later chaired the third body, the Lord President's Committee , which was responsible for overseeing domestic affairs. As Churchill was most concerned with overseeing
15531-429: The course of the second Labour government, Attlee had become increasingly disillusioned with MacDonald, whom he came to regard as vain and incompetent, and of whom he later wrote scathingly in his autobiography. He would write: In the old days I had looked up to MacDonald as a great leader. He had a fine presence and great oratorical power. The unpopular line which he took during the First World War seemed to mark him as
15698-438: The course of time received universal observance and respect. The relationships between the prime minister and the sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet are defined largely by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the prime minister's executive and legislative powers are actually royal prerogatives which are still formally vested in the sovereign , who remains the head of state . Despite its growing dominance in
15865-522: The crisis which we have undergone] was not the existence of minorities in Czechoslovakia; it was not that the position of the Sudeten Germans had become intolerable. It was not the wonderful principle of self-determination. It was because Herr Hitler had decided that the time was ripe for another step forward in his design to dominate Europe... The minorities question is no new one. [...] [And] short of
16032-546: The duchy of Uva in 1817, so-called the Uva Rebellion , also known as the Third Kandyan War. The main cause of the rebellion was the British authorities' failure to protect and uphold the customary Buddhist traditions, which were viewed by the islanders as an integral part of their lives. The rebellion, which soon developed into a guerrilla war of the kind the Kandyans had fought against European powers for centuries,
16199-573: The establishment of coffee and tea plantations, hospitals, and maternity homes. The Ceylon National Congress (CNC) was founded to agitate for greater autonomy. The party soon split along ethnic and caste lines. Prof. K. M. de Silva, the famous Peradeniya historian has pointed out that the refusal of the Ceylon Tamils to accept minority status to be one of the main causes which broke up the CNC. The CNC did not seek independence or "Swaraj". What may be called
16366-502: The first and second ballots, formally being elected Leader of the Labour Party on 3 December 1935. Throughout the 1920s and most of the 1930s, the Labour Party's official policy had been to oppose rearmament, instead supporting internationalism and collective security under the League of Nations . At the 1934 Labour Party Conference, Attlee declared that, "We have absolutely abandoned any idea of nationalist loyalty. We are deliberately putting
16533-480: The goal of enacting the legislative agenda of their political party. In an executive capacity, the prime minister appoints (and may dismiss) all other Cabinet members and ministers , and co-ordinates the policies and activities of all government departments, and the staff of the Civil Service. The prime minister also acts as the public "face" and "voice" of His Majesty's Government, both at home and abroad. Solely upon
16700-420: The government to steer legislation through both Houses of Parliament. Although the prime minister does not possess the power to introduce legislation directly, their control of the cabinet and their role as leader of the largest political party in the House of Commons enables them substantial influence over any legislative agenda. Bagehot points out that this power is based on the prime minister's ability to operate
16867-400: The government. Attlee effectively served as Labour's acting-leader for nine months from December 1933, after Lansbury fractured his thigh in an accident; this raised Attlee's public profile considerably. It was during this period, however, that personal financial problems almost forced Attlee to quit politics altogether. His wife had become ill, and at that time there was no separate salary for
17034-477: The granting of honours. Brazier argues that prerogative powers allow the prime minister to act within the "authority of the crown" in situations where neither convention nor statutory law applies. As noted by both Bagehot and Brazier, areas in which the prime minister authorises their given prerogative powers are matters of foreign affairs. In recent occasions, the 2003 invasion of Iraq saw Prime Minister Tony Blair deploying British troops to Saudi Arabia without
17201-514: The greatest betrayal in the political history of this country ... The shock to the Party was very great, especially to the loyal workers of the rank-and-file who had made great sacrifices for these men. The general election held in October 1931 proved disastrous for the Labour Party, which lost over 200 seats, returning only 52 MPs to Parliament. The vast majority of the party's senior figures, including
17368-556: The hands of G. G. Ponnambalam who had rejected the "Ceylonese identity". Ponnamblam had declared himself a "proud Dravidian", and attempted to establish an independent identity for the Tamils. Ponnamblam was a politician who attacked the Sinhalese, and their historical chronicle known as the Mahavamsa . One such inflamed attack in Navalapitiya led to the first Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939. Ponnambalam opposed universal franchise , supported
17535-465: The immediate consent or approval of parliament. Brazier says the rise of parliamentary and public scrutiny has led to calls for reform and checks on the use of prerogative powers. The only prime minister who did not seek parliamentary or legal consent for military action was Anthony Eden during the Suez Crisis in 1956. Professors Mark Elliot and Robert Thomas argue that prerogative powers present
17702-689: The independence movement broke into two streams, viz., the "constitutionalists", who sought independence by gradual modification of the status of Ceylon, and the more radical groups associated with the Colombo Youth League, Labour movement of Goonasinghe, and the Jaffna Youth Congress. These organizations were the first to raise the cry of Swaraj, or outright independence, following the Indian example, when Jawaharlal Nehru , Sarojini Naidu and other Indian leaders visited Ceylon in 1926. The efforts of
17869-476: The independence struggle there. The movement in Ceylon was minuscule, limited to the English educated intelligentsia and trade unions, mainly in the urban centres. These groups were led by Robert Gunawardena, Philip's brother. In stark contrast to this "heroic" but ineffective approach to the war, the Senanayake government took advantage of the war to further its rapport with the commanding elite. Ceylon became crucial to
18036-423: The infant mortality rate, and took action to find work for returning unemployed ex-servicemen. In 1920, while mayor, he wrote his first book, The Social Worker , which set out many of the principles that informed his political philosophy and that were to underpin the actions of his government in later years. The book attacked the idea that looking after the poor could be left to voluntary action. He wrote that: In
18203-530: The island effectively, the Dutch transferred the rule of it to the British, although this was against the wishes of the Dutch residing there. The capture of the island immediately yielded £300,000 of money in goods, as well as the acquisition of the cinnamon plantations, making this a valuable venture. In 1803, as soon as Great Britain gained the European-controlled parts of Ceylon from the Dutch, they wanted to expand their new sphere of influence by making
18370-601: The largest number of seats in the Commons. The prime minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury (prior to 1905 also the official title of the position), Minister for the Civil Service , the minister responsible for national security , and Minister for the Union . The prime minister's official residence and office, by virtue of being the First Lord of the Treasury, is 10 Downing Street in London. Early conceptions of
18537-475: The left or of the right. He always supported the crown , and as Prime Minister was close to King George VI . George Lansbury , a committed pacifist , resigned as the Leader of the Labour Party at the 1935 Party Conference on 8 October, after delegates voted in favour of sanctions against Italy for its aggression against Abyssinia . Lansbury had strongly opposed the policy, and felt unable to continue leading
18704-576: The leg by shrapnel from friendly fire while storming an enemy trench during the Battle of Hanna . The battle was an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the Siege of Kut , and many of Attlee's fellow soldiers were also wounded or killed. He was sent firstly to India , and then back to the UK to recover. On 18 December 1916 he was transferred to the Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps , and 1 March 1917 he
18871-620: The longest serving Labour leader. Attlee was born into an upper-middle-class family, the son of a wealthy London solicitor. After attending Haileybury College and the University of Oxford , he practised as a barrister . The volunteer work he carried out in London's East End exposed him to poverty, and his political views shifted leftwards thereafter. He joined the Independent Labour Party , gave up his legal career, and began lecturing at
19038-415: The nation to military action. In addition to this, the prime minister also exerts informal influence over public policy. Brazier notes this is due to the prime minister often being the leader of the largest party in government, therefore having a direct impact in initiating policy both in government and during election campaigns. In the House of Commons, the prime minister guides the law-making process with
19205-604: The native Kingdom of Kandy a protectorate, an offer initially refused by the King of Kandy. Although the previous Dutch administration had not been powerful enough to threaten the reign of the Kandyan Kings, the British were much more powerful. The Kandyan refusal to accept a protectorate led eventually (1803) to the 1st Kandyan War , but was repulsed. In 1815 Kandy was captured in the Second Kandyan War , ending Ceylonese independence. The rule of King Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe
19372-412: The office of prime minister evolved as the " Primus inter pares " or "first among equals", however that does not differentiate on status and responsibility upon whoever is holding office. Historically, the prime minister has never been the first among equals at any time prior to 1868. Until now, that characterisation of the prime minister is reflective of the democratic nature of their position. The power of
19539-425: The office of prime minister has grown significantly since the first prime minister, Robert Walpole in 1721. Prime ministerial power itself evolved gradually alongside the office itself which have played an increasingly prominent role in British politics since the early 20th century . During the premierships of Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher , prime ministerial power expanded substantially and their leadership in
19706-419: The office were described as "presidential" due to their personal yielding of power and tight control over the cabinet. The prime minister is regarded as one of the world's most powerful political leaders in modern times. As the leader of the world's sixth largest economy , the prime minister hold significant domestic and international leadership alongside being the leader of a prominent member state of NATO ,
19873-556: The party after its rejection of his proposals for solving the unemployment problem, and Attlee was given Mosley's post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . In March 1931, he became Postmaster General , a post he held for five months until August, when the Labour government fell , after failing to agree on how to tackle the financial crisis of the Great Depression . That month MacDonald and
20040-467: The party's Deputy Leader . Elected Leader of the Labour Party in 1935, and at first advocating pacificism and opposing re-armament , he became a critic of Neville Chamberlain 's policy of appeasement in the lead-up to the Second World War . Attlee took Labour into the wartime coalition government in 1940 and served under Winston Churchill, initially as Lord Privy Seal and then as Deputy Prime Minister from 1942. The Labour Party, led by Attlee, won
20207-478: The party. Taking advantage of the disarray in the Labour Party, the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin announced on 19 October that a general election would be held on 14 November. With no time for a leadership contest, the party agreed that Attlee should serve as interim leader, on the understanding that a leadership election would be held after the general election. Attlee therefore led Labour through
20374-669: The people will have to pay for their mistake in believing that it could be trusted to carry out a policy of peace. [...] This is a War Budget. We can look in the future for no advance in Social Legislation. All available resources are to be devoted to armaments. In June 1936, the Conservative MP Duff Cooper called for an Anglo-French alliance against possible German aggression and called for all parties to support one. Attlee condemned this: "We say that any suggestion of an alliance of this kind—an alliance in which one country
20541-588: The population of 4,106,400; in 1921, 13.4% and 11.5%; in 1931, 15.2% and 11.3%, and in 1946, 11.7% and 11.0% respectively. The censuses show that during a large period of time in the history of Ceylon, Indian Tamils outnumbered Ceylon Tamils until between 1971 and 1981 when more than 50 per cent of the Indian Tamil population were repatriated as Indian citizens back to India. However, many Indian Tamils were also granted Sri Lankan citizenship whereupon declared themselves as Sri Lankan Tamils. Between 1796 and 1948, Ceylon
20708-447: The powers of the Crown, entrusting its authority to responsible ministers (the prime minister and Cabinet), accountable for their policies and actions to Parliament, in particular the elected House of Commons . Although many of the sovereign's prerogative powers are still legally intact, constitutional conventions have removed the monarch from day-to-day governance, with ministers exercising
20875-428: The prime minister acts as the main representative of the government in the international sphere, including in parliament, where treaties are ratified and international commitments are debated. The most significant powers given to the prime minister are "prerogative powers". These are a set of constitutional privileges deriving from monarchial authority that have gradually evolved into tools of executive power managed by
21042-401: The prime minister and the government. Bagehot famously called the British system as one where "the executive power is now yielded by the prime minister" rather than the monarch, a shift from personal to political power. Prerogative powers allow the prime minister to act without the immediate or direct consent of parliament especially in circumstances such as declaring war, deployment of troops and
21209-463: The prime minister and the sovereign. The concept of " the Crown " resolves this paradox. The Crown symbolises the state's authority to govern: to make laws and execute them, impose taxes and collect them, declare war and make peace. Before the " Glorious Revolution " of 1688, the sovereign exclusively wielded the powers of the Crown; afterwards, Parliament gradually forced monarchs to assume a neutral political position. Parliament has effectively dispersed
21376-404: The prime minister depends on the support of their respective party and on the popular mandate. The appointment of cabinet ministers and granting of honours are done through the prime minister's power of appointment . The prime minister alongside the cabinet proposes new legislation and decide on key policies that fit their agenda which is then passed by an act of parliament . The power of
21543-527: The prime minister's approval is needed in order to initiate the legislative agenda. King's analysis of contemporary politcs showed that some prime ministers often bypass or overrule the cabinet on traditional discussion and to push through their preferred agendas with notable cases such as Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. The prime minister's influence in the Houses of Parliament is derived from longstanding conventions and statutes that have gradually evolved through
21710-462: The prime minister's powers and relationships with other institutions still largely continue to derive from ancient royal prerogatives and historic and modern constitutional conventions. Prime ministers continue to hold the position of First Lord of the Treasury and, since November 1968, that of Minister for the Civil Service , the latter giving them authority over the civil service . Under this arrangement, Britain might appear to have two executives:
21877-519: The public against the British Raj in revolt would have led to certain bloodshed and a delay in independence. British state papers released in the 1950s show that the Marxist movement had a very negative impact on the policy makers at the Colonial office. The Soulbury Commission was the most important result of the agitation for constitutional reform in the 1930s. The Tamil leadership had by then fallen into
22044-536: The reputation of his administration was so badly and publicly damaged that it became clear a coalition government would be necessary. Even if Attlee had personally been prepared to serve under Chamberlain in an emergency coalition government, he would never have been able to carry Labour with him. Consequently, Chamberlain tendered his resignation, and Labour and the Conservatives entered a coalition government led by Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940, with Attlee joining
22211-498: The resulting shift of political power from the sovereign to Parliament. The prime minister is the head of the United Kingdom government . As such, the modern prime minister leads the Cabinet (the Executive). In addition, the prime minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons (the lower chamber of Parliament). The incumbent wields both significant legislative and executive powers. Under
22378-617: The richest countries in Asia. The British also brought Tamils from British India and made them indentured labourers in the Hill Country. This was in addition to the several hundred thousand Tamils already living in the Maritime provinces and another 30,000 Tamil Muslims . The linguistically bipolar island needed a link language and English became universal in Ceylon. Censuses in Ceylon began in 1871 and continued every ten years. The 1881 census shows
22545-427: The royal prerogatives, leaving the monarch in practice with three constitutional rights: to be kept informed, to advise and to warn. British Ceylon [REDACTED] Sri Lanka portal British Ceylon ( Sinhala : බ්රිතාන්ය ලංකාව , romanized: Britānya Laṃkāva ; Tamil : பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை , romanized: Biritthāṉiya Ilaṅkai ), officially British Settlements and Territories in
22712-751: The same battalion; however, he did not deploy to France with it in December 1917, as he was transferred back to the South Lancashire Regiment on 28 November. After fully recovering from his injuries, he was sent to France in June 1918 to serve on the Western Front for the final months of the war. After being discharged from the Army in January 1919, he returned to Stepney , and returned to his old job lecturing part-time at
22879-432: The semi-European Burghers, certain high- caste Sinhalese and the Tamils who were mainly concentrated to the north of the country while ignoring the other ethnic groups on the island. Nevertheless, the British also introduced democratic elements to Sri Lanka for the first time in its history. The Burghers were given some degree of self-government as early as 1833. It was not until 1909 that constitutional development began with
23046-660: The short-lived first Labour government , led by MacDonald. Attlee opposed the 1926 General Strike , believing that strike action should not be used as a political weapon. However, when it happened, he did not attempt to undermine it. At the time of the strike, he was chairman of the Stepney Borough Electricity Committee. He negotiated a deal with the Electrical Trade Union so that they would continue to supply power to hospitals, but would end supplies to factories. One firm, Scammell and Nephew Ltd, took
23213-471: The state would have any serious effect. This sparked a process that caused him to convert to socialism . He joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in 1908 and became active in local politics. In 1909, he stood unsuccessfully at his first election, as an ILP candidate for Stepney Borough Council. He also worked briefly as a secretary for Beatrice Webb in 1909, before becoming a secretary for Toynbee Hall . He worked for Webb's campaign of popularisation of
23380-611: The state. To this end, it undertook the nationalisation of public utilities and major industries, and implemented wide-ranging social reforms, including the passing of the National Insurance Act 1946 and National Assistance Act 1948 , the formation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, and the enlargement of public subsidies for council house building. His government also reformed trade union legislation, working practices and children's services; it created
23547-499: The summer of that year touring Essex and Somerset on a bicycle, explaining the Act at public meetings. A year later, he became a lecturer at the London School of Economics , teaching social science and public administration . Following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Attlee applied to join the British Army . Initially his application was turned down, as his age of 31
23714-620: The suppression of the Uva Rebellion , the Kandyan peasantry was stripped of their lands by the Crown Lands (Encroachments) Ordinance No. 12 of 1840 (sometimes called the Crown Lands Ordinance or the Waste Lands Ordinance), a modern enclosure movement and reduced to penury. The British found that the uplands of Sri Lanka were very suited to coffee , tea and rubber cultivation, and by the mid-19th century Ceylon tea had become
23881-661: The top leadership role for a man they regarded as having little charisma; Beatrice Webb wrote in her diary in early 1940: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom . The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative , chairs the Cabinet , and selects its ministers . As modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command
24048-457: The university lifestyle—rowing, reading and socializing". He was later described by a tutor as "level-headed, industrious, dependable man with no brilliance of style ... but with excellent sound judgement". At university he had little interest in politics or economics, later describing his views at this time as "good old fashioned imperialist conservative". He graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1904 with second-class honours . Attlee then trained as
24215-602: The use of such powers by the prime minister is often constrained by political convention than by law. King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The British system of government
24382-404: The war effort, this arrangement suited both men. Attlee himself had largely been responsible for creating these arrangements with Churchill's backing, streamlining the machinery of government and abolishing many committees. He also acted as a conciliator in the government, smoothing over tensions which frequently arose between Labour and Conservative Ministers. Many Labour activists were baffled by
24549-446: The war in Sri Lanka was orchestrated by Marxist organizations. The leaders of the LSSP pro-independence agitation were arrested by the Colonial authorities. On 5 April 1942, the Japanese Navy bombed Colombo, which led to the flight of Indian merchants, dominant in the Colombo commercial sector. This flight removed a major political problem facing the Senanayake government. Marxist leaders also escaped, to India, where they participated in
24716-434: The whole population, the present regime in Czechoslovakia is not essentially different from the regimes in the surrounding countries". Anthony Eden in the Munich debate acknowledged that there had been "discrimination, even severe discrimination" against the Sudeten Germans. In 1937, Attlee wrote a book entitled The Labour Party in Perspective that sold fairly well in which he set out some of his views. He argued that there
24883-411: Was a British Crown colony. Although the British monarch was the head of state, in practice his or her functions were exercised in the colony by the colonial Governor, who acted on instructions from the British government in London. On the approach to self-government and independence, the Donoughmore Commission recommended the Donoughmore Constitution of 1931–1947, one of a series of attempts to create
25050-456: Was briefly a member of the Socialist League , which had been formed by former Independent Labour Party (ILP) members who opposed the ILP's disaffiliation from the main Labour Party in 1932. At one point he agreed with the proposition put forward by Cripps that gradual reform was inadequate and that a socialist government would have to pass an emergency powers act, allowing it to rule by decree to overcome any opposition by vested interests until it
25217-449: Was centred on the Kandyan nobility and their unhappiness with developments under British rule since 1815. However it was the last uprising of this kind and in the Uva Province a scorched earth policy was pursued, and all males between 15 and 60 years were driven out, exiled and killed. More than 10,000 Sinhalese were killed by British in the rebellion. The British Crown annexed the Kingdom of Kandy to British Ceylon in 1817. Following
25384-408: Was devoted to piling up the instruments of death. The Chancellor expressed great regret that he should have to spend so much on armaments, but said that it was absolutely necessary and was due only to the actions of other nations. One would think to listen to him that the Government had no responsibility for the state of world affairs. [...] The Government has now resolved to enter upon an arms race, and
25551-439: Was essentially what Senanayake's board of ministers had drafted in 1944. The promise of Dominion status, and independence itself, had been given by the Colonial office. The Sinhalese leader Don Stephen Senanayake left the CNC on the issue of independence, disagreeing with the revised aim of 'the achieving of freedom', although his real reasons were more subtle. He subsequently formed the United National Party (UNP) in 1946, when
25718-556: Was in his 70s, and Stafford Cripps – another main figure of the Labour front-bench who had entered Parliament in January 1931 – lacked parliamentary experience. As one of the most capable and experienced of the remaining Labour MPs, Attlee therefore shouldered a lot of the burden of providing an opposition to the National Government in the years 1931 to 1935 ; during this time he had to extend his knowledge of subjects which he had not studied in any depth before (such as finance and foreign affairs) in order to provide an effective opposition to
25885-400: Was influenced by the Darwinist views of his housemaster Frederick Webb Headley , and in 1899 he published an attack on striking London cab-drivers in the school magazine, predicting they would soon have to "beg for their fares". In 1901, Attlee went up to University College, Oxford , reading modern history . He and his brother Tom "were given a generous stipend by their father and embraced
26052-464: Was initially the Lord Privy Seal, before becoming Britain's first ever Deputy Prime Minister in 1942, as well as becoming the Dominions Secretary and Lord President of the Council on 28 September 1943. Attlee himself played a generally low key but vital role in the wartime government, working behind the scenes and in committees to ensure the smooth operation of government. In the coalition government , three inter-connected committees effectively ran
26219-423: Was narrowly defeated by the Conservatives in the 1951 general election , despite winning the most votes. He continued as Labour leader but retired after losing the 1955 general election and was elevated to the House of Lords , where he served until his death in 1967. In public, he was modest and unassuming, but behind the scenes his depth of knowledge, quiet demeanour, objectivity and pragmatism proved decisive. He
26386-467: Was no point in Labour compromising on its socialist principles in the belief that this would achieve electoral success. He wrote: "I find that the proposition often reduces itself to this – that if the Labour Party would drop its socialism and adopt a Liberal platform, many Liberals would be pleased to support it. I have heard it said more than once that if Labour would only drop its policy of nationalisation everyone would be pleased, and it would soon obtain
26553-405: Was not favoured by his chieftains. The king, who was of South Indian ancestry, faced powerful chieftains and sought cruel measures to repress their popularity with the people. A successful coup was organised by the Sinhala chiefs in which they accepted the British Crown as their new sovereign. This ended the line of the kingdom of Kandy and King Rajasinghe was taken as a prisoner, ending his hope that
26720-534: Was not such a ridiculous proposition. As Dalton later acknowledged, Franco skilfully maintained Spanish neutrality, whereas Hitler would likely have occupied Spain if Franco had lost the Civil War. In 1938, Attlee opposed the Munich Agreement , in which Chamberlain negotiated with Hitler to give Germany the German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia , the Sudetenland : We all feel relief that war has not come this time... we cannot, however, feel that peace has been established, but that we have nothing but an armistice in
26887-438: Was passed in April 1939. At the end of 1937, Attlee and a party of three Labour MPs visited Spain and visited the British Battalion of the International Brigades fighting in the Spanish Civil War . One of the companies was named the "Major Attlee Company" in his honour. Attlee was supportive of the Republican government in Spain, and at the 1937 Labour conference moved the wider Labour Party towards opposing what he considered
27054-418: Was promoted to the temporary rank of major , leading him to be known as "Major Attlee" for much of the inter-war period . He would spend most of 1917 training soldiers at various locations in England. From 2 to 9 July 1917, he was the temporary commanding officer (CO) of the newly formed L (later 10th) Battalion, the Tank Corps at Bovington Camp, Dorset . From 9 July, he assumed command of the 30th Company of
27221-517: Was safe to restore democracy. He admired Oliver Cromwell 's strong-armed rule and use of major generals to control England. After looking more closely at Hitler , Mussolini , Stalin , and even his former colleague Oswald Mosley (leader of the new blackshirt fascist movement in Britain), Attlee retreated from radicalism, distanced himself from the League, and argued instead that the Labour Party must adhere to constitutional methods and stand forthright for democracy and against totalitarianism either of
27388-456: Was seen as being too old; however, he was eventually commissioned as a temporary lieutenant in the 6th (Service) Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment , on 30 September 1914. On 9 February 1915 he was promoted to captain , and on 14 March was appointed battalion adjutant . The 6th South Lancashires were part of the 38th Brigade of the 13th (Western) Division , which served in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey . Attlee's decision to fight caused
27555-410: Was seen as the favourite, but was distrusted by many sections of the party, especially the left wing. Arthur Greenwood meanwhile was a popular figure in the party; however, his leadership bid was severely hampered by his alcohol problem . Attlee was able to come across as a competent and unifying figure, particularly having already led the party through a general election. He went on to come first in both
27722-417: Was unsuccessful, Attlee believed that it was a bold strategy which could have been successful if it had been better implemented on the ground. This led to an admiration for Churchill as a military strategist, something which would make their working relationship in later years productive. He later served in the Mesopotamian campaign in what is now Iraq , where in April 1916 he was badly wounded, being hit in
27889-457: Was widely accepted not to be a viable alternative government, owing to the National Government's overwhelming majority in the Commons. Attlee, along with Liberal leader Archibald Sinclair , was eventually consulted with by Baldwin on 24 November 1936, and Attlee agreed with both Baldwin and Sinclair that Edward could not remain on the throne, firmly eliminating any prospect of any alternative government forming were Baldwin to resign. In April 1936,
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