Wednesday, April 17, 2013

In memory of Clement Attlee RIP – the greatest British Prime Minister of all time

Clement Richard Attlee was Deputy British Prime Minister during the war years and British Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951.

During that time he created the NHS, welfare services for deprived children, support and financial help for the elderly and the disabled, he introduced the right to a free secondary education, sickness and child benefit, he raised pensions to a liveable level, built large numbers of affordable housing for low-income families and built numerous new towns for working people.

Clement Attlee also oversaw improvements in survival rates for infants and increased life expectancy for the elderly, introduced equality in law for married women, eradicated the abject destitution which existed in the 1930s across large parts of the country and reduced the acute social deprivation which previously existed in the poorest rural and urban areas.

Prime Minister Attlee introduced specific legislation to improve the working conditions of seafarers, police officers, fire fighters, shop workers, dock workers, miners (including a ban on boys under 16 being allowed to go underground), health workers, carers, farmers and agricultural workers.

Under Attlee’s stewardship, unemployment rarely rose above 3%, living standards increased by about 10% each year, the economy grew by 3% a year, and by the end of his tenure the United Kingdom had the best economic performance in Europe, with output per person increasing faster than even in the booming United States.

Clement Richard Attlee was undeniably the greatest British Prime Minister of all time.

May he rest in peace.
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