Nye by Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds

Author:Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Twentieth Century, Biography, British Politics, World War II, Political leaders, Labour Party, Socialism, Nye Bevan, Jennie Lee, Clement Attlee, NHS, Wales, Mining
Publisher: I.B.Tauris
Published: 2014-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

‌Chapter 11

‌Bevan’s Record on Housing, 1945–51

The creation of the NHS was an incontestable achievement which, even putting aside the rest of his political career, makes Bevan one of the greatest twentieth-century government ministers. On housing, the achievement has been the subject of more debate. Housing was a difficult issue for Labour in the 1950 and 1951 general elections, and Harold Macmillan, as housing minister in the second Churchill government from its return to office in 1951, built a formidable reputation on achieving a target of building 300,000 houses per year. Attlee should have split health and housing into two departments in 1945. Bevan did not disagree with the obvious link between standards of housing and public health that led the prime minister to give him responsibility for both issues. However, having the same Cabinet minister responsible for both the creation of the NHS and housing the nation after the destruction of the Second World War was more than an overload. It left Bevan having to deal with the intricacies of both sides of his department when either half in itself would have been too much for a single minister.

Bevan deserves great credit for his running of this gargantuan department, but the workload in itself is more a point in mitigation than an absolute defence. Bevan must still be judged on his progress in both fields. Indeed, when Attlee did try to take the responsibility for housing away from him, Bevan sought to keep it. After Labour narrowly won the 1950 general election, Attlee wanted a ‘big drive on housing’ and sought to move responsibility to Hugh Dalton, combining it – quite sensibly – with town and country planning. However, Bevan was unwilling to be solely health minister without his housing responsibilities.1 Eventually, the department was broken up in January 1951, when the housing responsibility finally passed to Hugh Dalton, as the minister of the new Local Government and Planning department. Hilary Marquand took Health, and Bevan the Ministry of Labour, with fateful consequences. Until then, responsibility for housing issues was spread over at least seven ministries. Aside from Health itself, there was Town and Country Planning, Works, and Supply; the Board of Trade was the key on imports, and the availability of workers depended on the Ministry of Labour and National Service. In addition, the Secretary of State for Scotland had responsibility for housing north of the border.

Bevan devoted a chapter of Why Not Trust the Tories? to the issue of housing.2 His principal argument against the Tories was that they put the profit motive above all else: ‘If you vote Tory at the next election you are, in fact, voting against your chances of obtaining the home you want in the place you want it, and at reasonable cost. Do remember that the next time you and your family talk of your dream home.’3 As ever with Bevan, there is myth and reality, and the two are often difficult to distinguish. There are two major criticisms of Bevan’s stewardship

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