Herbert Morrison (3 January 1888 – 6 March 1965) was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 26 July 1945 to 26 October 1951, succeeding Clement Attlee and preceding Anthony Eden. A Labour Party politician, he held several senior Cabinet positions.
Biography[]
Herbert Morrison was born in Lambeth, London, England in 1888, and he left school at 14 and held a variety of jobs, ranging from shop assistant to telephone operator. The loss of sight in his right eye prevented him from serving in World War I, although he was in any case a staunch pacifist. He became part-time secretary of the London Labour Party in 1915 and Mayor of Hackney in 1920. He was elected to the London County Council in 1922, and to Parliament as MP for Hackney South in 1923. As Ramsay MacDonald's Minister for Transport from 1929 to 1931, he created the London Passenger Transport Board, but when he lost his seat in 1931, he became prominent in London politics. As leader of the LCC from 1934 to 1940, he worked tirelessly to improve the city's education and sanitary conditions, which led, for example, to the creation of a Green Belt around the capital. He regained Hackney South in 1935 but remained unacceptable for the leadership as sections of the party continued to be suspicious of his domination and drive.
His energy was rewarded when he became Minister of Supply and then Home Secretary in Winston Churchill's wartime coalition government of 1940-5. During this time, he continued to devote himself to developing a consistent and popular domestic programme for the party to carry out once in office. In particular, he drafted Labour's proposals for nationalization and the social services in the 1945 election manifesto. As Deputy Prime Minister to Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951, and as leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, he coordinated Labour's domestic parliamentary legislation. Ever-mindful of the electorate, from 1947 he advocated "consolidation", whereby Labour would not extend its nationalization programme, which he recognized was becoming increasingly unpopular. His advice was ignored, however, and the party lost the 1951 elections, just after he had succeeded Aneurin Bevan to the foreign ministry. Despite his resounding defeat by Hugh Gaitskell for the 1955 leaddership, there is little doubt that he was a crucial force in British politics in general, and in the development and achievement of Labour's programme in particular.