Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader and Labour Party politician. He cofounded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1940 and served as Minister of Labour and National Service in the wartime coalition government. He succeeded in maximising the British labour supply for both the armed services and domestic industrial production with a minimum of strikes and disruption.
Ernest Bevin | |
|---|---|
Bevin in 1942 | |
| Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal | |
| In office 9 March 1951 – 14 April 1951 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | The Viscount Addison |
| Succeeded by | Richard Stokes |
| Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 27 July 1945 – 9 March 1951 | |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | Anthony Eden |
| Succeeded by | Herbert Morrison |
| Minister of Labour and National Service | |
| In office 13 May 1940 – 23 May 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | Ernest Brown |
| Succeeded by | Rab Butler |
| Member of Parliament for Woolwich East | |
| In office 23 February 1950 – 14 April 1951 | |
| Preceded by | George Hicks |
| Succeeded by | Christopher Mayhew |
| Member of Parliament for Wandsworth Central | |
| In office 22 June 1940 – 3 February 1950 | |
| Preceded by | Harry Nathan |
| Succeeded by | Richard Adams |
| General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union | |
| In office 1 January 1922 – 27 July 1945 | |
| Preceded by | New office |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Deakin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 March 1881 Winsford, Somerset, England |
| Died | 14 April 1951 (aged 70) London, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse |
Florence Anne Townley
(m. 1906) |
| Children | 1 |
His most important role came as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour government, 1945–1951. He secured Marshall Aid, strongly opposed communism and aided in the creation of NATO. Bevin was also instrumental to the founding of the Information Research Department (IRD), a secret propaganda wing of the British Foreign Office, which specialised in disinformation, anti-communism and pro-colonial propaganda. Bevin's tenure also saw the end of British rule in India and the independence of India and East and West Pakistan (Bangladesh and Pakistan), as well as the end of the Mandate of Palestine and the creation of the State of Israel. His biographer Alan Bullock said that Bevin "stands as the last of the line of foreign secretaries in the tradition created by Castlereagh, Canning and Palmerston in the first half of the 19th century".