He became prime minister, replacing Churchill: Who is Clement Richard Attlee?

(1883-1967) British prime minister. He carried out many social reforms between 1945 and 1951. Born in Putney, near London, he died in Westminster. His father was a well-known lawyer and his mother was a cultured woman. After studying law at Oxford University, Attlee practiced law for a while, teaching at the London School of Economics from 1913 to 1923. Except for the period of World War I, when he was in the military, he lived in the impoverished East End of London from 1907 to 1922. He became a member of the Fabian Society, a socialist society, in 1907, and the Independent Labor Party in 1908. He became the first Labor mayor of Stepney county in 1919. He was elected MP from Limehouse in 1922.

He served as an undersecretary in the first Labor Party government, which was established in June 1924 under Ramsay Mac Donald and lasted until November, and was a minister in the second Mac Donald government between 1929-1931.

When Mac Donald formed a coalition government of Conservatives and Liberals in October 1931, the majority of the Labor Party opposed it. Attlee left the government. Coalition supporters were expelled from the Labor Party. Attlee became Speaker of the House Caucus of the Labor Party, headed by George Lansbury. He was elected president in 1935, replacing Lansbury.

Although Attlee approved of Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1939, he refused to serve in the government of Neville Chamberlain. In 1940, Chamberlain left the prime ministership to Winston Churchill due to the lack of support from the Labor Party. In the Churchill-led coalition government of the Conservative and Labor Party, Attlee assumed the position of Secretary of Defense and became Deputy Prime Minister in 1942.

In 1945, the Labor Party withdrew from the coalition and won 388 of the 640 seats in the House of Commons in the elections. Thus, Attlee became prime minister, replacing Churchill.

The new government, headed by Attlee, adopted a broad nationalization program. A policy of "tightening the belt" was adopted in order to repair the British economy, which was badly damaged by the war. In 1946, parliament abolished the 1927 law that outlawed certain strikes and prevented trade unions from doing political work. The Bank of England was nationalized. Later, the Social Insurance Act, which aimed to spread social security to the wider masses, and the National Health Care Act, which envisaged providing free health care to everyone, passed the parliament. In 1947 the coal mines, railways, civil airlines, and telegraph services were nationalized. In 1949 the nationalization of heavy industry (iron and steel industry) was passed by parliament, but this law was not implemented before 1951.

During this period, the British economy was in a great depression. In 1946, due to low exports and the world's shortage of wheat, bread was confiscated. In an effort to boost rapidly falling exports and address the growing foreign trade deficit, the government reduced the value of the British pound from $4.03 to $2.80 in 1949.

Attlee remained loyal to the United States in foreign policy. It joined NATO and the Council of Europe in 1949. Also during his reign, India, Burma, and Ceylon gained their independence.

The Labor Party won the 1950 general elections by a small margin. Britain sided with the United States in the Korean War that began in 1950. The government increased its defense expenditures by giving soldiers to the armed force sent by the United Nations to Korea. But Attlee's situation was also shaken when ministers Harold Wilson and Aneurin Bevan resigned in protest at the priority given to defense over social services.

In the 1951 election, the Labor Party fell into the minority. Winston Churchill became prime minister again. Despite opposition from the left, Attlee remained chairman of the party until 1955. On this date, he was given the earldom. He implemented a reformist policy during his prime minister.