Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman,
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
leader, and
Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as
General Secretary of the powerful
Transport and General Workers' Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...
in the years 1922–1940, and served as
Minister of Labour and National Service
The Secretary of State for Employment was a position in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In 2001 the employment functions w ...
in the
war-time 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.
His most important role came as
Foreign Secretary in the
post-war Labour government, 1945–1951. He gained
American financial support, strongly opposed
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, and aided in the creation of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
. Bevin was also instrumental to the founding of the
Information Research Department (IRD), a secret propaganda wing of the
UK Foreign Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...
which specialised in
disinformation
Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate.
The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the L ...
,
anti-communism
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
, and pro-colonial propaganda. Bevin's tenure also saw the end of
British rule in India
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
and the independence of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and East and West
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
(Bangladesh and Pakistan), as well as the end of the
Mandate of Palestine and the creation of the
State of Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. His biographer
Alan Bullock
Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock, (13 December 1914 – 2 February 2004) was a British historian. He is best known for his book '' Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'' (1952), the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which influence ...
said that Bevin "stands as the last of the line of foreign secretaries in the tradition created by
Castlereagh,
Canning
Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although u ...
and
Palmerston Palmerston may refer to:
People
* Christie Palmerston (c. 1851–1897), Australian explorer
* Several prominent people have borne the title of Viscount Palmerston
** Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston (c. 1673–1757), Irish nobleman an ...
in the first half of the 19th century".
Early life
![Ernest Bevin 1920](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Ernest_Bevin_1920.jpg)
Bevin was born in the village of
Winsford
Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industr ...
in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, to Diana Bevin who, since 1877, had described herself as a widow. His father is unknown. After his mother's death in 1889, the young Bevin lived with his half-sister's family, moving to
Copplestone in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
. He had little formal education, having briefly attended two village schools and then Hayward's School,
Crediton, starting in 1890 and leaving in 1892.
He later recalled being asked as a child to read the newspaper aloud for the benefit of adults in his family who were illiterate. At the age of eleven, he went to work as a labourer, then as a lorry driver in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, where he joined the
Bristol Socialist Society
The Bristol Socialist Society was a political organisation in South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the ...
. In 1910 he became secretary of the Bristol branch of the
Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union
The Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers Union (DWRGLU), often known as the Dockers' Union, was a British trade union representing dock workers in the United Kingdom.
History
The union was founded in 1887 as the Tea Operatives and Gen ...
, and in 1914 he became a national organiser for the union.
Bevin was a large, strong man, and by the time of his political prominence, very heavy. He spoke with a strong
West Country accent
West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country.
The West Country is often defined as encompassi ...
, so much so that on one occasion listeners at Cabinet had difficulty in deciding whether he was talking about "Hugh and Nye (
Gaitskell Gaitskell may refer to:
*Arthur Gaitskell (1900–1985), British colonial administrator
*Dora Gaitskell, Baroness Gaitskell (1901–1989), British politician
* Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963), British politician; leader of the Labour party
*Richard Ga ...
and
Bevan
Bevan is a name of Welsh origin, derived from ab Ifan meaning "son of Evan" (Ifan being a variant of Ieuan, the Welsh equivalent of John). Notable people with the name include:
First name
* Bevan Congdon (1938–2018), New Zealand cricketer
*Beva ...
)" or "you and I". He had developed his oratorical skills from his time as a
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
lay preacher, which he had given up as a profession to become a full-time labour activist.
Bevin married Florence Townley, daughter of a wine taster at a Bristol wine merchants. They had one child, a daughter, Queenie Mildred Wynne (6 May 1911 – 31 January 2000). Florence Bevin (died 1968) was appointed
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1952.
Transport and General Workers' Union
In 1922 Bevin was one of the founding leaders of the
Transport and General Workers' Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...
(TGWU), which soon became Britain's largest
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
. Upon his election as the union's
General Secretary, he became one of the country's leading labour leaders, and their strongest advocate within the
Labour Party. Politically, he was on the right-wing of the Labour Party, strongly opposed to
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
and direct action—allegedly partly due to
anti-Semitic paranoia and seeing communism as a "Jewish plot" against Britain. He took part in the
British General Strike in 1926, but without enthusiasm.
Bevin had no great faith in parliamentary politics, but had nevertheless been a member of the Labour Party from the time of its formation, and unsuccessfully fought
Bristol Central at the
1918 General Election, being defeated by the
Coalition Conservative
The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place in the heady atmosphere of victory ...
Thomas Inskip
Thomas Walker Hobart Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, (5 March 1876 – 11 October 1947) was a British politician who served in many legal posts, culminating in serving as Lord Chancellor from 1939 until 1940. Despite legal posts dominating his ...
. He had poor relations with the first Labour
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
,
Ramsay MacDonald, and was not surprised when MacDonald formed a
National Government with the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
during the economic crisis of 1931, for which MacDonald was expelled from the Labour Party.
At the
1931 general election, Bevin was persuaded by the remaining leaders of the Labour Party to contest
Gateshead, on the understanding that if successful he would remain as general secretary of the TGWU. The National Government landslide resulted in Gateshead being lost by a large margin to the
Liberal National Thomas Magnay.
Bevin was a trade unionist who believed in getting material benefits for his members through direct negotiations, with
strike action to be used as a last resort. During the late Thirties, for instance, Bevin helped to instigate a successful campaign by the
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre
A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...
to extend
paid holidays
Annual leave is a period of paid time off work granted by employers to employees to be used for whatever the employee wishes. Depending on the employer's policies, differing number of days may be offered, and the employee may be required to giv ...
to a wider proportion of the workforce. This culminated in the
Holidays with Pay Act 1938, which extended entitlement to paid holidays to about 11 million workers by June 1939.
Foreign policy interests
During the 1930s, with the Labour Party split and weakened, Bevin co-operated with the Conservative-dominated
National Government on practical issues, but during this period he became increasingly involved in foreign policy. He was a firm opponent of
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and of British
appeasement of the fascist powers. In 1935, arguing that
Fascist Italy should be punished by sanctions for her recent
invasion
An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...
of
Abyssinia
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
, he made a blistering attack on the
pacifists
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigne ...
in the Labour Party, accusing the Labour leader
George Lansbury
George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1929–31, he spe ...
at the Party Conference of "hawking his conscience around" asking to be told what to do with it. Bevin's efforts to promote sanctions were successful, with an overwhelming majority of delegates voting in favor of sanctions.
After the vote at the conference. Lansbury resigned and was replaced as leader by his deputy
Clement Attlee, who along with Lansbury and
Stafford Cripps had been one of only three former Labour Ministers to be re-elected under that party label at the
General Election in 1931. After the
November 1935 General Election,
Herbert Morrison
Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, (3 January 1888 – 6 March 1965) was a British politician who held a variety of senior positions in the UK Cabinet as member of the Labour Party. During the inter-war period, he was Minis ...
, newly returned to Parliament, challenged Attlee for the leadership but was defeated. In later years, Bevin gave Attlee (whom he privately referred to as "little Clem") staunch support, especially in 1947 when Morrison and Cripps led further intrigue against Attlee.
War-time Minister of Labour
![INF3-61 Ernest Bevin Artist Arthur Boughey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/INF3-61_Ernest_Bevin_Artist_Arthur_Boughey.jpg)
In 1940
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
formed an
all-party coalition government to run the country during the crisis of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Churchill was impressed by Bevin's opposition to trade-union pacifism and his appetite for work (according to Churchill, Bevin was by 'far the most distinguished man that the Labour Party have thrown up in my time'), and appointed Bevin to the position of
Minister of Labour and National Service
The Secretary of State for Employment was a position in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In 2001 the employment functions w ...
.
As Bevin was not actually an MP at the time, to remove the resulting constitutional anomaly, a parliamentary position was hurriedly found for him and Bevin was
elected unopposed to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for the London constituency of
Wandsworth Central.
The Emergency Powers (Defence) Act gave Bevin complete control over the labour force and the allocation of manpower, and he was determined to use this unprecedented authority not just to help win the war but also to strengthen the bargaining position of trade unions in the postwar future. Bevin once quipped: "They say
Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
was at the
Treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...
from 1860 until 1930. I'm going to be at the
Ministry of Labour
The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...
from 1940 until 1990," suggesting he aspired to have his doctrines remain at the Ministry of Labour as long as
Gladstone's economic policies had governed the Treasury's approach. The industrial settlement he introduced remained largely unaltered by successive postwar administrations until the reforms of
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
's
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
in the early 1980s.
![Churchill waves to crowds](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Churchill_waves_to_crowds.jpg)
During the war, Bevin was responsible for diverting nearly 48,000 military conscripts to work in the
coal industry
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when de ...
(these workers became known as the
Bevin Boys) while using his position to secure significant improvements in wages and working conditions for working-class people. He also drew up the
demobilisation
Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and milit ...
scheme that ultimately returned millions of military personnel and civilian war workers into the peacetime economy. Bevin remained Minister of Labour until 1945 when Labour left the Coalition government. On
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...
he stood next to Churchill, looking down on the crowd on
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...
.
Foreign Secretary
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R67561, Potsdamer Konferenz, Konferenztisch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R67561%2C_Potsdamer_Konferenz%2C_Konferenztisch.jpg)
After the 1945 general election, Attlee had it in mind to appoint Bevin as
Chancellor and
Hugh Dalton as
Foreign Secretary, but ultimately changed his mind and swapped them round. One of the reasons may well have been the poor relations which existed between Bevin and
Herbert Morrison
Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, (3 January 1888 – 6 March 1965) was a British politician who held a variety of senior positions in the UK Cabinet as member of the Labour Party. During the inter-war period, he was Minis ...
, who was scheduled to play a leading role in Labour domestic policy.
[Charmley 1995, pp. 184–85]
![USA C-1860 (26246410746)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/USA_C-1860_%2826246410746%29.jpg)
At that time diplomats were recruited from
public schools, and it was said of Bevin that it was hard to imagine him filling any other job in the Foreign Office except perhaps that of an old and truculent lift attendant. In praise of Bevin, his Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office (
Alexander Cadogan
Sir Alexander Montagu George Cadogan (25 November 1884 – 9 July 1968) was a British diplomat and civil servant. He was Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 1938 to 1946. His long tenure of the Permanent Secretary's office makes ...
) wrote, "He knows a great deal, is prepared to read any amount, seems to take in what he does read, and is capable of making up his own mind and sticking up for his (and our) point of view against anyone."
[ An alternative view is offered by Charmley, who writes that Bevin read and wrote with some difficulty, and that examination of Foreign Office documents shows little sign of the frequent annotations made by Anthony Eden, suggesting that Bevin preferred to reach most of his decisions after oral discussion with his advisers.]
However, Charmley dismisses the concerns of contemporaries such as Charles Webster and Lord Cecil of Chelwood that Bevin, a man of very strong personality, was “in the hands of his officials”. Charmley argues that much of Bevin's success came because he shared the views of those officials: his earlier career had left him with an intense dislike of communists, whom he regarded as workshy intellectuals whose attempts to infiltrate trade unions were to be resisted. His former Private Secretary Oliver Harvey thought Bevin's staunchly anti-Soviet policy was what Eden's would have been had he not been hamstrung, as at the Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris P ...
, by Churchill's occasional susceptibility to Stalin's flattery, whilst Cadogan thought Bevin “pretty sound on the whole”.
According to Geoffrey Warner:
:Bevin's personality was a strange mixture of Jekyll and Hyde
''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old ...
. He was adored by his officials, not only because there was never any doubt that foreign policy was made in the Foreign Office while he was its head, but also because he was as solicitous of their welfare and conditions of employment as he had been of those of his union members. His word was universally regarded as his bond and his loyalty once given was unstinting. At the same time, as even his admirers have conceded, he was long-winded, vain, vindictive, profoundly suspicious, and prejudiced against—among others and in no particular order—Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
, Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, and intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...
s of all kinds, groups that, when taken together, comprised a large proportion of those with whom he had to deal.
United States
Historian Martin H. Folly argues that Bevin was not automatically pro-American. Instead he pushed his embassy in Washington to project a view of Britain that neutralised American criticisms. He felt Britain's problems were in part caused by American irresponsibility. He was frustrated with American attitudes. His strategy was to bring Washington around to support Britain's policies, arguing Britain had earned American support and ought to compensate it for its sacrifices against the Nazis. Bevin was not coldly pragmatic, says Folly, nor was he uncritically pro-American; nor was he a puppet manipulated by the British Foreign Office.
Bevin's complex position on the US is betrayed in the following quotation, given in response to an American visitor who asked Bevin why he had a portrait of George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
behind his desk: "e's
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and drawn by Satoru Yuiga. It was originally serialized in ''Monthly GFantasy'' from 1997 through 2005, and later published in 16 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Square Enix from March 18, 2003 to Februa ...
my hero. If he hadn't been so stupid, you wouldn't have been strong enough to come to our rescue in the War."
Finances
In 1945 Britain was virtually bankrupt as a result of the war and yet was still maintaining a huge air force and conscript army, in an attempt to remain a global power. He played a key role in securing the low-interest $3.75 billion Anglo-American loan
The Anglo-American Loan Agreement was a loan made to the United Kingdom by the United States on 15 July 1946, enabling its economy after the Second World War to keep afloat. The loan was negotiated by British economist John Maynard Keynes and Am ...
as the only real alternative to national bankruptcy; he had asked originally for $5 billion.
The cost of rebuilding necessitated austerity at home in order to maximise export earnings, while Britain's colonies and other client states were required to keep their reserves in pounds as "sterling balances". Additional funds—that did not have to be repaid—came from the Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
in 1948–50, which also required Britain to modernise its business practices and remove trade barriers.
Europe
Bevin looked for ways to bring Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
together in a military alliance at the beginning of the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. One early attempt was the Dunkirk Treaty
The Treaty of Dunkirk was signed on 4 March 1947, between France and the United Kingdom in Dunkirk (France) as a ''Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance'' against a possible German attack in the aftermath of World War II. It entered into forc ...
with France in 1947. His commitment to the West European security system, made him eager to sign the Treaty of Brussels
The Treaty of Brussels, also referred to as the Brussels Pact, was the founding treaty of the Western Union (WU) between 1948 and 1954, when it was amended as the Modified Brussels Treaty (MTB) and served as the founding treaty of the Western Eu ...
in 1948. It drew Britain, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
into an arrangement for collective security
Collective security can be understood as a security arrangement, political, regional, or global, in which each state in the system accepts that the security of one is the concern of all, and therefore commits to a collective response to threats t ...
, opening the way for the formation of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
in 1949. NATO was primarily aimed as a defensive measure against Soviet expansion, but it also helped bring its members closer together and enabled them to modernize their forces along parallel lines, and encourage arms purchases from Britain.
Britain was still closely allied to France and both countries continued to be treated as major partners at international summits alongside the US and USSR until 1960. Broadly speaking, all this remained Britain's foreign policy until the late 1950s, when the humiliation of the 1956 Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
and the economic revival of Continental Europe, now united as the "Common Market
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
", caused a reappraisal.
Empire
Bevin was unsentimental about the British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
in places where the growth of nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
had made direct rule no longer practicable, and was part of the Cabinet which approved a speedy British withdrawal from India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
in 1947, and from neighbouring colonies. Yet at this stage Britain still maintained a network of client state
A client state, in international relations, is a state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called the "controlling state"). A client state may variously be described as satellite state, ...
s in the Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
(Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
until 1952, Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
and Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
until 1959), major bases in such places as Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
and Suez
Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...
(until 1956) and expected to remain in control of parts of Africa for many more years, Bevin approving the construction of a huge new base in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:
Due to the historical ...
. Bevin wrote “we have the material resources in the Colonial Empire, if we develop them … which will show clearly that we are not subservient to the United States … or to the Soviet Union”. In this era colonial exports earned $150m a year, mostly Malayan rubber, West African cocoa, and sugar and sisal from the West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
. By the end of 1948 colonial exports were 50% higher than before the war, whilst in the first half of 1948 colonial exports accounted for 10.4% of Britain's imports. After the war Britain helped France and the Netherlands recover their Far Eastern empires in the French Indochina
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
and Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
, hopeful that this could lead towards the formation of a third superpower bloc. Bevin agreed with Duff Cooper
Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, (22 February 1890 – 1 January 1954), known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician and diplomat who was also a military and political historian.
First elected to Parliament in 19 ...
(British Ambassador in Paris) that the Dunkirk Treaty would be a step in this direction and thought that Eden's objection – in 1944 when Cooper first proposed it – that such moves might alienate the Soviets no longer applied.
In December 1947 Bevin hoped (in vain) that the USA would support Britain's “strategic, political and economic position in the Middle East”. In May 1950 Bevin told the London meeting of foreign ministers that “the United States authorities had recently seemed disposed to press us to adopt a greater measure of economic integration with Europe than we thought wise” (he was referring to the Schuman Plan to set up the European Coal and Steel Community). In May 1950 he said that, because of links with the US and the Commonwealth, Britain was “different in character from other European nations and fundamentally incapable of wholehearted integration with them”.
Cold War
Bevin remained a determined anti-Communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
, and critic of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. In 1946 during a conference, the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov. ; (;. 9 March Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O._S._25_February.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O. S. 25 February">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dat ...
repeatedly attacked British proposals whilst defending Soviet policies, and in total frustration Bevin stood and lurched towards the minister whilst shouting "I've had enough of this I 'ave!" before being restrained by security.
He strongly encouraged the United States to take a vigorously anti-Communist foreign policy in the early years of the Cold War. He was a leading advocate for British combat operations in the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. Two of the key institutions of the post-war world, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two Nor ...
(NATO) and the Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
for aid to post-war Europe, were in considerable part the result of Bevin's efforts during these years. This policy, little different from that of the Conservatives ("Hasn't Anthony Eden grown fat?" as wags had it), was a source of frustration to some backbench Labour MPs, who early in the 1945 Parliament formed a " Keep Left" group to push for a more Left-Wing foreign policy.[
In 1945, Bevin advocated the creation of a ]United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) is a proposed addition to the United Nations System that would allow for greater participation and voice for members of parliament. The idea was raised at the founding of the League of Nations in ...
, saying in the House of Commons that "There should be a study of a house directly elected by the people of the world to whom the nations are accountable."
In 1950, Bevin offered recognition to the People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Atomic bomb
Attlee and Bevin worked together on the decision to produce a British atomic bomb, despite intense opposition from pro-Soviet elements of the Labour Party, a group Bevin detested. The decision was taken in secret by a small Cabinet committee. Bevin told the committee in October 1946, that 'We've got to have this thing over here whatever it costs ... We've got to have the bloody Union Jack flying on top of it.' It was a matter of both prestige and national security. Those ministers who would have opposed the bomb on grounds of cost, Hugh Dalton and Sir Stafford Cripps, were excluded from the meeting in January 1947 at which the final decision was taken.
Palestine and Israel
Bevin was Foreign Secretary during the period when the Mandate of Palestine ended and the State of Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
was created. Bevin failed to secure the stated British objectives in this area of foreign policy, which included a peaceful settlement of the situation and the avoidance of involuntary population transfers. Regarding Bevin's handling of the Middle East situation, at least one commentator, David Leitch
David Leitch (born November 16, 1975) is an American filmmaker, actor, stunt performer and stunt coordinator who made his directorial debut on the 2014 action film ''John Wick'' with Chad Stahelski, though only Stahelski was credited. Leitch the ...
, has suggested that Bevin lacked diplomatic finesse.
Leitch argued that Bevin tended to make a bad situation worse by making ill-chosen abrasive remarks. Bevin was undeniably a plain-spoken man, some of whose remarks struck many as insensitive. Critics have accused him of being anti-Semitic. One remark which caused particular anger was made when President Truman was pressing Britain to immediately admit 100,000 Jewish refugees
This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews.
Timeline
The following is a list of Jewish expulsions and events that prompted significant streams of Jewish refugees.
Assyrian captivity
; ...
, survivors of the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
who wanted to immigrate to Palestine. Bevin told a Labour Party meeting that American pressure to admit Jews was being applied because "There has been agitation in the United States, and particularly in New York, for 100,000 Jews to be put in Palestine. I hope I will not be misunderstood in America if I say that this was proposed by the purest of motives. They did not want too many Jews in New York." He was merely restating what he said he had been told by James F. Byrnes
James Francis Byrnes ( ; May 2, 1882 – April 9, 1972) was an American judge and politician from South Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in U.S. Congress and on the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as in the executive branch, ...
, the United States Secretary of State.[
For refusing to remove limits on Jewish immigration to Palestine in the aftermath of the war, Bevin earned the hatred of Zionism, Zionists. According to historian Howard Sachar, his political foe, Richard Crossman, a fellow Labour Party member of parliament and a pro-Zionist member of the post-war Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry into the Problems of European Jewry and Palestine, characterised his outlook during the dying days of the Mandate as "corresponding roughly with ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion''", a Tsarist fabrication written to inflame anti-Semitic prejudice. In Sachar's account, Crossman intimated that "the main points of Bevin's discourse were ... that the Jews had successfully organised a conspiracy against Britain and against him personally." Bevin's biographer Alan Bullock rejected suggestions that Bevin was motivated by personal Antisemitism, anti-Semitism.
]
Britain's economic weakness and its dependence on the financial support of the United States (Britain had received a large American loan in 1946 and the Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
began in mid-1947), left him little alternative but to yield to American pressure over Palestine policy. At the reconvened London 6-Power Conference, London Conference in January 1947, the Jewish negotiators were only prepared to accept partition and the Arab negotiators only a unitary state (which would automatically have had an Arab majority). Neither would accept limited autonomy under British rule. When no agreement could be reached, Bevin threatened to hand the problem over to the United Nations. The threat failed to move either side, the Jewish representatives because they believed that Bevin was bluffing and the Arabs because they believed that their cause would prevail before the United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly. Bevin accordingly announced that he would "ask the UN to take the Palestine question into consideration."
A week later, the strategic logic of Britain retaining a presence in Palestine was removed when the intention to withdraw from India in August of that year was announced.[ The decision to allow the United Nations to dictate the future of Palestine was formalised by the Attlee ministry, Attlee government's public declaration in February 1947 that Britain's Mandate in Palestine had become "unworkable." Of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine which resulted, Bevin commented: "The majority proposal is so manifestly unjust to the Arabs that it is difficult to see how, in Sir Alexander
Cadogan's words, 'we could reconcile it with our conscience.' "
During the remainder of the Mandate, 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, fighting between the Jewish and Arab communities intensified. The end of the Mandate and Britain's final withdrawal from Palestine was marked by the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when five Arab states intervened in the inter-communal fighting. The Arab armies were led by Jordan, the most effective state, whose Jordanian Armed Forces, military forces were trained and led by British officers. The war ended with Israel, in addition to the territory assigned by the UN for the creation of a Jewish state, also in control of much of the Mandate territory which had been assigned by the UN for the creation of an Arab state. The remainder was divided between Jordan and Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of, overwhelmingly Arab, civilians had become 1948 Palestinian exodus, displaced.
Bevin was infuriated by attacks on British troops carried out by the more extreme of the Jewish militant groups, the Irgun and Lehi (group), Lehi, commonly known as the Stern Gang. The Haganah carried out less direct attacks, until the King David Hotel bombing, after which it restricted itself to illegal immigration activities.][ According to declassified MI6 files, the Irgun and Lehi attempted to assassinate Bevin himself in 1946.
Bevin negotiated the The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1948, Portsmouth Treaty with Iraq (signed on 15 January 1948), which, according to the Iraqi foreign minister Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali, was accompanied by a British undertaking to withdraw from Palestine in such a fashion as to provide for swift Arab occupation of all its territory.
]
Later life
Owing to failing health, Bevin reluctantly allowed himself to be appointed Lord Privy Seal in March 1951. "I am neither a Lord, nor a Privy, nor a Seal", he is said to have commented. He died from a heart attack in the following month, still holding the key to his red box (government), red box. His ashes are buried in Westminster Abbey.
When, on Stafford Cripps's death in 1952, Attlee (by this time Leader of the Opposition) was invited to broadcast a tribute by the BBC, he was looked after by announcer Frank Phillips. After the broadcast, Phillips took Attlee to the hospitality room for a drink and in order to make conversation said:"I suppose you will miss Sir Stafford, sir."
Attlee fixed him with his eye: "Did you know Ernie Bevin?"
"I have met him, sir," Phillips replied.
"There's the man I miss."
James Chuter Ede, Home Secretary throughout the time that Bevin was at the Foreign Office (and for a few months after his death), had worked with Churchill, Attlee, John Maynard Keynes, Keynes and many other significant figures. When Bevin's biographer, Alan Bullock, asked Chuter Ede for his view of Bevin, he replied:"Was he the biggest man I met in the Labour movement? He was the biggest man I met in any movement."
A bust of Bevin has been placed opposite Devon Mansions and the former St Olave's Grammar School in Tooley Street, South London. Bevin was offered many honours as his reputation grew, but declined all of them.
Assessments
Martin Folly argues that assessments on Bevin as foreign secretary divide into two schools. After the opening of the British archives, historians, led by biographer Alan Bullock
Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock, (13 December 1914 – 2 February 2004) was a British historian. He is best known for his book '' Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'' (1952), the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which influence ...
celebrated Bevin as one of the great men in British diplomatic history. They argued he dominated foreign-policy, led the Foreign Office by strength of character and clarity of vision, and carried through on his grand design for Britain's revised role in world affairs, especially in close alliance with the United States, his support for NATO, and his rejection of an alternative of Britain as a neutral third force as advocated by the left wing of his party. He succeeded in convincing the United States to take over some of Britain's burdens, especially in Greece. He thereby became a major influence in pushing the United States into a leadership role through the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, NATO, and the Cold War. However, a revisionist approach appeared in the late 1980s. It portrays Bevin as a narrow-minded anti-Communist and gives more credit to the Foreign Office for the new foreign-policy. In this interpretation, Bevin lost the opportunity to make Britain a leader in European affairs, and it instead became more of a tail on the American kite.[Peter Weiler, "Britain and the First Cold War: Revisionist Beginnings', ''Twentieth Century British History'' (1998) 9#1: 127–138; Anne Deighton, ''The Impossible Peace. Britain, the Division of Germany, and the Origins of the Cold War'' (1990).]
See also
* Aneurin Bevan, a rival minister in the same Labour government; he was to the left of Bevin
* Ernest Bevin College
* History of trade unions in the United Kingdom
* SS Exodus, SS ''Exodus''
* Information Research Department (IRD)
References
Further reading
* Adonis, Andrew. ''Ernest Bevin: Labour's Churchill'' (Biteback Publishing, 2020).
* Bullock, Alan. ''The Life & Times of Ernest Bevin: Volume One: Trade Union Leader 1881 – 1940'' (1960); ''The life and times of Ernest Bevin: volume two Minister of Labour 1940–1945'' (1967); ''The life and times of Ernest Bevin: Foreign Secretary, 1945–1951'' (1983
online
**Alan Bullock
Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock, (13 December 1914 – 2 February 2004) was a British historian. He is best known for his book '' Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'' (1952), the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which influence ...
's magisterial three-volume biography was re-published in a single-volume abridged version by Politicos Publishing in 2002.
* [Discusses Bevin's policies ''apropos'' of Anglo-American relations of the era]
* Deighton, Anne. "Entente Neo-Coloniale?: Ernest Bevin and the Proposals for an Anglo–French Third World Power, 1945–1949," ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' (2006) 17#4 pp 835–852. Bevin in 1945–49 advocated cooperation with France as the base of a "Third World Power," which would be a third strategic center of power in addition to the United States and the Soviet Union.
* Folly, Martin H. "‘The impression is growing...that the United States is hard when dealing with us’: Ernest Bevin and Anglo-American relations at the dawn of the cold war." ''Journal of Transatlantic Studies'' 10#2 (2012): 150–166.
* Goodlad, Graham. "Attlee, Bevin and Britain's Cold War," ''History Review'' (2011), Issue 69, pp 1–6
* Greenwood, Sean. "Bevin, the Ruhr and the Division of Germany: August 1945 – December 1946," ''Historical Journal'' (1986) 29#1 pp 203–212. Argues that Bevin saw the Ruhr as the centerpiece of his strategy for the industrial revitalisation of Europe. He insisted on keeping the Soviets out, and this position made him one of the principal architects of a divided Germany
in JSTOR
* Inman, P.F. ''Labour in the munitions industries'' (1957), official WW2 history.
*
* Denis MacShane contributed an essay on Bevin to the ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', Greg Rosen (ed), Politicos Publishing, 2001.
* Ferdinand Mount, "The Importance of Being Ernie" (review of Andrew Adonis, ''Ernest Bevin: Labour's Churchill'', Biteback, July 2020, 352 pp., ), ''London Review of Books'', vol. 42, no. 21 (5 November 2020), pp. 27–28.
* Ovendale, R. ed. ''The foreign policy of the British labour governments, 1945–51'' (1984) ·
* Parker, H. M. D. ''Manpower: a study of war-time policy and administration'' (1957), official WW2 history.
* Pearce, Robert. "Ernest Bevin: Robert Pearce Examines the Career of the Man Who Was Successively Trade Union Leader, Minister of Labour and Foreign Secretary" ''History Review'' (Dec 2002
online
* Pearce, Robert. "Ernest Bevin" in Kevin Jefferys, ed., ''Labour Forces: From Ernie Bevin to Gordon Brown'' (2002) pp 7–24
* Saville, J. ''The politics of continuity: British foreign policy and the Labour government, 1945–46'' (1993)·
* Stephens, Mark. ''Ernest Bevin – Unskilled Labourer and World Statesman'' (1981)·
* Vickers, Rhiannon. ''The Labour Party and the world, volume 1: The evolution of Labour's foreign policy, 1900–51'' (Manchester UP, 2010)
online free
* Warner, Geoffrey. "Ernest Bevin and British Foreign Policy, 1945–1951" in ''The Diplomats, 1939–1979'' ed. by Gordon A. Craig and Francis L. Loewenheim. (Princeton UP, 1994) pp. 103–134
online
* Weiler, Peter. "Britain and the First Cold War: Revisionist Beginnings," ''Twentieth Century British History'' (1998) 9#1 pp 127–138 reviews arguments of revisionist historians who downplay Bevin's personal importance in starting the Cold War and instead emphasise British efforts to use the Cold War to perpetuate imperial regional interests, through containment of radical national movements, and to oppose American aggrandisement.
* Williams, Francis. ''Ernest Bevin: Portrait of a Great Englishman'' (Hutchinson, 1952
online
* Wrigley, Chris. "Bevin, Ernest (1881–1951)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004); online edn, January 200
accessed 2 June 2013
; brief scholarly biography
External links
*
*
* Peter Day
The Sunday Times (UK), The Sunday Times, 5 March 2006.
From the hedgerows of Devon to the Foreign Office
– Roger Steer.
Annotated bibliography for Ernest Bevin from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
Catalogue of Bevin's trade union papers
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bevin, Ernest
1881 births
1951 deaths
British Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs
British Secretaries of State
Burials at Westminster Abbey
English Baptists
Foreign Office personnel of World War II
General secretaries of the Transport and General Workers' Union
Labor ministers
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Lords Privy Seal
Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951
Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945
Presidents of the Trades Union Congress
Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs
UK MPs 1935–1945
UK MPs 1945–1950
UK MPs 1950–1951
20th-century Baptists