“This historic general election, which showed that the British are well able to distinguish between patriotism and Toryism, brought Clement Attlee to the prime ministership. In the succeeding five years, Labor inaugurated the National Health Service, the first and boldest experiment in socialized medicine. It took into public ownership all the vital (and bankrupted) utilities of the coal, gas, electricity and railway industries. It even nibbled at the fiefdoms and baronies of private steel, air transport and trucking. It negotiated the long overdue independence of India. It did all this, in a country bled white by the World War and subject to all manner of unpopular rationing and controls, without losing a single midterm by-election (a standard not equaled by any government of any party since). And it was returned to office at the end of a crowded term.” IndiaBritainPatriotismWorld War IiElectionsWelfare StateUnited KingdomIndian Independence MovementWinston ChurchillLabour Party UkBritish PeopleNational Health ServiceIndian Independence Act 1947Prime Minister Of The UkClement AttleeRationing In The United KingdomSocialised MedicineToyrismUk General Election 1945 Author:Christopher Hitchens