About the lecture

In this module, we think about Churchill's return to power in 1951, focusing in particular on: (i) Churchill's performance as Leader of the Opposition; (ii) the increasing unpopularity of Attlee's Labour government, due in part to the continuation of wartime food rationing in the 1950s; (iii) the successes of Attlee's Labour government: full employment, the creation of the NHS, the introduction of other forms of social security, etc.; (iv) the nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian Petroleum Company (AOIC) in 1951 and the possibility of war in the Middle East; (v) Labour's (allegedly) patchy record on foreign affairs: Indian independence, the withdrawal from Palestine, etc.; (vi) Churchill's time in power: marred by illness, attempted rapprochement with the Soviet Union after the death of Stalin in 1953; and (vii) Churchill's retirement and the almost-immediate failure of his successor, Anthony Eden.

About the lecturer

Prof. Richard Toye is Professor in the History department at the University of Exeter. He is a historian of Britain in its global and imperial context in the period from the late nineteenth century to the present day, and is particularly interested in the rhetorical dimensions of politics, economics and empire. He is the author of several monographs, including The Labour Party and the Planned Economy, 1931-1951 (2003), Arguing about Empire: Imperial Rhetoric in Britain and France, 1882-1956 (2017), and Winston Churchill: A Life in the News (2020).