biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1881–1951)
|
| biography:
| British statesman, born in Winsford, Somerset, SW England, UK. Orphaned at seven, and self-taught, he early came under the influence of trade unionism and the Baptists, and was for a time a lay preacher. A paid official of the dockers' union, he gained a national reputation in 1920 when he won most of his union's claims against an eminent barrister, earning the title of ‘the dockers' KC’. He built up the National Transport and General Workers' Union, and became its general secretary (1921–40). In 1940 he became a Labour MP, minister of labour and national service in Churchill's coalition government, and in the Labour government was foreign secretary (1945–51). In this role he played a decisive part in extricating Britain from Palestine in 1948, and involving the USA in rebuilding Europe through the Marshall Plan and NATO. |
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