PM who gave us Independence

Clement Atlee (1887 – 1967), the British

By Premasara Epasinghe

The former LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran,once made an interesting observation sayingSri Lankans, especially the Sinhalese, remember the good deeds done unto them only for a week or two. I see some truth in this statement.

Going back to some of our colourful Independence Day celebrations delivered to us by our political leaders, we see they never thanked the UK’s great gentleman politician, Hon. Clement Richard Atlee, British Prime Minster (1945-1951 ), who was mainly responsible for granting Independence to then Ceylon. He also granted Independence to India and Burma.

For the benefit of our younger generation and our politicians, I pen these few lines on Hon. Clement Richard Attlee (1883-1967) later elevated to a peerage. Attlee was a British statesman and a dynamic Prime Minister of United Kingdom during the period 1945 to 1951. He joined the Fabian Society, a non-Marxist organization founded in 1883, in 1907. Members of this Society believed that Socialism could be achieved through gradual political change.

George Bernard Shaw (1856 -1950 ), Irish dramatist and critic was also a member of the Fabian Society. Shaw transformed Victorian Theatre, rejecting popular drama in favour of socially conscious theartre. Although many of his plays were comedies, they expressed the radical, political and philosophical ideas of Sidney (1859-1943) and Beatrice (1858 -1943) Webb.

British social historian and politician. Sydney Webb was one of the founders of the Fabian Society. The society which gained widespread popularity and recognition helped to found Labour Representation Committee in 1900, which became Labour Party in 1906.

In 1935 Clement Attlee became the Leader of the Labour Party. During the World War Two, he served in Winston Churchill’s war cabinet, first as Dominion Secretary ( 1942-1943 ) and later Deputy Prime Minister (1943-1945). Atlee won a landslide victory in 1945 Parliamentary elections and his administration was notable for the introduction of important social reforms such as nationalization of power industries, railways and Bank of England.

Asians. especially citizens of India, Burma and Ceylon were grateful to Attlee as he was the Prime Minister who granted Freedom/Independence to India in 1947, and to Burma and Ceylon a year later.

The British People reelected Attlee in 1950. In 1951 he was defeated by Conservative leader Churchill (1874 -1965), who was elected Prime Minister. Attlee continued to serve as the Leader of Opposition until he retired and accepted Earldom in 1955. Although these two great Prime Ministers belonged to two different political parties, Churchill (Conservative) and Attlee (Labor), they were close friends.

Let me close this narrative with an anecdote on a meeting of these two leaders in a toilet in the British Commons. One day when Parliament was in session, debating the policy of nationalization, Atlee and Churchill met in the men’s room. Atlee arriving first was at a urinal when Churchill followed him and went to a stall some distance away.

Attlee seeing his good friend Winston said, ” Winston, feeling stand offish today, are we? “

The witty Churchill responded, “That’s right Clement, Every time you see a big one you want to nationalize it !”