Herbert Morrison oversaw Labour's nationalisation programme, although he opposed Aneurin Bevan's proposals for a nationalised hospital service as part of the setting up of the National Health Service.
37 Facts About Herbert Morrison
2.
Herbert Morrison developed his social views from his work in local politics and always emphasised the importance of public works to deal with unemployment.
3.
Herbert Morrison was hailed as "Lord Festival" for his successful leadership of the Festival of Britain, a critical and popular success in 1951 that attracted millions of visitors to fun-filled educational exhibits and events in London and across the country.
4.
Herbert Morrison was widely expected to succeed Attlee as Labour leader but Attlee, who disliked him, postponed stepping down until 1955.
5.
Herbert Morrison, who was by then considered too old, came a poor third in the 1955 Labour Party leadership election.
6.
Herbert Morrison was born in Stockwell, Lambeth, London, to Priscilla and Henry Herbert Morrison, one of six children who survived infancy.
7.
Henry Herbert Morrison was a police constable, with whose Conservative political opinions his son would later come to disagree strongly.
8.
Herbert Morrison attended Stockwell Road Primary School and, from the age of 11, St Andrew's Church of England School.
9.
Herbert Morrison left school at 14 to become an errand boy.
10.
Herbert Morrison eventually became a pioneer leader in the London Labour Party.
11.
Herbert Morrison was a follower of Clapton Orient FC and became a shareholder in the club.
12.
Herbert Morrison was elected to the London County Council in 1922 and at the 1923 general election he became Member of Parliament for Hackney South, but lost that seat the following year when Ramsay MacDonald's first administration lost the general election.
13.
Herbert Morrison returned to Parliament in the 1929 general election, and MacDonald appointed him Minister of Transport.
14.
Herbert Morrison continued to sit on the London County Council and in 1933 was elected to lead the Labour Group.
15.
Herbert Morrison did not envisage democratic control by the workers.
16.
Unexpectedly, Labour won the 1934 LCC election and Herbert Morrison became Leader of the council.
17.
Herbert Morrison was defeated by a wide margin in the final ballot, a defeat ascribed to his unfamiliarity with the MPs who had served in the previous Parliament.
18.
Herbert Morrison convinced Labour to adopt the new electioneering techniques that opponents had been using, especially using advertising agencies in the 1937 local elections.
19.
In 1939, Conservative MPs defeated Herbert Morrison's bill introducing "site value rating", a tax on similar lines to Land Value Tax, in the old London County Council area.
20.
In 1940, Herbert Morrison was appointed the first Minister of Supply by Winston Churchill, but shortly afterwards succeeded John Anderson as Home Secretary.
21.
Herbert Morrison made radio appeals for more fire guards in December 1940.
22.
Herbert Morrison had to take many potentially unpopular and controversial decisions by the nature of wartime circumstances.
23.
In 1942, Herbert Morrison was confronted with an appeal from the Central British Fund for German Jewry to admit 350 Jewish children from Vichy France.
24.
Herbert Morrison organised the general election campaign and enlisted the help of left-wing cartoonist Philip Zec, with whom he had clashed during the early stages of the war when, as Minister of Supply, he took exception to an illustration commenting on the costs of supplying the country with petrol.
25.
Labour won a massive and unexpected victory, and Herbert Morrison was appointed Leader of the House of Commons, having switched his own seat to Lewisham East.
26.
Herbert Morrison was the chief sponsor of the Festival of Britain.
27.
Herbert Morrison supervised the major Labour programme of nationalising large sectors of industry.
28.
Herbert Morrison was a longtime sympathizer with Zionism, but the plan was ultimately rejected by both Palestinians and Zionists.
29.
Herbert Morrison took an aggressive stance against Iran's nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq and approved his overthrow.
30.
Herbert Morrison lacked a deep concern for foreign affairs, but he was an enthusiastic leader of a major domestic project, the Festival of Britain.
31.
Herbert Morrison was then 67, and was seen to be too old to embark on a new leadership role.
32.
Gaitskell won the election, and Herbert Morrison resigned as Deputy Leader.
33.
Herbert Morrison stood down at the 1959 general election and was made a life peer as Baron Herbert Morrison of Lambeth, of Lambeth in the County of London on 2 November 1959.
34.
Herbert Morrison was appointed President of the British Board of Film Censors.
35.
Herbert Morrison's grandson Peter Mandelson was a cabinet minister in the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
36.
Herbert Morrison died on 6 March 1965, coincidentally in the same month as the London County Council was abolished.
37.
Herbert Morrison was Foreign Secretary at the time of the defection of the double agents Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean.