Stafford Cripps - Simon Burgess

Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1947 and 1950, Sir Stafford Cripps was the most substantial figure in Clement Attlee's ground-breaking 1945-51 government, serving as one of Attlee's 'Big Five' alongside Aneurin Bevan, Ernest Bevin, Hugh Dalton and Herbert Morrison. (All the other four, plus Attlee himself, have been the subject of major biographies). 'Austerity Cripps' became identified with the national mood as the country struggled to make its recovery from the war. Cripps was also a significant minister in Churchill's wartime coalition government and in 1942 came very close to toppling Churchill and becoming Prime Minister himself. This is the definitive biography.