My policy is to be able to take a ticket at Victoria station and go anywhere I damn well please! - Ernest Bevin

About Ernest Bevin

Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, Labour politician, and trade union leader. He co-founded and served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1940, and as Minister of Labour in Winston Churchill's coalition government during World War II. He succeeded in maximizing the British labour supply, for both the armed services and domestic industrial production, with a minimum of strikes and disruption. His most important role came as Foreign Secretary in Clement Attlee's post-war Labour Government of 1945–51, when the Cold War was beginning and when the United Kingdom had been weakened by World War II. He gained American financial support, strongly opposed Communism, and aided in the creation of NATO. Bevin's tenure also saw the end of the Mandate of Palestine and the creation of the State of Israel.