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The years 1951 to 1964 were years of undeniable prosperity and progress. They were the years in which Conservative Governments decided not to dismantle Labour’s National Health Service and Welfare State, and for this they must be given a certain amount of credit. The four prime ministers concerned were all from an aristocratic background, but they had learned very quickly that times had changed and that they had to change with them. The result was that these years (and the periods of Labour rule before and after) saw possibly the best governance that Britain has ever experienced. This book, written from an uncompromising Socialist and working-class background, gives a great deal of credit to “the benign aristocrats”, but does not minimise their failures, in particular the Suez affair of 1956.

The Benign Aristocrats