Citizen Clem: A Biography of Attlee
by John Bew (riverrun, £30)
On 3rd August 1945 at 10.45am, newly victorious Labour MPs assembled in Westminster to take their oath of allegiance. Clement Attlee, the new prime minister whose party had just won by a landslide, gave his fellow MPs three pieces of advice: do not talk in the lobby of the House of Commons; do not loiter or dine in West End restaurants; and never converse with William “Max” Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook). As to himself: “I am a very diffident man,” he explained. “I find it very hard to carry on conversation. But if any of you come to see me, I will welcome you. I will receive you and I will discuss your problems with you.”