Stafford Cripps
Overview
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
Labour politician
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
of the first half of the 20th century. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he served in a number of positions in the wartime coalition, including Ambassador to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Minister of Aircraft Production
Minister of Aircraft Production
The Minister of Aircraft Production was the British government position in charge of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, one of the specialised supply ministries set up by the British Government during World War II...
. After the war he served in the Attlee Ministry, firstly as President of the Board of Trade and between 1947 and 1950 as Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
. In the latter position, Cripps was responsible for laying the foundations of Britain’s post-war economic prosperity, and was, according to the historian Eric Shaw, “the real architect of the rapidly improving economic picture and growing affluence from 1952 onwards.”
Cripps was born in London.
Unanswered Questions
Quotations
But it is a fallacy, if one is examining the methods by which security can be attained, to start upon the assumption, as so many hon. Members do, that we get security by an increase of air armaments or an increase of any other form of armaments.
Hansard, House of Commons, 5th Series, vol. 292, col. 2425.
It is fundamental to Socialism that we should liquidate the British Empire as soon as we can.
Hull Daily Mail, 2 March, 1936.
Every possible effort should be made to stop recruiting for the Armed Forces
Forward, 3 October, 1936.
I do not believe it would be a bad thing for the British working class if Germany defeated us.
The Times, 15 November, 1936.
The workers must now make it clear beyond all doubt that they will not support the Government or its armaments in its mad policy which it is now pursuing.
Speech on 23 May, 1938.
Emphatically no, and I never have been.
Peter Howard, "Men on Trial" (Blandford Press, 1945), p. 69
Encyclopedia
Sir Richard Stafford Cripps (24 April 1889 – 21 April 1952) was a British
Labour politician
of the first half of the 20th century. During World War II
he served in a number of positions in the wartime coalition, including Ambassador to the Soviet Union
and Minister of Aircraft Production
. After the war he served in the Attlee Ministry, firstly as President of the Board of Trade and between 1947 and 1950 as Chancellor of the Exchequer
. In the latter position, Cripps was responsible for laying the foundations of Britain’s post-war economic prosperity, and was, according to the historian Eric Shaw, “the real architect of the rapidly improving economic picture and growing affluence from 1952 onwards.”
member of the House of Commons who late in life, as Lord Parmoor, joined the Labour Party. His mother, the former Theresa Potter, was the sister of Beatrice Webb
. Cripps grew up in a wealthy family and was educated at Winchester College
and at University College London
, where he studied chemistry
. He left science for the law, and in 1912 was called to the bar as a barrister
. He served in the First World War as an ambulance driver in France, and managed a factory producing armaments. He remained a barrister during the 1920s, where he specialised in patent
cases, and was reported to be the highest paid lawyer in the country.
. During his time in parliament, he was a strong proponent of Marxist social and economic policies, although his strong faith in evangelical Christianity prevented him from subscribing to the Marxist rejection of religion.
In the 1931 general election
, Cripps was one of only three former Labour ministers to hold their seats alongside the party leader George Lansbury
and deputy leader Clement Attlee
. In 1932 he was one of the founders of the Socialist League
, which was composed largely of members of the Independent Labour Party
who rejected its decision to disaffiliate from Labour. The Socialist League put the case for an austere form of democratic socialism
.
In 1936, Labour's National Executive Committee
dissociated itself from a speech in which Cripps said he did not "believe it would be a bad thing for the British working class if Germany defeated us". Cripps also opposed British rearmament: "Money cannot make armaments. Armaments can only be made by the skill of the British working class, and it is the British working class who would be called upon to use them. To-day you have the most glorious opportunity that the workers have ever had if you will only use the necessity of capitalism in order to get power yourselves. The capitalists are in your hands. Refuse to make munitions, refuse to make armaments, and they are helpless. They would have to hand the control of the country over to you".
Cripps was an early advocate of a United Front
against the rising threat of fascism
and he opposed an appeasement policy towards Nazi Germany
. In 1936 he was the moving force behind a Unity Campaign, involving the Socialist League, the Independent Labour Party
and the Communist Party of Great Britain
, designed to forge electoral unity against the right. Opposed by the Labour leadership, the Unity Campaign failed in its intentions, rather than face expulsion from Labour, Cripps dissolved the Socialist League in 1937. Tribune
, set up as the campaign's newspaper by Cripps and George Strauss
, survived. In early 1939, however, Cripps was expelled from the Labour Party for his advocacy of a Popular Front
with the Communist Party and anti-appeasement Liberals and Conservatives.
formed his wartime coalition government in 1940 he appointed Cripps Ambassador to the Soviet Union
in the view that Cripps, an avowed Marxist, could negotiate with Joseph Stalin
who was at this time allied with Nazi Germany
through the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
. Cripps led a mission to Moscow in 1940 and obtained a secret but explicit pledge that the Soviet Union would enter the war on the British side. When Hitler attacked in June 1941
, Cripps became a key figure in forging an alliance between the western powers and the Soviet Union
.
In 1942 Cripps returned to Britain and made a broadcast about the Soviet war effort. The popular response was phenomenal, and Cripps rapidly became one of the most popular politicians in the country, despite having no party backing. He was appointed a member of the War Cabinet
, with the jobs of Lord Privy Seal
and Leader of the House of Commons
, and was considered for a short period after his return from the Soviet Union as nearly a rival to Churchill in his hold on the country. The London bureau chief of the Associated Press
reported in American newspapers in early March 1942 the prediction by "an extremely well-placed and reliable political source ... that there was every likelihood" that Cripps would unseat Churchill as prime minister. Instead, Churchill sent Cripps to India on what is known as the Cripps Mission
to attempt to negotiate an agreement with the nationalist leaders Gandhi and Jinnah that would keep India loyal to the British war effort in exchange for a promise of full self-government after the war. No formal agreement was reached. For Churchill, the purpose of the trip was propaganda. Churchill intended Cripps to fail and blocked his efforts to give the Indians a role in the leadership of the war with the help of Linlithgow. Later in 1942 he stepped down from being Leader of the House of Commons and was appointed Minister of Aircraft Production
, a position outside the War Cabinet but in which he served with substantial success. In 1945 Cripps rejoined the Labour Party.
Cripps was unhappy with the British black propaganda
campaign against Germany. When Cripps discovered what Sefton Delmer
was involved with (through the intervention of Richard Crossman
) he wrote to Anthony Eden
, then Foreign Secretary: "If this is the sort of thing that is needed to win the war, why, I'd rather lose it." Delmer was defended by Robert Bruce Lockhart who pointed out the need to reach the sadist in the German nature.
, Clement Attlee appointed Cripps President of the Board of Trade, the second most important economic post in the government. Although still a strong socialist, Cripps had modified his views sufficiently to be able to work with mainstream Labour ministers. In Britain's desperate post-war economic circumstances, Cripps became associated with the policy of "austerity." As an upper-class socialist he held a puritanical view of society, enforcing rationing with equal severity against all classes. Together with other individuals he was instrumental in the foundation of the original College of Aeronautics, now Cranfield University
, in 1946. The Vice-Chancellor's building is known as "Stafford-Cripps".
In 1946 Soviet jet engine designers approached Stalin with a request to buy jet designs from Western sources to overcome design difficulties. Stalin is said to have replied: "What fool will sell us his secrets?" However, he gave his assent to the proposal, and Soviet scientists and designers travelled to the United Kingdom to meet Cripps and request the engines. To Stalin's amazement, Cripps and the Labour government were perfectly willing to provide technical information on the Rolls-Royce Nene
centrifugal-flow jet engine designed by RAF officer Frank Whittle
, along with discussions of a licence to manufacture Nene engines. The Nene engine was promptly reverse-engineered and produced in modified form as the Soviet Klimov VK-1
jet engine, later incorporated into the MiG-15 which flew in time to deploy in combat against UN forces in North Korea in 1950, causing the loss of several B-29 bombers and cancellation of their daylight bombing missions over North Korea
.
In 1946, Cripps returned to India as part of the "Cabinet Mission", which proposed various formulae for independence to the Indian leaders. The other two members of the delegation were Lord Pethick-Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India
, and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty. However, the solution devised by the three men, known as the Cabinet Mission Plan, was unsatisfactory to the Indian National Congress
mainly its principal leaders. , and instead of having to hold together the emerging one nation, Indian National Congress leaders travelled further down the road that eventually led to Partition
.
In 1947, amid a growing economic and political crisis, Cripps tried to persuade Attlee to retire in favour of Ernest Bevin
; however, Bevin was in favour of Attlee remaining. Cripps was instead appointed to the new post of Minister for Economic Affairs
. Six weeks later Hugh Dalton
resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer
and Cripps succeeded him, with the position of Minister for Economic Affairs now merged into the Chancellorship. He increased taxes and forced a reduction in consumption in an effort to boost exports and stabilise the Pound Sterling
so that Britain could trade its way out of its crisis. He strongly supported the nationalisation of strategic industries such as coal and steel.
Despite financial problems from 1948 to 1949, Cripps maintained a high level of social spending on housing, health, and other welfare services, while also maintaining the location of industry policy. In addition, levels of personal prosperity continued to rise, as characterised by cricket and football enjoying unprecedented booms, together with the holiday camps, the dance hall, and the cinema. In his last budget as chancellor (introduced in 1950) the housebuilding programme was restored to 200,000 per annum (after having previously been reduced due to government austerity measures) while income tax was reduced for low-income earners as an overtime incentive.
Although Cripps's severe manner and harsh policies made him unpopular, he won respect for the sincerity of his convictions and his tireless labours for Britain's recovery. His name once induced an infamous Spoonerism
when the BBC
announcer McDonald Hobley
introduced him as 'Sir Stifford Crapps'.
, inflammation of the lower bowel, a condition aggravated by excessive stress. In 1950 his health broke down under the strain and he was forced to resign his office in October. He resigned from Parliament
the same month, and at the resulting by-election
on 30 November he was succeeded as MP for Bristol South East
by Tony Benn
. Cripps died two years later while recuperating in Switzerland.
Cripps was the nephew maternally of Beatrice Webb
, whose sister Theresa Potter was his mother. He was married to Isobel, Lady Cripps
, better known as Dame Isobel Cripps (1891–1979), and had four children
Cripps was a vegetarian, certainly for health reasons and possibly also for ethical reasons. "Cripps suffered from recurring illness which was alleviated by nature cure and a vegetarian diet...".
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
Labour politician
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
of the first half of the 20th century. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he served in a number of positions in the wartime coalition, including Ambassador to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Minister of Aircraft Production
Minister of Aircraft Production
The Minister of Aircraft Production was the British government position in charge of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, one of the specialised supply ministries set up by the British Government during World War II...
. After the war he served in the Attlee Ministry, firstly as President of the Board of Trade and between 1947 and 1950 as Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
. In the latter position, Cripps was responsible for laying the foundations of Britain’s post-war economic prosperity, and was, according to the historian Eric Shaw, “the real architect of the rapidly improving economic picture and growing affluence from 1952 onwards.”
Early life
Cripps was born in London. His father was a ConservativeConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
member of the House of Commons who late in life, as Lord Parmoor, joined the Labour Party. His mother, the former Theresa Potter, was the sister of Beatrice Webb
Beatrice Webb
Martha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield...
. Cripps grew up in a wealthy family and was educated at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
and at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, where he studied chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
. He left science for the law, and in 1912 was called to the bar as a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
. He served in the First World War as an ambulance driver in France, and managed a factory producing armaments. He remained a barrister during the 1920s, where he specialised in patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
cases, and was reported to be the highest paid lawyer in the country.
Joining the Labour Party
At the end of the 1920s Cripps moved to the far left in his political views, and in 1930 he joined the Labour Party. The next year, Cripps was appointed Solicitor-General in the second Labour government. This post was customarily accompanied by a knighthood, making him Sir Stafford Cripps. In 1931, Cripps was elected in a by-election for Bristol EastBristol East (UK Parliament constituency)
Bristol East is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
. During his time in parliament, he was a strong proponent of Marxist social and economic policies, although his strong faith in evangelical Christianity prevented him from subscribing to the Marxist rejection of religion.
In the 1931 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1931
The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...
, Cripps was one of only three former Labour ministers to hold their seats alongside the party leader George Lansbury
George Lansbury
George Lansbury was a British politician, socialist, Christian pacifist and newspaper editor. He was a Member of Parliament from 1910 to 1912 and from 1922 to 1940, and leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935....
and deputy leader Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
. In 1932 he was one of the founders of the Socialist League
Socialist League (UK, 1932)
The Socialist League was a socialist organisation in the United Kingdom.It formed in the 1932 as a split from the Independent Labour Party, opposed to that organisation disaffiliating from the Labour Party. It was led by Stafford Cripps. The League argued for drastic action to be taken by a future...
, which was composed largely of members of the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
who rejected its decision to disaffiliate from Labour. The Socialist League put the case for an austere form of democratic socialism
Democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation...
.
In 1936, Labour's National Executive Committee
National Executive Committee
The National Executive Committee or NEC is the chief administrative body of the UK Labour Party. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party, Constituency Labour Parties,...
dissociated itself from a speech in which Cripps said he did not "believe it would be a bad thing for the British working class if Germany defeated us". Cripps also opposed British rearmament: "Money cannot make armaments. Armaments can only be made by the skill of the British working class, and it is the British working class who would be called upon to use them. To-day you have the most glorious opportunity that the workers have ever had if you will only use the necessity of capitalism in order to get power yourselves. The capitalists are in your hands. Refuse to make munitions, refuse to make armaments, and they are helpless. They would have to hand the control of the country over to you".
Cripps was an early advocate of a United Front
United front
The united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...
against the rising threat of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and he opposed an appeasement policy towards Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. In 1936 he was the moving force behind a Unity Campaign, involving the Socialist League, the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
and the Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
, designed to forge electoral unity against the right. Opposed by the Labour leadership, the Unity Campaign failed in its intentions, rather than face expulsion from Labour, Cripps dissolved the Socialist League in 1937. Tribune
Tribune (magazine)
Tribune is a democratic socialist weekly, founded in 1937 published in London. It is independent but supports the Labour Party from the left...
, set up as the campaign's newspaper by Cripps and George Strauss
George Strauss
George Russell Strauss, Baron Strauss PC was a long-serving British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament for 46 years and was Father of the House of Commons from 1974 to 1979....
, survived. In early 1939, however, Cripps was expelled from the Labour Party for his advocacy of a Popular Front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
with the Communist Party and anti-appeasement Liberals and Conservatives.
Second World War
When Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
formed his wartime coalition government in 1940 he appointed Cripps Ambassador to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in the view that Cripps, an avowed Marxist, could negotiate with Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
who was at this time allied with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
through the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
. Cripps led a mission to Moscow in 1940 and obtained a secret but explicit pledge that the Soviet Union would enter the war on the British side. When Hitler attacked in June 1941
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, Cripps became a key figure in forging an alliance between the western powers and the Soviet Union
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
.
In 1942 Cripps returned to Britain and made a broadcast about the Soviet war effort. The popular response was phenomenal, and Cripps rapidly became one of the most popular politicians in the country, despite having no party backing. He was appointed a member of the War Cabinet
War Cabinet
A War Cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers. It is also quite common for a War Cabinet to have senior military officers and opposition politicians as members....
, with the jobs of Lord Privy Seal
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state...
and Leader of the House of Commons
Leader of the House of Commons
The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons...
, and was considered for a short period after his return from the Soviet Union as nearly a rival to Churchill in his hold on the country. The London bureau chief of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported in American newspapers in early March 1942 the prediction by "an extremely well-placed and reliable political source ... that there was every likelihood" that Cripps would unseat Churchill as prime minister. Instead, Churchill sent Cripps to India on what is known as the Cripps Mission
Cripps' mission
The Cripps mission was an attempt in late March 1942 by the British government to secure Indian cooperation and support for their efforts in World War II...
to attempt to negotiate an agreement with the nationalist leaders Gandhi and Jinnah that would keep India loyal to the British war effort in exchange for a promise of full self-government after the war. No formal agreement was reached. For Churchill, the purpose of the trip was propaganda. Churchill intended Cripps to fail and blocked his efforts to give the Indians a role in the leadership of the war with the help of Linlithgow. Later in 1942 he stepped down from being Leader of the House of Commons and was appointed Minister of Aircraft Production
Minister of Aircraft Production
The Minister of Aircraft Production was the British government position in charge of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, one of the specialised supply ministries set up by the British Government during World War II...
, a position outside the War Cabinet but in which he served with substantial success. In 1945 Cripps rejoined the Labour Party.
Cripps was unhappy with the British black propaganda
Black propaganda
Black propaganda is false information and material that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. It is typically used to vilify, embarrass or misrepresent the enemy...
campaign against Germany. When Cripps discovered what Sefton Delmer
Sefton Delmer
Denis Sefton Delmer was a British journalist and propagandist for the British government. Fluent in German, he became friendly with Ernst Röhm who arranged for him to interview Adolf Hitler in the 1930s...
was involved with (through the intervention of Richard Crossman
Richard Crossman
Richard Howard Stafford Crossman OBE was a British author and Labour Party politician who was a Cabinet Minister under Harold Wilson, and was the editor of the New Statesman. A prominent socialist intellectual, he became one of the Labour Party's leading Zionists and anti-communists...
) he wrote to Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
, then Foreign Secretary: "If this is the sort of thing that is needed to win the war, why, I'd rather lose it." Delmer was defended by Robert Bruce Lockhart who pointed out the need to reach the sadist in the German nature.
After the war
When Labour won the 1945 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
, Clement Attlee appointed Cripps President of the Board of Trade, the second most important economic post in the government. Although still a strong socialist, Cripps had modified his views sufficiently to be able to work with mainstream Labour ministers. In Britain's desperate post-war economic circumstances, Cripps became associated with the policy of "austerity." As an upper-class socialist he held a puritanical view of society, enforcing rationing with equal severity against all classes. Together with other individuals he was instrumental in the foundation of the original College of Aeronautics, now Cranfield University
Cranfield University
Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire and the second is the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. The main campus is unique in the United...
, in 1946. The Vice-Chancellor's building is known as "Stafford-Cripps".
In 1946 Soviet jet engine designers approached Stalin with a request to buy jet designs from Western sources to overcome design difficulties. Stalin is said to have replied: "What fool will sell us his secrets?" However, he gave his assent to the proposal, and Soviet scientists and designers travelled to the United Kingdom to meet Cripps and request the engines. To Stalin's amazement, Cripps and the Labour government were perfectly willing to provide technical information on the Rolls-Royce Nene
Rolls-Royce Nene
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Bridgman, L, Jane's fighting aircraft of World War II. Crescent. ISBN 0-517-67964-7-External links:* *...
centrifugal-flow jet engine designed by RAF officer Frank Whittle
Frank Whittle
Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS was a British Royal Air Force engineer officer. He is credited with independently inventing the turbojet engine Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was a British Royal Air...
, along with discussions of a licence to manufacture Nene engines. The Nene engine was promptly reverse-engineered and produced in modified form as the Soviet Klimov VK-1
Klimov VK-1
-Bibliography:* Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9-External links:* *...
jet engine, later incorporated into the MiG-15 which flew in time to deploy in combat against UN forces in North Korea in 1950, causing the loss of several B-29 bombers and cancellation of their daylight bombing missions over North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
.
In 1946, Cripps returned to India as part of the "Cabinet Mission", which proposed various formulae for independence to the Indian leaders. The other two members of the delegation were Lord Pethick-Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India
Secretary of State for India
The Secretary of State for India, or India Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister responsible for the government of India and the political head of the India Office...
, and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty. However, the solution devised by the three men, known as the Cabinet Mission Plan, was unsatisfactory to the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
mainly its principal leaders. , and instead of having to hold together the emerging one nation, Indian National Congress leaders travelled further down the road that eventually led to Partition
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
.
In 1947, amid a growing economic and political crisis, Cripps tried to persuade Attlee to retire in favour of Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
; however, Bevin was in favour of Attlee remaining. Cripps was instead appointed to the new post of Minister for Economic Affairs
Secretary of State for Economic Affairs
The Secretary of State for Economic Affairs was briefly an office of Her Majesty's government in the United Kingdom. It was established by Harold Wilson in October 1964...
. Six weeks later Hugh Dalton
Hugh Dalton
Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton PC was a British Labour Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947, when he was implicated in a political scandal involving budget leaks....
resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
and Cripps succeeded him, with the position of Minister for Economic Affairs now merged into the Chancellorship. He increased taxes and forced a reduction in consumption in an effort to boost exports and stabilise the Pound Sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
so that Britain could trade its way out of its crisis. He strongly supported the nationalisation of strategic industries such as coal and steel.
Despite financial problems from 1948 to 1949, Cripps maintained a high level of social spending on housing, health, and other welfare services, while also maintaining the location of industry policy. In addition, levels of personal prosperity continued to rise, as characterised by cricket and football enjoying unprecedented booms, together with the holiday camps, the dance hall, and the cinema. In his last budget as chancellor (introduced in 1950) the housebuilding programme was restored to 200,000 per annum (after having previously been reduced due to government austerity measures) while income tax was reduced for low-income earners as an overtime incentive.
Although Cripps's severe manner and harsh policies made him unpopular, he won respect for the sincerity of his convictions and his tireless labours for Britain's recovery. His name once induced an infamous Spoonerism
Spoonerism
A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched . It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner , Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency...
when the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
announcer McDonald Hobley
McDonald Hobley
McDonald Hobley, born Dennys Jack Valentine McDonald-Hobley, was one of the first BBC Television continuity announcers, appearing from 1946 to 1956.-Childhood and early career:...
introduced him as 'Sir Stifford Crapps'.
Personal life
Cripps had suffered for many years from colitisColitis
In medicine, colitis refers to an inflammation of the colon and is often used to describe an inflammation of the large intestine .Colitides may be acute and self-limited or chronic, i.e...
, inflammation of the lower bowel, a condition aggravated by excessive stress. In 1950 his health broke down under the strain and he was forced to resign his office in October. He resigned from Parliament
Resignation from the British House of Commons
Members of Parliament sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically forbidden to resign. To circumvent this prohibition, a legal fiction is used...
the same month, and at the resulting by-election
Bristol South East by-election, 1950
The Bristol South East by-election, 1950 was a by-election held on 30th November 1950 for the British House of Commons constituency of Bristol South East in the city of Bristol...
on 30 November he was succeeded as MP for Bristol South East
Bristol South East (UK Parliament constituency)
Bristol South East was a borough constituency in the city of Bristol. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system of election....
by Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
. Cripps died two years later while recuperating in Switzerland.
Cripps was the nephew maternally of Beatrice Webb
Beatrice Webb
Martha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield...
, whose sister Theresa Potter was his mother. He was married to Isobel, Lady Cripps
Isobel Cripps
Dame Isobel Cripps, GBE , also known as Lady Cripps, was a British overseas aid organiser and the wife of Sir Stafford Cripps....
, better known as Dame Isobel Cripps (1891–1979), and had four children
- Sir John Stafford Cripps (1912–1993) whose only son is married, and has issue. Sir John's son and grandson are in remainder to the Barony of ParmoorBaron ParmoorBaron Parmoor, of Frieth in the County of Buckingham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1914 for the lawyer and politician Sir Charles Cripps. Two of his sons, the second and third Baron, both succeeded in the title. The third Baron was succeeded by his son, the...
. - Isobel Diana Cripps (1913–1985) who died unmarried
- (Anne) Theresa Cripps (1919–1998), who was married 1945 to Sir Robert Cornwallis Gerald St. Leger Ricketts, 7th BtRicketts BaronetsThe Ricketts Baronetcy, of The Elms in the County of Gloucester and Beaumont Leys in the County of Leicester, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 15 February 1828 for Vice-Admiral Robert Ricketts. The second Baronet was an Admiral in the Royal Navy...
, and had two sons and two daughters. The elder son Sir Tristram Ricketts, 8th Bt. succeeded his father, died in 2007, and has been succeeded by his own son, Sir Stephen Ricketts, 9th Bt. - Peggy CrippsPeggy CrippsEnid Margaret "Peggy" Appiah, MBE was a British children's author, philanthropist and socialite. She was the daughter of the Right Honourable Sir Stafford Cripps and Isobel, the Honourable Lady Cripps, and the wife of Ghanaian lawyer and political activist Nana Joe Appiah.-Early life:Enid...
, born Enid Margaret Cripps (1921–2006), children's author, philanthropist and socialite. Peggy Cripps shocked much British opinion by marrying the black African aristocrat Nana Joseph Emmanuel AppiahJoe AppiahNana Joseph Emmanuel "Joe" Appiah, MP was a Ghanaian lawyer, politician and statesman. He was born in Kumasi to Nana James Appiah and Nana Adwoa Akyaa, members of the Ashanti imperial aristocracy...
(1918–1990), a relative of the Ashanti king of Ghana, in June 1953. Peggy Appiah had one son and three daughters. Her son is the philosopher Kwame Anthony AppiahKwame Anthony AppiahKwame Anthony Appiah is a Ghanaian-British-American philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Kwame Anthony Appiah grew up in Ghana and earned a Ph.D. at Cambridge...
(b. May 1954 London), the Laurance S. Rockefeller professor of philosophy at Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. Her three daughters live in Namibia, Nigeria, and Ghana and have had eight children between them.
Cripps was a vegetarian, certainly for health reasons and possibly also for ethical reasons. "Cripps suffered from recurring illness which was alleviated by nature cure and a vegetarian diet...".