Clement Attlee

Attlee was famously unflashy, and his talent was chairing. His 1945 cabinet contained huge and quarrelsome personalities, Bevin, Bevan, Morrison, Cripps and Dalton, and he kept them delivering: the National Health Service, national insurance, nationalisation of coal and rail, Indian independence and a large council housing programme, all within six years and in a bankrupt country. He ran short meetings and wrote terse notes. The shortages, rationing and the 1947 fuel crisis were also part of the record.