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Aneurin Bevan: a Parliamentry Odyssey: Speeches at Westminister 1929-1944 (Manutius Politics) (v. 1)

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Aneurin Bevan was one of the most gifted and controversial politicians of the twentieth century. From roots in a South Wales coal mining community he rose through his trade union and local government to become a Member of Parliament of rare quality. As Minister of Health, Bevan created the greatest welfare structure of the age: the National Health Service, for which he will long be remembered. This anthology of his parliamentary speeches commemerates the centenary of the birth of Aneurin Bevan in 1997.
Bevan was a major political figure in his own right and his speeches deserve attention for that fact alone. He was one of the outstanding British political orators of the twentieth century. His speeches certainly repay reading today. Bevan's influence has left its imprint both on political contemporaries like Michael Foot and Barbara Castle, and their successors such as Neil Kinnock, who themselves have been major figures in British politics as leaders of the Labour Party.
This volume covers Bevan's parliamentary career from entering the House of Commons in 1929 as a thirty-one year old Government back-bencher, up to his last major speech from the Opposition back-bench in 1944, a short time before being propelled into Government as Minister of Health in the landslide Labour
victory of 1945.
The speeches are many and varied, reflecting Bevan's wide range of interests and talents. They demonstrate his mastery of subject, his depth of understanding and attention to detail. He often used them to paint a vivid picture of his own experiences or those of his constituents, particularly in his early years at Westminster. He was a master of intonation and inflexion and his speeches have a passion and fervour which were as important ingredients in conveying his message as his undoubted verbal dexterity and eloquence. Bevan's career at Westminster truly was a parliamentary odyssey. A political adventure in which he journeyed from his colliery community to the international arena to advance the cause of democratic socialism.

Aneurin Bevan: A Parliamentary Odyssey is required reading for anyone interested in the Labour Party and its history and the development of British politics in the twentieth century.