To Sir Stafford Cripps's bony hands, Prime Minister Attlee this week entrusted Britain's economic fate. His official title was Minister of Economic Affairs. In reality, Sir Stafford had become Britain's economic dictator.
Under the old setup, Herbert Morrison was the nearest thing to an economic boss. He presided over the committee to coordinate domestic economic policy. Foreign economic policy was handled by a separate committee. Morrison failed at his job, in part because of ill health, in part because he had too many other things to do, in part because the setup itself left him in the splendid isolation of...
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