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As Churchill's deputy in the coalition war cabinet, Attlee acquired immense administrative experience and developed his sense of balance and timing. Colleagues noticed that when he presided in Churchill's absence, the cabinet got a lot of business done. But Attlee, perhaps still resenting the Baldwin-MacDonald deal, has always hated coalitions. He left the war cabinet as soon as he could, and surprised the world with the smashing Labor victory of 1945.
Doodles. Immediately, uncomplimentary legends began to cluster about Attlee's retiring and "colorless" personality. Such cracks as "An empty limousine drew up at the gate and Attlee stepped out" or "This would never have happened if good old Attlee had been alive" became standard cocktail-party fodder. Attlee's shyness is not that of an insecure or a frightened man. He wants to be alone because he likes it that way. In committee meetings, at parties or in the House of Commons, he seems to have the gift of becoming invisible. As the debate in the House grows hotter he slumps down, his feet on the table, his bald head slipping until it is about level with the top of the bench back. he voices grow more strident, but Attlee hardly stirs. He might be asleep. But no, his hand is moving through a strange intricate pattern. He is doodling. Some knitted through France's revolution.
Attlee has quietly doodled through many of the great crises in Britain's.
His ability to be placid in the midst of storm and stress has given him his peculiarly firm hold over the Socialist Party. He cannot be rushed. He cannot be stampeded by a flood of oratory. In the cabinet room of No. 10, even the most eloquent minister may find that during his choicest arguments Attlee has been deeply absorbed in some pencil design on the paper before him. It is maddening, but there is no penetrating this kind of defense. Attlee in his cool ivory tower quietly sorts out the pros & cons and comes to a decision in his own time.
At home, the Prime Minister is more animated as he jokes with his family and friends. If anyone happens to show an interest in nursery schools, he pins him down. He will probably rope the victim into his favorite charity, the Margaret MacMillan Memorial Fund, pledged to raise £250,000 to establish nursery schools in Britain's poor districts.
Three Black Marks. Britain, however, is no nursery school. Labor's record in guiding Britain's destinies will be judged by results, not by devotion or good intentions. In 1945 Labor won with the slogan "Labor Faces the Future." In 1950, as Labor faces the voters, it stands on a record made as the party in power.
In foreign policy, Labor started with a blind bias toward Russia, but Attftfe and Bevin saw the menace of Russian aggression more quickly than President Truman and Secretary of State Byrnes. It was Bevin's bearlike rush at the January 1946 U.N. meeting in London that woke the free world from its complacent friendliness to Russia. In this, Attlee and Bevin were a long way ahead of their party. Pro-Rursian sentiments among Laborites died slowly.
Dislike of the capitalist U.S. died even more slowly.