On 25th February 1949 members of Clement Attlee’s Cabinet arrived on the Isle of Wight for what the press described as the ‘Hush Hush’ weekend.
The purpose of the get together was to discuss plans for the June Labour Party Conference, which would decide the programme for the forthcoming General Election.
The group stayed in Shanklin Manor, which had been sold in 1935 to the Worker’s Travel Association, which was part of the Labour party. The manor was run as a hotel for the underprivileged.
Present at the meeting together with Attlee were a host of famous Labour politicians including Herbert Morrison, Aneurin Bevan, Stafford Cripps, Manny Shinwell and Ernest Bevin. A young future Prime Minister – Harold Wilson – was also in attendance.
The Attlee Government is famous for introducing the Welfare State to Britain. 1 of the Labour politicians present – Aneurin Bevan – is known as the father of the National Health Service. His work in establishing free healthcare for all led to his being voted 1st in the list of 100 Welsh heroes.
After travelling from Waterloo by train, the Labour politicians crossed the Solent on the British Railways vessel Brading.
However, Labour were not popular in what was then (and still is) the Conservative stronghold of the Isle of Wight. There was a shortage of coal, bread had been rationed and people were compelled to eat tins of snoek (a South African fish) which people thought tasted vile.
On embarkation, the Ministers were said to have been ‘greeted’ with shouts of “snoek”, “give us more fat” and “what about the coal”.
A crisis arose during the meeting when the organisers ran out of glasses; however, the local Conservative club came to the rescue by generously supplying theirs.
A press correspondent present claimed that the visit had shattered the winter quietude of the Island and got everyone talking about politics.
The get together ended in controversy when it was discovered that their bacon ration had been exceeded by 2lbs, which resulted in prosecution.
Labour won the General Election of 1950 with a narrow 5-seat majority but were booted out of office the following year by Winston Churchill’s Conservative party.
Pathe film of the ‘Hush Hush’ weekend below:
Great to see the news reel.
No so great that the UK still suffers lack of heating, and food.
Yet I expect much of that is deliberate in an attempt by those in high places who failed on project fear to stop us voting to leave the EU, so now are going to do all they can to make that narrow majority ‘change its mind’ at some planned future date.
OR perhaps Africa has run out of workers as they have mostly left to invade Europe and the UK to live off our years of suffering to make the UK a place fit for our children, NOT the worlds to collapse the delicate balance
One of the most almost sensible comments I have ever read on Island Echo.
Great to see real statemen in stead of buffon’s and bluffer’s