In this week's episode of Since Attlee & Churchill, Lee and Richard travel back 70 years to Harold Macmillan's only Budget as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the controversial introduction of Premium Bonds. Was this an ingenious way of encouraging saving, or an immoral state-sponsored lottery? They explore the centuries-old history of state-sponsored lotteries, Macmillan's determination to present Premium Bonds as a respectable form of saving, and the furious reaction from Labour politicians and religious leaders. Harold Wilson denounced the scheme as a 'squalid raffle', while Clement Attlee and the Archbishop of Canterbury were among those who questioned its morality. But with millions of people enthusiastically buying bonds, was Labour fighting a losing battle? And how did Macmillan ultimately get the last laugh?

In this podcast, the following books are mentioned:

'The Macmillan Diaries: The Cabinet Years 1950-57'. Available at: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16406/9780230768437

'Social Europe, the Road not Taken: The Left and European Integration in the Long 1970s' by Aurelie Dianara Andry. Available at: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16406/9780192867094

You can now get your own Since Attlee & Churchill mugs here: https://www.sinceattleeandchurchill.com/

EVENT: Come along for a live version of Since Attlee & Churchill at the Buckinghamshire History Festival on 14th November in High Wycombe. Find out more here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/since-attlee-churchill-live-chequers-confidential-tickets-1993124324508?aff=oddtdtcreator

Enjoy ad-free listening, bonus episodes and show your support for the podcast by joining the Since Attlee & Churchill Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SinceAttleeAndChurchill

Buying books via the Since Attlee & Churchill Bookshop is a great way to support the podcast. Click here to visit the shop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/saac

Enjoy listening to the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast? If so, we would be very grateful if you could leave us a 5 star review!

***

Since Attlee & Churchill is a podcast about post-war British politics - since Attlee & Churchill - and is hosted by Lee David Evans, an historian of the Conservative Party, and Richard Johnson, an historian of the Labour Party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s midweek episode of Since Attlee & Churchill, Lee and Richard explore two very different questions about political power. First, Lee examines Reform UK’s slide in the opinion polls and the Conservatives’ return to the lead on the right. After a remarkable opportunity to establish itself as Britain’s dominant right-wing party, has Reform squandered its chance? Then Richard turns to the courts, in particular the progressive hope that rights can be protected by taking them out of everyday politics. Drawing on the experience of Greece during the financial crisis, he asks whether constitutional guarantees of economic and social rights are really worth the paper they are written on — or whether democratic accountability is in fact a more reliable safeguard.

You can now get your own Since Attlee & Churchill mugs here: https://www.sinceattleeandchurchill.com

NEW EVENT: Come along for a live version of Since Attlee & Churchill at the Buckinghamshire History Festival on 14th November in High Wycombe. Find out more here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/since-attlee-churchill-live-chequers-confidential-tickets-1993124324508?aff=oddtdtcreator

Enjoy ad-free listening, bonus episodes and show your support for the podcast by joining the Since Attlee & Churchill Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SinceAttleeAndChurchill

Buying books via the Since Attlee & Churchill Bookshop is a great way to support the podcast. Click here to visit the shop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/saac

Enjoy listening to the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast? If so, we would be very grateful if you could leave us a 5 star review!

***

Since Attlee & Churchill is a podcast about post-war British politics - since Attlee & Churchill - and is hosted by Lee David Evans, an historian of the Conservative Party, and Richard Johnson, an historian of the Labour Party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Since Attlee & Churchill, Richard takes us through the extraordinary life of Donald Soper, the Methodist preacher, Christian socialist and pacifist who became one of the most familiar Christian men in post-war Britain, but is now largely forgotten. A lifelong Methodist, Soper devoted seven decades to preaching, engaging hecklers at Tower Hill and Hyde Park, broadcasting on radio and television and championing both Christianity and the causes of the Labour left. He became a trusted confidant of Harold Wilson and even took a seat in the House of Lords. But Soper’s uncompromising Christian pacifism meant he had opposed British rearmament in the face of Nazi aggression, condemned the Allied war effort and made deeply controversial claims about the Holocaust. So was he a courageous man of principle, or had his commitment to his principles led him into not just eccentric but indefensible territory?

You can now get your own Since Attlee & Churchill mugs here: https://www.sinceattleeandchurchill.com/

NEW EVENT: Come along for a live version of Since Attlee & Churchill at the Buckinghamshire History Festival on 14th November in High Wycombe. Find out more here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/since-attlee-churchill-live-chequers-confidential-tickets-1993124324508?aff=oddtdtcreator

Enjoy ad-free listening, bonus episodes and show your support for the podcast by joining the Since Attlee & Churchill Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SinceAttleeAndChurchill

Buying books via the Since Attlee & Churchill Bookshop is a great way to support the podcast. Click here to visit the shop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/saac

Enjoy listening to the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast? If so, we would be very grateful if you could leave us a 5 star review!

***

Since Attlee & Churchill is a podcast about post-war British politics - since Attlee & Churchill - and is hosted by Lee David Evans, an historian of the Conservative Party, and Richard Johnson, an historian of the Labour Party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.