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Britain after World War II was victorious but bankrupt.

As soon as the war in Europe had ended, the coalition government (in place since 1940 under Winston Churchill) was dissolved and a Conservative administration took over.

A general election was held, which resulted in a landslide victory for the Labour Party under Clement Attlee. The had an ambitious policy agenda involving the full implementation of the Beverage Report and state control of the economy.

Over the following five years, the Beverage Report's "five giants to be slayed" - Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness - were tackled.

- Want: A new system of comprehensive social insurance providing state benefits for the sick, poor and unemployed replaced the hated "Poor Law" and the workhouse.

- Disease: A comprehensive healthcare system was invented, free at the point of use across local doctors, hospitals, surgeons, dentists and opticians.

- Ignorance: The school leaving age was increased to 15, the universities expanded and the coalition-originated Butler Act providing free education for all children was implemented.

- Squalor: A housing programme was begun, with ambitious (but unrealized) plans to build millions of new homes and to demolish the slums in the inner cities. A Town and Country Planning Act prevented the construction of factories by homes and homes by factories, clearing the soot from peoples' lives. The national parks and the green belts around the cities were created.

- Idleness: Full employment was a constantly stated and planned for goal.

The new government went to work on nationalising (then called "socialising") the "commanding heights" of the economy: the coal mines, electricity, gas, water, the railways, long-distance road transport, the Bank of England, iron and steel and the waterways. If Labour had won a second term, Tate and Lyle, British Electric Traction and a shopping list of the largest manufacturing companies may have followed.

In the meantime, the government faced some real challenges.

The country being bankrupt and the government spending comparatively heavily, we required support from the Americans. They withdrew that support on VJ-Day, forcing Britain to beg for a loan. This was granted, but on condition that the pound was made convertible. This was done, and Britain's foreign currency reserves drained away in weeks.

A very bad winter brought the country to a halt, severely disrupting transport and food supplies and causing rationing to be further tightened. With the economic situation being bleak and the country short of coal and electricity, Britain had probably never been worse off, even during the war.

Rationing would not go away, and with the Germans starving, British food had to be diverted to the British zone of occupation in Germany, causing bread to be rationed for the first time in the UK. Rationing became very unpopular with housewives marching in protest (the last major rationing, meat, was lifted in 1954).

Britain's Empire was also bankrupted by the war. The government began the process of dismantling it, starting with India in 1947. At the same time, the British League of Nations mandates (by then UN Trust Territories) had become too expensive and fractious and the UK pulled out (Palestine, for instance). It also pulled out of supporting some democratic governments (Greece, for instance) against Communist-backed insurrection, leading the Americans to have to step in.

Finally, the government had to plan for the "next World War" - including the development of nuclear weapons independently of the US; and deal with the start of what would become the EU (first by trying to stifle it at birth, then by trying to set up a rival, then by trying to join, then by trying to pull it down from the inside - a potted history of 50 years of Britain and the EU!) and the resurgence of an industrial powerhouse Germany.

For the people, somethings got better, somethings got worse, but generally the people "just survived" for the first few years, until things started to get better in the early 1950s - by which time Labour was out of office (until 1964), due to the first-past-the-post electoral system that gave them more votes but few seats.

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