Description

Biography of British politician David Rhys Grenfell, Labour Member of Parliament for the Welsh seat of Gower from 1922 to 1959, who went from being a coalminer to being the longest-serving MP of his day. One of a new generation of miners' leaders, he was at the forefront of the struggles of the South Wales Miners' Federation. At the height of his powers as an MP, he was at the heart of Labour's policymaking and played a pivotal role in shaping the party's recovery from near annihilation in the 1931 election to triumph under Clement Attlee just after the Second World War. In the 1930s, he worked to support opponents of fascism in Europe and to help Basque and Czech refugees relocate to Wales. As Secretary for Mines in the WWII coalition government, he focused on maximizing coal production during the crucial first years of the war. His campaigning to create a Secretary of State for Wales and against several of the Attlee government's policies in Wales were important in the development of a distinctive Welsh Labour politics. Looks at the dynamics of the Labour movement in the first half of the 20th century, both within Wales and in the wider UK, and sheds new light on Labour icons such as Clement Attlee, Ernest Bevin and Aneurin Bevan. A timely account of the rise of fascism in the 1930s, with lessons about the situation facing us today.