--- title: Clement Attlee url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/clement-attlee/ description: 6 verified quotes from Clement Attlee, Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Privy Seal 1940-42, Dominions Secretary 1942-43, Lord President of the Council… section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a Second World War naval-intelligence collage of a Pacific theatre map, aerial reconnaissance photographs and radar plots.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-wwii-pacific.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · United Kingdom # Clement Attlee ![Clement Attlee in February 1950](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/churchill-government/clement-attlee.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clement_Attlee.jpg): Winterbergen (Fotocollectie Anefo), CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication) Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Privy Seal 1940-42, Dominions Secretary 1942-43, Lord President of the Council 1943-45) · United Kingdom On the regime page: [Churchill wartime government](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/churchill-government/#clement-attlee) 6 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=clement-attlee). 1. > “I believe that at this critical time the vast majority of the people of this country will willingly give their services to the country, and will do all that is asked of them. We introduce this Bill not because we have any doubt of the willingness of the people, but because in a difficult emergency like this there must be the necessary power in the Government.” — May 22, 1940 · Speech · London, House of Commons — Attlee, then Lord Privy Seal, moved the second reading of the Emergency Powers (Defence) Bill, which gave the Government power to require persons and property to be placed at its disposal. — House of Commons, 22 May 1940, HC Deb vol. 361, c154 [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/may/22/emergency-powers-defence-bill) 2. > “Some establishments will be controlled altogether right away. Others may be controlled later. They will, in effect, be working on Government account. Wages and profits will be under Government control. The Excess Profits Tax will be at the rate of 100 per cent. There will be no profit out of the national emergency. Other establishments may be ordered to carry on and they may perhaps be ordered to carry on at a loss, but there must be power to carry on essential services and if people are put in a position where they are making a loss, they must have adequate remuneration in order to do their job effectively. The essential thing is that over a wide field—how wide one cannot say at the moment—industry will be carried on for the community in fact, and not for private profit.” — May 22, 1940 · Speech · London, House of Commons — In the same second-reading speech, Attlee described the control over property that Defence Regulations under the Bill might impose, including on firms, profits and the banks. — House of Commons, 22 May 1940, HC Deb vol. 361, c156 [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/may/22/emergency-powers-defence-bill) 3. > “I am not aware of that statement, and I should have thought that everybody realised that no convention made with the present rulers of Germany would be acceptable.” — July 24, 1941 · Statement · London, House of Commons — Answering a question from Richard Stokes MP, who had asked whether a convention with Germany ending night-bombing and the bombing of cities could be sought. Attlee was then Lord Privy Seal. — House of Commons, oral answers, 24 July 1941, HC Deb vol. 373, cc1051-1052 [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1941/jul/24/bombing-of-civilians) 4. **Content note:** Reprisal bombing of villages discussed. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “There would not be enough German villages to go round. My hon. and gallant Friend may rest assured that our bombing effort against Germany will be directed at the most effective points.” — June 18, 1942 · Statement · London, House of Commons — Answering a question from Sir Thomas Moore MP, who proposed warning the German Government that a German village would be destroyed for every innocent person murdered in occupied countries. The question followed the reprisals after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. Attlee was then Deputy Prime Minister. — House of Commons, oral answers, 18 June 1942, HC Deb vol. 380, c1673 [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1942/jun/18/bombing-policy) 5. **Content note:** Reprisal bombing of villages discussed. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “We are not talking about an eye for an eye but a village for a village, which involves the question of the most effective use of the Royal Air Force.” — June 18, 1942 · Statement · London, House of Commons — Attlee's reply to a follow-up from Sir Thomas Moore MP, who had asked for an "eye for an eye" response to Nazi killings of civilians in occupied countries. — House of Commons, oral answers, 18 June 1942, HC Deb vol. 380, c1673 [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1942/jun/18/bombing-policy) 6. **Content note:** Concerns the mass killing of Jews in Europe. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “His Majesty's Government's intention, in associating themselves with the Allied Governments' declaration of 17th December on the German policy of exterminating the Jews in Europe, was to help in arresting this policy. They are, at the same time, conscious of the fact that the only real remedy for the consistent Nazi policy of racial and religious persecution lies in an Allied victory; every resource of all the Allied nations must be bent towards this supreme object.” — January 19, 1943 · Statement · London, House of Commons — Answer to three questions on the relief of Jewish refugees, a month after the Allied declaration of 17 December 1942 on the German policy of exterminating the Jews. Attlee was Deputy Prime Minister. — House of Commons, oral answers, 19 January 1943, HC Deb vol. 386, c32 [Source](https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1943/jan/19/jewish-refugees-relief) ## Often attributed, not verified These words circulate under Clement Attlee’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as Clement Attlee’s words. - > “the difference between Winston Churchill the national leader and Mr. Churchill the party leader” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Attlee, radio reply to Churchill, 5 June 1945 — Widely reported in secondary accounts of the 1945 election broadcasts. I did not locate a transcript of the broadcast itself in a primary source or scholarly edition, so the wording is not published here; the broadcast falls after Churchill's wartime coalition government (the caretaker government began 23 May 1945).