Aneurin Bevan

Aneurin Bevan was born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, in 1897, the son of a coal miner. He left school at 13, worked underground from 1911 and read widely in economics, philosophy and politics at the local Workmen's Library. He became a union lodge chairman, studied at the Central Labour College in London and acted as a union agent during the 1926 miners' strike. He was elected Labour MP for Ebbw Vale in 1929 and held the seat until his death. He was briefly expelled from the Labour Party in 1939 and was a sharp critic of Churchill's wartime government. In 1945 Attlee appointed him Minister of Health, with responsibility for housing. After leaving government he remained in the Shadow Cabinet, challenged for the party leadership in 1955 and later served as Shadow Foreign Secretary. He was married to the Labour politician Jennie Lee.

Bevan is widely remembered as the founder of the NHS, and supporters across the left see him as a defender of universal public services and democratic socialism. Critics in his time, including the British Medical Association and many Conservatives, opposed the scale of state control in his health plans, and his sharp language toward opponents drew criticism. Within Labour, the Bevanite group he led clashed with the party's right over spending and defence. He was elected Deputy Leader in 1959, shortly before his death in 1960.