13 Quotes & Sayings By Aneurin Bevan

Aneurin Bevan was a Welsh Labour politician who was a leading figure in the movement to create the National Health Service (NHS). He was also a major figure in the campaign for Britain's entry into the European Economic Community, now better known as the European Union. Aneurin Bevan was born in Neath on 27 January 1900, the son of John Bevan, a gas fitter, and Margaret Bevan. He attended primary school in his hometown, then went on to Neath Grammar School Read more

On leaving school he briefly worked as an insurance clerk before being called up for army service during World War I. After demobilization he returned to Neath and began studying law at University College London, where he became involved with the Independent Labour Party (ILP). In 1924 he married his childhood sweetheart Jennie Phillips, with whom he would have two sons, Rhydian and Bryn.

The couple later divorced. Bevan became an active member of ILP and served as its representative on Pembrokeshire County Council. He was also active in the Independent Labour Party and was elected as an MP for Cardiff East at a by-election in 1934.

In this first parliamentary term he became concerned about the growing threat of fascism and wrote articles on defence issues for Socialist International which were later collected in his book The Menace of Fascism (1935). He soon became prominent as a trade unionist and joined Ramsay MacDonald's National Government as Minister of Health (1935-1938). When Labour returned to power under Prime Minister Clement Attlee Bevan was promoted to Minister of Health, serving until 1945.

He continued to advocate greater health care provision for those on low incomes and those who were unemployed or otherwise medically needy even after World War II had ended. In 1947 he again became an MP when Neath was abolished and his new constituency became Pontypridd after an electoral redistribution. During his time as Minister of Health he oversaw the creation of National Insurance and extended social insurance benefits to agricultural workers.

As Minister of Health he also oversaw the expansion of the NHS from its original service covering only English patients by expanding it to cover all British subjects aged 65 or over. Through this expansion more than 90% of people now enjoy free medical treatment at some point during their lives through their membership of the NHS. After leaving office in 1945 Bevan remained an active minister within government until his retirement from politics in 1963 when he was made a life peer as

The NHS will last as long as there are folk...
1
The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with faith to fight for it Aneurin Bevan
No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or...
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No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. Aneurin Bevan
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Soon, if we are not prudent, millions of people will be watching each other starve to death through expensive television sets Aneurin Bevan
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We could manage to survive without money changers and stockbrokers. We should find it harder to do without miners, steel workers and those who cultivate the land Aneurin Bevan
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There is only one hope for mankind - and that is democratic socialism. There is only one party in Great Britain which can do it - and that is the Labour Party. Aneurin Bevan
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We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over. Aneurin Bevan
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Politics is a blood sport. Aneurin Bevan
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I have never regarded politics as the arena of morals. It is the arena of interests. Aneurin Bevan
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The purpose of getting power is to be able to give it away. Aneurin Bevan
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I would rather be kept alive in the efficient if cold altruism of a large hospital than expire in a gush of warm sympathy in a small one. Aneurin Bevan
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Fascism is not in itself a new order of society. It is the future refusing to be born. Aneurin Bevan
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Reactionary: a man walking backwards with his face to the future. Aneurin Bevan