Cripps was instrumental in the revaluation of the pound sterling which took place in September 1949. Ill health obliged him to resign from public office on Oct. 19, 1950.
Background
Cripps was born in London, the son of Charles Cripps, a barrister and later Conservative MP, and the former Theresa Potter, the sister of Beatrice Webb and Catherine Courtney. His mother died when he was four years old. His stepmother, Marian Ellis, had a profound influence on him.
Education
Cripps grew up in a wealthy family and was educated at Winchester College, where the Headmaster described him as "a thoroughly good fellow" and at University College London, where he studied Chemistry. He left science for the law, and in 1913 was called to the bar by the Middle Temple.
Career
He served in the First World War as a Red Cross ambulance driver in France, and then managed a chemical factory producing armaments. He remained a barrister during the 1920s, where he specialised in patent cases, and was reported to be the highest paid lawyer in England.
Cripps was elected to Parliament as a member of the Labour Party in 1931, and in 1934 he became a member of the party's national executive council. A left-wing socialist, he was expelled from the party in 1939 for advocating cooperation with Great Britain's Communist Party. Cripps also advocated the formation of a military alliance with the Soviet Union. When Winston Churchill became prime minister in 1940, he appointed Cripps ambassador to the Soviet Union, in which capacity Cripps was instrumental in negotiating the British-Soviet alliance of 1941, during World War II.
Upon his return from the Soviet Union in 1942, Cripps entered Churchill's war cabinet and became leader of the House of Commons. The same year he was sent to India to negotiate a plan for Indian independence; it was hoped that this would end the political unrest that was interfering with India's cooperation in the war effort. Despite Cripps' efforts the mission was unsuccessful. Late in 1942 Cripps became minister of aircraft production.
Cripps was readmitted to the Labour Party in 1945 and was appointed president of the Board of Trade when the party won the general election that year. To deal with Great Britain's postwar economic crisis Cripps was appointed to head the ministry of economic affairs in October 1947. On November 13 he became chancellor of the exchequer. In this capacity he was faced with the problem of putting British finances in order by increasing industrial production, stabilizing the pound sterling, and aiding in the Labour Party's plan of socializing public utilities and major industries. He was handicapped by high costs of production, by the immense losses of British overseas investments used to finance the war, and by the resulting drain on British gold and dollar reserves. Cripps instituted an austerity program of reduced consumption and increased taxes; and he advocated industrial modernization to reduce production costs, thereby enabling British manufacturers to compete successfully in world markets.
Personality
Physical Characteristics:
Cripps had suffered for many years from colitis, inflammation of the lower bowel, a condition aggravated by stress. In 1950 his health broke down and he was forced to resign his office in October. He resigned from Parliament the same month, and at the resulting by-election on 30 November he was succeeded as MP for Bristol South East by Tony Benn. Cripps died two years later of cancer.
Connections
He was married to Isobel, Lady Cripps, better known as Dame Isobel Cripps (1891–1979), and had four children.
Spouse:
Isobel Cripps
Son:
John Stafford Cripps
Daughter:
Isobel Diana Cripps
Daughter:
Teresa Cripps
Daughter:
Peggy Cripps
References
Stafford Cripps: A Political Life
Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1947 and 1950, Sir Stafford Cripps was the most substantial figure in Clement Attlee's ground-breaking 1945-51 government, serving as one of Attlee's "Big Five." Cripps became identified with the national mood as the country struggled to make its recovery from the war, and he was also a significant minister in Churchill's wartime coalition government, even coming close to toppling Churchill and becoming Prime Minister himself in 1942. Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1947 and 1950, Sir Stafford Cripps was the most substantial figure in Clement Attlee's ground-breaking 1945-51 government, serving as one of Attlee's "Big Five." Cripps became identified with the national mood as the country struggled to make its recovery from the war, and he was also a significant minister in Churchill's wartime coalition government, even coming close to toppling Churchill and becoming Prime Minister himself in 1942. Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1947 and 1950, Sir Stafford Cripps was the most substantial figure in Clement Attlee's ground-breaking 1945-51 government, serving as one of Attlee's "Big Five." Cripps became identified with the national mood as the country struggled to make its recovery from the war, and he was also a significant minister in Churchill's wartime coalition government, even coming close to toppling Churchill and becoming Prime Minister himself in 1942.
The Cripps Version: The Life of Sir Stafford Cripps
Like many 20th-century politicians of note, Cripps had the dubious honour of an epigram from Churchill: "There, but for the grace of God, goes God". The wit of the remark is in its accurate summation of Cripps' talents, and the personal failings that were to deprive him of the highest office. His image is associated with austerity - he was a vegetarian, a tee-totaller, a devout Christian, and very easy to caricature. Beginning his professional life as a lawyer, Cripps went on to become ambassador of Russia in 1940. In 1942 he was sent as special envoy to India; the report he wrote was to prove a watershed on that country's road to independence. In Labour's post-war administration, Cripps was President of the Board of Trade, and from 1947-50 Chancellor of the Exchequer. This biography was written with comlete access to Cripps' private and public papers.