Manny Shinwell leaving Britain to freeze and close down. He became unpopular with the public and was sacked in October 1947. He then served as Secretary of State for War and then as Minister of Defence in 1950-51. The high defence spending which he demanded, partly to pay for Britain's involvement in the Korean War, was a major factor causing Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Gaitskell to impose NHS charges, prompting the resignation of Aneurin Bevan from the Cabinet. After Labour's defeat in 1951, Shinwell continued to serve in the Shadow Cabinet in Opposition until he stepped down in 1955. Thereafter he
Manny Shinwell middle class "not worth a tinker's cuss". His insistence on the open-cast mining of the park of the Wentworth Woodhouse estate, to the doorsteps of the house, when the quality of the coal was poor, was viewed by its owners and the local mining community, which opposed it, as pure vindictiveness - an act of class warfare. In 1947-8 he was Chairman of the Labour Party. In 1947, Britain experienced, in an exceptionally severe winter, a serious coal shortage. The supply system collapsed, leaving Britain to freeze and close down. Shinwell denied there were problems and refused to assume responsibility,