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 was a senior backbencher until 1970, by which time he was in his mid-eighties. That year he accepted a life peerage and was an active member of the House of Lords until shortly before his death, aged 101, in 1986. Shinwell was born in Spitalfields on 18 October 1884, London, but his family moved to Glasgow, Scotland. His father was a Polish Jew who had a small clothing shop and his mother, a Dutch Jew, was a cook from London. He was the eldest of 13 children. He educated himself in a public library and at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery.