ABSTRACT
Sir Stafford Cripps was one of the Labour Party’s most controversial political figures. In the 1930s he rose quickly to the position of Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, then was expelled from the Party and, later, when restored to Party membership, became Attlee’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, the famous ‘Austerity Cripps’ of the first post-war Labour government. Throughout his political career he excited criticism because of his arrogance and certitude, evoking comments such as: ‘There but for the grace of God goes God’ (Winston Churchill). Nevertheless, he was particularly important in leading the Labour Left in the 1930s and acted as British Ambassador to Moscow at the beginning of the Second World War.
