ABSTRACT
The type of welfare state of which free prescriptions were the apotheosis went against the natural order of things. Most in the Labour ranks considered the Conservatives’ apparent acceptance of the welfare state during the 1950s to be at least a grudging acknowledgement of the popularity and the permanence of socialist achievement during the Attlee years. Between 1951 and 1964 Labour’s support for the welfare state in general and free prescriptions in particular was essential to its statecraft in opposition. Labour’s stance on social policy may have been less solid than it superficially appeared, disguising as it did profound and characteristic differences on welfare between egalitarians and hierarchs within its own ranks. The world-view of the Labour Party leadership out of power was, therefore, skewed or pulled towards the egalitarian: stands and commitments adopted, on the whole, reflected that skew, and party policy on National Health Service charges was arguably one early manifestation of this wider process.
