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.
