1. J. M. Keynes, quoted by Robert Skidelsky, in C. Crouch (ed.), State and Economy in Contemporary Capitalism (London: Croom Helm, 1979) p. 58.
2. Many of these assets were acquired cheaply by American companies. By 1945 one-quarter of British overseas assets worth £1118 million had been sold. Sterling liabilities had increased from £476 million to £3355 million, and British exports needed to be raised by 75 per cent over pre-war levels to pay for imports.
3. I have explored this transformation of the Conservative party in The Conservative Nation (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974).
4. Labour’s vote in 1945 was 47.8 per cent of the poll.
5. Labour’s constitutional reforms were marginal — the business and university votes were abolished, and the power of the House of Lords to delay legislation was reduced from two years to one year. The paucity of Labour’s constitutional reforms showed the extent to which the Labour leadership had become reconciled to the existing state.