July 1945
Labour Party's Election Victory changed Burma's History
people Winston Churchill Clement Attlee Thakin Nu Bo Let Ya U Tin Tut
In July 1945, the Labour Party in the UK won a landslide victory over the Conservatives and Clement Attlee replaced Sir Winston Churchill as Prime Minister. Labour's election victory without a doubt changed the course of Burma's history.
Prime Minister Attlee was committed to decolonization and within a year reversed earlier policies and began moves towards Burmese self-determination. By 1949, the Attlee government had granted independence to India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon. Attlee had visited Burma twice in the 1920s as a member of the Simon Commission (which recommended the separation of Burma from India). A Conservative government under Winston Churchill would almost certainly not have granted independence to Burma in 1948.
This photograph shows Prime Minister Attlee (centre) with Thakin Nu (standing), Bo Let Ya and U Tin Tut at the signing of the Nu-Attlee agreement in October 1947, just over two months after the Labour Party's election victory.