This book is the first academic survey of Lord Woolton's important wartime role, first as Minister of Food and then as Minister of Reconstruction. Using Woolton's Diaries and correspondence (including letters between Woolton and Churchill), it provides key insights into how the Ministry of Food managed to operate undisturbed by wartime bombing out of its main base in Colwyn Bay while Woolton maintained the propaganda machine for the Ministry from his base in London.

It enables a fuller understanding of the political decisions on rationing and the constant challenges facing the Ministry. Also revealed is Woolton's consciousness of the social impact of rationing decisions, evidenced through contemporary newspaper reports. The little-known work he did as Minister of Reconstruction 1943-1945 is also explored, providing a new background to understanding the setting up of the Welfare State after 1945. The material is arranged thematically within the book to enable easy naviagation.

Michael Kandiah's profile page

Judith Rowbotham's profile page

Michael Kandiah is a Lecturer and Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Economy, King's College London, and Director of the Oral History Programme, which seeks to capture the testimony of key individuals involved in significant events in recent British history. The organiser of many important witness seminars, he is a leading contemporary historian. He is also an expert on modern monarchy, especially state visits. This book is based on his PhD research on Woolton, examining both his wartime role and his post-war years as Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Judith Rowbotham is a Visiting Professor in the School of Law, Plymouth University, and an established interdisciplinary scholar working particularly in the fields of law and history. Her long-standing research interests in socio-political and cultural history, alongside constitutional history and law, accompanies her other scholarly research focus, which is on crime and offending. Her research is underpinned by her expertise in use of printed primary sources, including newspapers, periodicals and novels. She has regularly collaborated with Michael Kandiah on his Witness Seminar projects, as well as in his work on modern monarchy. One of the editors of the Routledge SOLON series, her numerous publications also include Crime News in Modern Britain, 1820-2010 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, with Kim Stevenson and Samantha Pegg).