Ernest Bevin Biography

Appointed General Secretary of the Transport & General Workers Union

Negotiates the merger of 14 unions into the TGWU

Railwaymen, printers, builders, drivers, dockers, iron & steel workers join miners

The sympathy strike is called off but the miners continue their industrial action

Appointed Minister of Labour & National Service

Bevin announces conscription to coal mines

Appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Agrees to the economic union of US & British occupation zones in Germany

Agrees to the economic union of US & British occupation zones in Germany

Indian Independence Act 1947 provides for the independence and partition of British India

Negotiates the Brussels alliance Treaty

Britain, France & the Benelux sign the Brussels Defence Treaty

The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and the United Kingdom, is considered the precursor to the NATO agreement

Western governments answer Soviet restrictions with economic countermeasures while refusing to abandon Berlin.

The west announces a counter-blockade from west to east. Announces the British will not withdraw from Berlin

Announces the British will not withdraw from Berlin

The Treaty of Brussels and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Union's Defence Organization in September 1948

Ireland Act 1949 recognises the Republic of Ireland and adjusts constitutional relations

Signs the Treaty establishing the NATO alliance

Signs the Treaty establishing the NATO alliance

Signs the Treaty establishing the NATO alliance

Participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the military power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism, so talks for a new military alliance results in the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. It included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland

Voices opposition to the establishment of a European Army

Announces Britain cannot join talks on the Schuman Plan

Appointed Lord Privy Seal

Initiates the Colombo Plan for South Asia

Appointed Minister of Labour

Resigns due to ill health

Death of Ernest Bevin