The caretaker government continued to fight the war against Japan in the Far East but Churchill's focus was on preparation for the Potsdam Conference where he, accompanied by Clement Attlee and Anthony Eden, would meet Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman.

The main concern on the home front, however, was post-war recovery including the need for reform in key areas such as education, health, housing, industry and social welfare.

Churchill thereupon resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by his erstwhile coalition deputy Attlee, who formed a Labour government.

Churchill quickly created a coalition government, granting key roles to leading figures in the Labour and Liberal parties.

[7] The coalition held firm despite some critical setbacks and, ultimately, in alliance with the Soviet Union and the United States, Britain defeated Nazi Germany.

[8] In October 1944, Churchill had addressed the House of Commons and moved to extend Parliament by a further year pending the final defeat of Nazi Germany and, if possible, Japan.

[9] In early April 1945, with victory then imminent in the European theatre of operations, Churchill met his deputy prime minister Clement Attlee, who was the leader of the Labour party, to discuss the future of the coalition.

After VE Day on 8 May, Churchill changed his mind about an early election and decided to propose continuation of the coalition until after the defeat of Japan.

[10] In the meantime, however, Labour's Herbert Morrison, home secretary in the coalition, had published a declaration called Let Us Face The Future which was effectively a party manifesto for the election.

[12] Their view, confirmed by Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC), was that the general election should be held in October regardless of the situation in the Far East as it was then widely thought the war against Japan might continue for another 18 months.

[9] Labour, on the other hand, wanted Churchill's popularity to subside and, in addition, Morrison pointed out that a new and more accurate register of voters would be available by October.

He was summoned back to Buckingham Palace at four o'clock and the King asked him to form a new ministry pending the outcome of the general election.

[20] Churchill had completed his Cabinet appointments by the morning of 26 May and drove with his wife Clementine to his Woodford constituency where he gave his first speech of the election campaign.

There was some controversy on Thursday, 7 June, when Churchill refused a demand from the House of Commons to reveal all that was discussed at the Yalta Conference, but said that there were no secret agreements.

This Act is important as the first UK law to provide child benefit and it is seen as a tribute to the work done over thirty years by Eleanor Rathbone who championed the family allowance cause.

[28] The Four-Year Plan had been prepared two years earlier by William Beveridge and called for the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) and the welfare state.

These measures were also part of the Labour manifesto and Churchill, encouraged by Sarah and others, decided to go further by promising free milk for the under-fives and a housing programme to ensure "homes for all".

Stalin insisted on extending the frontier westward to the Oder and Western Neisse rivers, forming the Oder–Neisse line and thus incorporating most of Silesia into Poland.

[38] Earlier, on 31 May, Churchill and Eden had intervened in the so-called Levant Crisis which had been initiated by French General Charles de Gaulle.

They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance.Gilbert describes the speech's references to socialism as "hostile and injudicious", and it backfired badly.

[44] Attlee made political capital by saying in his reply broadcast next day: "The voice we heard last night was that of Mr Churchill, but the mind was that of Lord Beaverbrook".

Many of Churchill's colleagues and supporters were appalled by it, including Leo Amery who praised Attlee's "adroit reply to Winston's rhodomontade".

[47] Nevertheless, although the Gestapo speech created a negative response, Churchill personally retained a very high approval rating in opinion polls and was still expected to win the election.

There was widespread dissatisfaction with the Conservative-dominated government of the 1930s and, recognising the public mood, Labour ran a very effective campaign which focused on the real issues facing the British people in peacetime – the 1930s had been an era of poverty and mass unemployment, so Labour's manifesto promised full employment, improved housing and the provision of free medical services.

[28] On 3 July, he called for an intensive effort by his Cabinet colleagues to promote housebuilding[49] and prepare legislation for both national insurance and the NHS, but his concerns in these areas were unknown by the electorate to the extent that, when he addressed an audience in the Labour stronghold of Walthamstow that evening, he was almost forced to abandon the event because of booing and heckling.

[52][53][54][55] The caretaker ministry's short term of office means that a critical assessment of its performance is difficult but Stuart Ball credits Churchill as "a good constructor of cabinets" and says that, although the 1945 government is sometimes unfairly dismissed, "it was a sound and capable team".