| Abstract: | In the early months of 1947, as it sought to save power during an acute fuel crisis, Clement Attlee's Labour government suspended the publication of all British periodicals for a period of two weeks. This would have been a bold step for any government, let alone one which had as uncomfortable a relationship with the press as Attlee's did, and, at the time, the press was not slow to suggest that the suspension was motivated as much by political factors as it was by a desire to conserve fuel. This article examines the implementation and nature of the suspension, exploring the tensions it generated and asking whether the government's actions can be described—as they were by some contemporary observers—as a deliberate act of suppression. |
