Evelyn John St Loe Strachey (21 October 1901 – 15 July 1963) was a British Labour politician and writer. A journalist by profession, Strachey was elected to Parliament in 1929. He was initially a disciple of Oswald Mosley, and, feeling that the Second Labour Government was not doing enough to combat unemployment, joined Mosley in founding the New Party in 1931. He broke with Mosley later in the year and so did not follow him into fascism. Strachey lost his seat in 1931, was a Communist sympathiser for the rest of the 1930s and broke with the Communist Party in 1940. During the Second World War, Strachey served as a Royal Air Force officer in planning and public relations roles. He was once again elected to Parliament as a Labour MP in 1945 and held office under Clement Attlee as Minister of Food (he became an unpopular figure because of the continued food rationing) and as Secretary of State for War. He continued to be a Labour MP, generally as a supporter of the party's right wing until his death. Throughout his career, Strachey was a prolific writer of books and articles from a communist perspective in the 1930s and as a social democrat after the Second World War. Background and education Strachey was born in Guildford, Surrey, on 21 October 1901, the youngest of three sons of John St Loe Strachey (1860-1927), editor of The Spectator. He was educated at Eton College (1915–19). He went up to Magdalen College, Oxford in 1920. At Oxford he was editor, with his close friend Robert Boothby, of the Tory-leaning Oxford Fortnightly Review. Strachey's Oxford career was interrupted by ill-health – peritonitis – and he left after two years in 1922 without taking a degree. He joined the staff of The Spectator in 1922. Political career Disciple of Oswald Mosley In 1923 Strachey began writing for the Independent Labour Party (ILP) publication New Leader. He joined the Labour Party in 1923 and in 1924 he was the unsuccessful Labour candidate for Birmingham Aston. He became a close ally of Oswald Mosley, then an up-and-coming Labour politician who had contested Birmingham Ladywood. In 1925 Mosley and Strachey published the “Birmingham Proposals”, calling for better policies to deal with unemployment. In 1925 Strachey published Revolution by Reason, calling for money-printing, redistribution and state planning. In 1926, during the General Strike, he became editor of the