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(rationing formally ended in 1954)
this again is what I said before, SDP lasted 7 years; it wasn't permanent. All other major European Labour parties have split.
Before our current discussions it was always the same post war, Gaitskellites and Bevanites, we are still here with both trying to direct the party. I guess the Lib Dems will make a come back, despite their past, Tim Farron is far from divisive or toxic which is all that is needed in the centre.
conquistador
I don't with absolute certainty but if you have an unelectable opposition the party in power will remain in power and our elections are on fixed year five year terms so it doesn't seem like a huge leap in the dark. It's looking like enough Tories will unite behind May to make that happen so the Tory party imploding is looking quite unlikely.
I think fundamentally Britain does support state healthcare, I'm less sure about social welfare. Which is pretty dumb as that's the safety net we all rely on if things go tits up but I guess it's easy not to think about that if you have a job and are doing OK.
I wasn't actually there at the time you know ;)
But yes I think it did, although it certainly wasn't universally popular: doctors were perhaps unsurprisingly against it as it was effectively nationalisation. Aneurin Bevan had his work cut out to get it past them which he did partly by dividing the opposition and partly by offering lucrative consultancy fees, hence his famous "I stuffed their mouths with gold" quote.
After WWII the British public looked to the government to look after them - whether that was providing council houses (which didn't have the stigma then they do now), state healthcare or food (rationing didn't end until 1951).
Obviously these were very different times, but I think one of the important differences was that collectivism was a much more accepted part of society. Everywhere you look in society collectivism has declined and I think this perhaps explains declining support for things like the welfare state. Unfortunately we are literally in it for ourselves more often than not these days.