John
Freeman was born on 19th February, 1915. After being educated at Westminster
School and Brasenose College, Oxford,
he worked as an advertising consultant (1937-1940). Freeman
served in the British
Army
during the Second World War.
A
member of the Labour Party he was elected
to represent Watford in the 1945 General Election.
He joined the government of Clement
Attlee and
served as Financial Secretary to the War Office, Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State for War and Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Supply.
The
National Insurance Act
created the structure of the Welfare
State and after the passing of the National
Health Service Act in 1948, people in Britain were provided with
free diagnosis and treatment of illness, at home or in hospital, as
well as dental and ophthalmic services. However, Freeman, Harold
Wilson and Aneurin
Bevan resigned
from the government on 21st April when Hugh
Gaitskell, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that he
intended to introduce measures that would force people to pay half
the cost of dentures and spectacles and a one shilling prescription
charge.
Freeman
resigned from the House of Commons in 1955.
He worked for the New
Statesman and
served as editor of the magazine between 1961 and 1965.
Other posts
held by Freeman include High Commissioner in India (1965-68), Ambassador
to the United States (1969-71) and Chairman of London Weekend Television.
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