Like many 20th-century politicians of note, Cripps had the dubious honour of an epigram from Churchill: There, but for the grace of God, goes God. The wit of the remark is in its accurate summation of Cripps' talents, and the personal failings that were to deprive him of the highest office. His image is associated with austerity - he was a vegetarian, a tee-totaller, a devout Christian, and very easy to caricature. Beginning his professional life as a lawyer, Cripps went on to become ambassador of Russia in 1940. In 1942 he was sent as special envoy to India; the report he wrote was to prove a watershed on that country's road to independence. In Labour's post-war administration, Cripps was President of the Board of Trade, and from 1947-50 Chancellor of the Exchequer. This biography was written with comlete access to Cripps' private and public papers.