160-518: Bonar Law Conservative Bonar Law Conservative The 1922 United Kingdom general election was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. It was won by the Conservative Party , led by Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law , which gained an overall majority over the Labour Party , led by J. R. Clynes , and a divided Liberal Party . This election is considered one of political realignment , with
320-532: A "Truce of God" to discuss the Lords. The meetings were kept almost entirely secret: apart from the party representatives, the only people aware were F. E. Smith , J. L. Garvin , Edward Carson and Law. The group met about twenty times at Buckingham Palace between June and November 1910, with the Unionists represented by Arthur Balfour , Lord Cawdor , Lord Lansdowne and Austen Chamberlain . The proposal presented at
480-633: A clear majority at the 1922 general election , and his brief premiership saw negotiation with the United States over Britain's war loans. Seriously ill with throat cancer, Law resigned in May 1923, and died later that year. He was the fourth shortest-serving prime minister of the United Kingdom (211 days in office). Andrew Bonar Law was born on 16 September 1858 in Kingston (now Five Rivers ), New Brunswick , to
640-605: A conference in London of the wartime Allies and achieved an agreement on a new plan for settling the reparations issue and French-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr . German delegates joined the meeting, and the London Settlement was signed. It was followed by an Anglo-German commercial treaty. Another major triumph for MacDonald was the conference held in London in July and August 1924 to deal with
800-559: A disputed seat. They considered Law a prime candidate, and after debating it for a month he guardedly agreed, enthusiastic about the idea but worried about the effect of a defeat on the Party. Law was selected as the candidate for Manchester North West , and became drawn into party debates about how strong a tariff reform policy should be put in their manifesto. Law personally felt that duties on foodstuffs should be excluded, something agreed to by Alexander Acland-Hood , Edward Carson and others at
960-584: A dramatic breakthrough in British history. His first priority was to undo the perceived damage caused by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles , by settling the reparations issue and coming to terms with Germany . King George V noted in his diary, "He wishes to do the right thing.... Today, 23 years ago, dear Grandmama [ Queen Victoria ] died. I wonder what she would have thought of a Labour Government!" While there were no major labour strikes during his term, MacDonald acted swiftly to end those that did erupt. When
1120-583: A farm labourer, and Anne Ramsay, a housemaid. Registered at birth as James McDonald (sic) Ramsay, he was known as Jaimie MacDonald. Illegitimacy could be a serious handicap in 19th-century Presbyterian Scotland, but in the north and northeast farming communities this was less of a problem; in 1868, a report of the Royal Commission on the Employment of Children, Young Persons and Women in Agriculture noted that
1280-527: A former Conservative who had joined the Liberal party because of his disagreement with tariff reform. In the end, Law narrowly lost, with 5,114 votes to Kemp's 5,559, but the election turned him into a "genuine [Conservative] hero", and he later said that the defeat did "more for him in the party than a hundred victories". In 1911, with the Conservative Party unable to afford him being out of Parliament, Law
1440-489: A good idea to scrap tariff reform altogether. Law disagreed, successfully arguing that tariff reform "was the first constructive work of the [Conservative Party]" and that to scrap it would "split the Party from top to bottom". With this success, Law returned to the constitutional crisis surrounding the House of Lords. The death of King Edward VII on 6 May 1910 prompted the leaders of the major political parties to meet secretly in
1600-757: A government, instead he was Chancellor of the Exchequer in David Lloyd George 's Coalition Government. He resigned on grounds of ill health early in 1921. In October 1922, with Lloyd George's Coalition having become unpopular with the Conservatives, he wrote a letter to the press giving only lukewarm support to the Government's actions over Chanak . After Conservative MPs voted to end the Coalition , he again became party leader and, this time, prime minister. Bonar Law won
1760-533: A government. At the 1923 election , the Conservatives had lost their majority, and when they lost a vote of confidence in the House in January 1924, King George V called on MacDonald to form a minority Labour government, with the tacit support of the Liberals under Asquith from the corner benches. On 22 January 1924, he took office as the first Labour Prime Minister, the first from a working-class background and one of
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#17330854773521920-492: A half million. The government struggled to cope with the crisis and found itself attempting to reconcile two contradictory aims: achieving a balanced budget to maintain sterling on the gold standard , and maintaining assistance to the poor and unemployed, at a time when tax revenues were falling. During 1931, the economic situation deteriorated, and pressure from orthodox economists for sharp cuts in government spending increased. Under pressure from its Liberal allies, as well as
2080-692: A keen interest in foreign affairs and knew from his visit to South Africa, just after the Boer War had ended, what the effects of modern conflict would be. Although the Parliamentary Labour Party generally held an anti-war opinion, when war was declared in August 1914 , patriotism came to the fore. After the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey , warned the House of Commons on 3 August that war with Germany
2240-645: A letter sent from Grigory Zinoviev , the President of the Communist International , to the British representative on the Comintern Executive . The letter was dated 15 September and so before the dissolution of parliament : it stated that it was imperative for the agreed treaties between Britain and the Bolsheviks to be ratified urgently. The letter said that those Labour members who could apply pressure on
2400-607: A lieutenant in the King's Own Scottish Borderers , was killed at the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917. His eldest son, James, a captain in the Royal Fusiliers , was shot down and killed on 21 September 1917. The deaths made Law even more melancholy and depressed than before. The youngest son, Richard, later served as a Conservative MP and minister. Isabel married Sir Frederick Sykes (in
2560-524: A man she deemed unsuitable. Ramsay MacDonald received an elementary education at the Free Church of Scotland school in Lossiemouth from 1872 to 1875, and then at Drainie Parish School. He left school at the end of the summer term in 1881, at the age of 15, and began work on a nearby farm. In December 1881, he was appointed a pupil teacher at Drainie parish school. In 1885, he moved to Bristol to take up
2720-484: A meeting of the Constitutional Club on 8 November 1910, but they failed to reach a consensus and the idea of including or excluding food duties continued to be something that divided the party. During the constitutional talks the Conservatives had demanded that, if the Lords' veto were removed, Irish Home Rule should only be permitted if approved by a UK-wide referendum. In response Lord Crewe , Liberal Leader in
2880-494: A meeting on 9 November to discuss the possibility of a deadlock. Chamberlain suggested that he would withdraw if this became a strong possibility, assuming Long did the same. Long, now concerned that his weak health would not allow him to survive the stress of party leadership, agreed. Both withdrew on 10 November, and on 13 November 232 MPs assembled at the Carlton Club , and Law was nominated as leader by Long and Chamberlain. With
3040-473: A motion reversing the previous vote. As the MPs filed out at the end of the day, Winston Churchill began taunting the opposition, and in his anger Ronald McNeil hurled a copy of Standing Orders of the House at Churchill, hitting him on the head. Law refused to condemn the events, and it seems apparent that while he had played no part in organising them, they had been planned by the party whips. As party leader, he
3200-665: A number of working class seats without Liberal opposition, thus giving Labour its first breakthrough into the House of Commons . He married Margaret Ethel Gladstone , who was unrelated to the Gladstones of the Liberal Party, in 1896. Although not wealthy, Margaret MacDonald was comfortably well off, and this allowed them to indulge in foreign travel, visiting Canada and the United States in 1897, South Africa in 1902, Australia and New Zealand in 1906 and India several times. It
3360-708: A position as an assistant to Mordaunt Crofton, a clergyman who was attempting to establish a Boys' and Young Men's Guild at St Stephen's Church . In Bristol Ramsay MacDonald joined the Democratic Federation, a Radical organisation, which changed its name a few months later to the Social Democratic Federation (SDF). He remained in the group when it left the SDF to become the Bristol Socialist Society . In early 1886 he moved to London. Following
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#17330854773523520-634: A result. MacDonald, along with Keir Hardie and Arthur Henderson , was one of the three principal founders of the Labour Party in 1900. He was chairman of the Labour MPs before 1914 and, after an eclipse in his career caused by his opposition to the First World War, he was Leader of the Labour Party from 1922. The second Labour Government (1929–1931) was dominated by the Great Depression . He formed
3680-450: A safer seat, to avoid a highly embarrassing defeat. Baldwin resigned and MacDonald again formed a minority government, with intermittent Liberal support. This time, MacDonald knew he had to concentrate on domestic matters. Arthur Henderson became Foreign Secretary, with Snowden again at the Exchequer. JH Thomas became Lord Privy Seal with a mandate to tackle unemployment, assisted by the young radical Oswald Mosley . Margaret Bondfield
3840-518: A scientific career. He would however, later be appointed a Governor of the institution in 1895, and continued to have a great fondness for the mission of Birkbeck into his later years. In 1888, MacDonald took employment as private secretary to Thomas Lough who was a tea merchant and a Radical politician. Lough was elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for West Islington , in 1892. Many doors now opened to MacDonald: he had access to
4000-624: A short period of work addressing envelopes at the National Cyclists' Union in Fleet Street , he found himself unemployed and forced to live on the small amount of money he had saved from his time in Bristol. MacDonald eventually found employment as an invoice clerk in the warehouse of Cooper, Box and Co. During this time he was deepening his socialist credentials, and engaged himself energetically in C. L. Fitzgerald 's Socialist Union which, unlike
4160-701: A speech to the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva , the main thrust of which was for general European disarmament, which was received with great acclaim. MacDonald recognised the Soviet Union and MacDonald informed Parliament in February 1924 that negotiations would begin to negotiate a treaty with the Soviet Union. The treaty was to cover Anglo-Soviet trade and the repayment of the British bondholders, who had lent billions to
4320-576: A statement about the necessity of Imperial tariff reform, promising reciprocal agreements and saying that failure by London to agree tariff reform would result in an "irresistible pressure" for Canada to make a treaty with another nation, most obviously the United States. Law decided that the November party conference was the perfect time to announce the withdrawal of the Referendum Pledge, and that Lord Lansdowne should do it, because he had been leader in
4480-480: A sweater or a financier, he is an exploiter of everything he can squeeze. He is behind every evil that Governments do, and his political authority, always exercised in the dark, is greater than that of Parliamentary majorities. He is the keenest of brains and the bluntest of consciences. He detests Zionism because it revives the idealism of his race, and has political implications which threaten his economic interests." MacDonald became noted for "woolly" rhetoric such as
4640-452: A talent for languages, excelling in Greek, German and French. During this period, he first began to play chess – he would carry a board on the train between Helensburgh and Glasgow, challenging other commuters to matches. He eventually became a very good amateur player, and competed with internationally renowned chess masters. Despite his good academic record, it became obvious at Glasgow that he
4800-567: A terminal illness, resulting in Stanley Baldwin succeeding him as both party leader and Prime Minister. As a result, Bonar Law was the shortest-serving UK Prime Minister of the twentieth century. Parliament was dissolved on 26 October; Bonar Law died four days later. The Conservative Party offered continuity to the electorate. Bonar Law's election address stated: The crying need of the nation have this moment ... Is that we should have tranquility and stability both at home and abroad so that
4960-520: A three-year struggle eventually halted by the start of World War I , with much argument over the status of the six counties in Ulster which would later become Northern Ireland , four of which were predominantly Protestant. Law first held Cabinet office as Secretary of State for the Colonies in H. H. Asquith 's Coalition Government (May 1915 – December 1916). Upon Asquith's fall from power he declined to form
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5120-443: A visit by Arthur Balfour , Law lost his seat in the ensuing general election . In total the Conservative Party and Liberal Unionists lost 245 seats, leaving them with only 157 members of parliament, the majority of them tariff reformers. Despite his loss, Law was at this stage such an asset to the Conservatives that an immediate effort was made to get him back into Parliament. The retirement of Frederick Rutherfoord Harris , MP for
5280-474: Is known of Law's wife, as most of her letters have been lost. It is known that she was much liked in both Glasgow and London, and that her death in 1909 hit Law hard; despite his relatively young age and prosperous career, he never remarried. The couple had six children: James Kidston (1893–1917), Isabel Harrington (1895–1969), Charles John (1897–1917), Harrington (1899–1958), Richard Kidston (1901–1980), and Catherine Edith (1905–1992). Law's second son, Charlie,
5440-510: The Clydesdale Bank . The merger would have left Law without a job and with poor career-prospects, but the retiring brothers found him a job with William Jacks , an iron merchant who had started pursuing a parliamentary career. The Kidston brothers lent Law the money to buy a partnership in Jacks' firm, and with Jacks himself no longer playing an active part in the company, Law effectively became
5600-614: The Conservative Party and its coalition ally the Liberal Unionist Party into two wings – the Free Fooders , who supported free trade , and the Tariff Reformers, who supported Chamberlain's tariff reforms. Law was a dedicated Tariff Reformer, but whereas Chamberlain dreamed of a new golden age for Britain, Law focused on more mundane and practical goals, such as a reduction in unemployment. L. S. Amery said that to Law,
5760-672: The Conservatives nor with the Liberals, who, in September, criticised the loan so vehemently that negotiation with them seemed impossible. However, the government's fate was determined by the " Campbell Case ", the abrogation of prosecuting the left-wing newspaper the Workers' Weekly for inciting servicemen to mutiny. The Conservatives put down a censure motion, to which the Liberals added an amendment. MacDonald's Cabinet resolved to treat both motions as matters of confidence . The Liberal amendment
5920-642: The December 1910 electoral defeat issued an ultimatum demanding a review of party structure. The defeat on the House of Lords issue turned a wing of the Conservative Party led by Henry Page Croft and his Reveille Movement , against Balfour. Leo Maxse began a Balfour Must Go campaign in his newspaper, the National Review , and by July 1911 Balfour was contemplating resignation. Law himself had no problem with Balfour's leadership, and along with Edward Carson attempted to regain support for him. By November 1911 it
6080-508: The House of Commons at the 1900 general election , relatively late in life for a front-rank politician; he was made a junior minister, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade , in 1902. Law joined the Shadow Cabinet in opposition after the 1906 general election . In 1911, he was appointed a Privy Councillor , before standing for the vacant party leadership. Despite never having served in
6240-540: The London Naval Treaty , limiting naval armaments, with France, Italy, Japan, and the United States. MacDonald's government had no effective response to the economic crisis which followed the Stock Market Crash of 1929 . Philip Snowden was a rigid exponent of orthodox finance and would not permit any deficit spending to stimulate the economy, despite the urgings of Oswald Mosley , David Lloyd George and
6400-674: The London School of Economics and elsewhere. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) had created the Labour Electoral Association (LEA) and entered into an unsatisfactory alliance with the Liberal Party in 1886. In 1892, MacDonald was in Dover to give support to the candidate for the LEA in the general election , who was well beaten. MacDonald impressed the local press and the Association and
6560-569: The National Liberal Club as well as the editorial offices of Liberal and Radical newspapers; he made himself known to various London Radical clubs among Radical and labour politicians; and he gained valuable experience in the workings of electioneering. At the same time he left Lough's employment to branch out as a freelance journalist. Elsewhere, as a member of the Fabian Society for some time, MacDonald toured and lectured on its behalf at
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6720-657: The Royal Albert Hall on 26 January 1912 he listed his three biggest concerns: an attack on the Liberal government for failing to submit Home Rule to a referendum; tariff reform ; and the Conservative refusal to let the Ulster Unionists be "trampled upon" by an unfair Home Rule bill. Both tariff reform and Ulster dominated his political work, with Austen Chamberlain saying that Law "once said to me that he cared intensely for only two things: Tariff Reform and Ulster; all
6880-579: The Social Democratic Party of Germany , the Labour Party did not split and the Communist Party of Great Britain remained small and isolated. In 1922, MacDonald visited Palestine . In a later account of his visit, he contrasted Zionist pioneers with 'the rich plutocratic Jew'. MacDonald believed the latter "was the true economic materialist. He is the person whose views upon life make one anti-Semitic. He has no country, no kindred. Whether as
7040-564: The Treaty of Versailles : "We are beholding an act of madness unparalleled in history". MacDonald stood for Parliament in the 1921 Woolwich East by-election and lost. His opponent, Captain Robert Gee , had been awarded the Victoria Cross at Cambrai ; MacDonald tried to counter this by having ex-soldiers appear on his platforms. MacDonald also promised to pressure the government into converting
7200-473: The Woolwich Arsenal to civilian use. Horatio Bottomley intervened in the by-election, opposing MacDonald's election because of his anti-war record. Bottomley's influence may have been decisive in MacDonald's failure to be elected as there were under 700 votes difference between Gee and MacDonald. In 1922, MacDonald was returned to the House as MP for Aberavon in Wales , with a vote of 14,318 against 11,111 and 5,328 for his main opponents. His rehabilitation
7360-411: The very few without a university education . MacDonald had never held office but demonstrated energy, executive ability, and political astuteness. He consulted widely within his party, making the Liberal Lord Haldane the Lord Chancellor , and Philip Snowden Chancellor of the Exchequer . He took the foreign office himself. Besides himself, ten other cabinet members came from working-class origins,
7520-407: The " National Liberals ") led by David Lloyd George . Following the Carlton Club meeting , Lloyd George resigned as Prime Minister and Bonar Law formed a Conservative majority government. Although still leader of the Liberal Party and a frequent public speaker, former Prime Minister Asquith was no longer a particularly influential figure in the national political debate, and he had played no part in
7680-570: The "Referendum Pledge". The suggestion was no more Law's than it was any of the dozens of Conservatives who had suggested this to Balfour, and his comment was simply an attempt to "pass the buck" and avoid the anger of Austen Chamberlain , who was furious that such an announcement had been made without consulting him or the party. While Law had written a letter to Balfour suggesting that a referendum would attract wealthy Conservatives, he said that "declaration would do no good with [the working class] and might damp enthusiasm of best workers". Parliament
7840-429: The Bolsheviks' London chargé d'affaires and had already decided to make public the contents of the letter with details of the official protest but it had not been swift-footed enough. Historians mostly agree the Zinoviev letter was a forgery, but it closely reflected attitudes current in the Comintern. On 29 October 1924, the 1924 United Kingdom general election was held and the Conservative Party under Stanley Baldwin
8000-422: The British political world, and continued even after Salisbury retired and was replaced as prime minister by his nephew, Arthur Balfour . Law took advantage of this, making his first major speech on 22 April 1902, in which he argued that while he felt a general tariff was unnecessary, an imperial customs union (which would put tariffs on items from outside the British Empire, instead of on every nation but Britain)
8160-429: The Cabinet and despite trailing third after Walter Long and Austen Chamberlain , Law became leader when the two front-runners withdrew rather than risk a draw splitting the party. As Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition , Law focused his attentions in favour of tariff reform and against Irish Home Rule . His campaigning helped turn Liberal attempts to pass the Third Home Rule Bill into
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#17330854773528320-455: The Commons in three sessions of Parliament. This was immediately opposed by the Unionists, and both parties spent the next several months in a running battle over the bill. The Conservatives were led by Arthur Balfour and Lord Lansdowne , who headed the Conservatives in the House of Lords, while Law spent the time concentrating on the continuing problem of tariff reform. The lack of progress had convinced some senior Unionists that it would be
8480-423: The Conservative Party down the middle, offending the tariff reform faction, and that if such a split took place "I could not possibly continue as leader". Law postponed withdrawing the tariff reform "Referendum Pledge" because of the visit of Robert Borden , the newly elected Conservative prime minister of Canada , to London planned for July 1912. Meeting with Borden on his arrival, Law got him to agree to make
8640-607: The Conservative Party if they dropped food duties from their tariff reform plan, it would open them to accusations of bad faith and " poltroonery ". Law endorsed Lansdowne's argument, pointing out that any attempt to avoid food duties would cause an internal party struggle and could only aid the Liberals, and that Canada, the most economically important colony and a major exporter of foodstuffs, would never agree to tariffs without British support of food duties. Lord Salisbury , who opposed food duties, wrote to Law several weeks later suggesting they separate foodstuffs from tariff reform for
8800-454: The Conservative Party. Balfour had become increasingly unpopular as Leader of the Conservative Party since the 1906 general election; tariff reformers saw his leadership as the reason for their electoral losses, and the "free fooders" had been alienated by Balfour's attempts to tame the zeal of the tariff reform faction. Balfour refused all suggestions of party reorganisation, until a meeting of senior Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury after
8960-419: The Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin , making MacDonald Leader of the Opposition . By now, he had moved away from the Labour left and abandoned the socialism of his youth: he strongly opposed the wave of radicalism that swept through the labour movement in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and became a determined enemy of Communism. Unlike the French Section of the Workers' International and
9120-426: The Conservative opposition who feared that the budget was unbalanced, Snowden appointed a committee headed by Sir George May to review the state of public finances. The May Report of July 1931, urged large public-sector wage cuts and large cuts in public spending, notably in payments to the unemployed, to avoid a budget deficit. Although there was a narrow majority in the Cabinet for drastic reductions in spending,
9280-416: The Council until retiring in 1937. He died later that year. MacDonald's speeches, pamphlets and books made him an important theoretician. Historian John Shepherd states that "MacDonald's natural gifts of an imposing presence, handsome features and a persuasive oratory delivered with an arresting Highlands accent made him the iconic Labour leader". After 1931, MacDonald was repeatedly and bitterly denounced by
9440-508: The Education Minister Charles Trevelyan to introduce an act to raise the school-leaving age to 15 was defeated by opposition from Roman Catholic Labour MPs, who feared that the costs would lead to increasing local authority control over faith schools. In international affairs, he also convened the Round Table conferences in London with the political leaders of India, at which he offered them responsible government , but not independence or even Dominion status. In April 1930 he negotiated
9600-413: The Exchequer and enthusiasm for tariff reform was not as skilled a speaker as Law. As a result, Law joined Balfour's Shadow Cabinet as the principal spokesman for tariff reform. The death of Law's wife on 31 October 1909 led him to work even harder, treating his political career not only as a job but as a coping strategy for his loneliness. Campbell-Bannerman resigned as prime minister in April 1908 and
9760-487: The Glasgow Club in earlier days". Law also worked with the Parliamentary Debating Association, and took up golf , tennis and walking. In 1888 he moved out of the Kidston household and set up his own home at Seabank, with his sister Mary (who had earlier come over from Canada) acting as the housekeeper. In 1890, Law met Annie Pitcairn Robley, the 24-year-old daughter of a Glaswegian merchant, Harrington Robley. They quickly fell in love, and married on 24 March 1891. Little
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#17330854773529920-406: The House of Lords when the pledge was made and because of his relatively low profile during the original tariff reform dispute. When the conference opened the British political world was febrile; on 12 November the opposition had narrowly defeated the government on an amendment to the Home Rule Bill, and the next evening, amidst hysterical shouting from the opposition, Asquith attempted to introduce
10080-423: The ILP; while it was not a Marxist organisation it was more rigorously socialist than the Labour Party would prove to be, and ILP members would operate as a " ginger group " within the Labour Party for many years. As Party Secretary, MacDonald negotiated an agreement with the leading Liberal politician Herbert Gladstone (son of the late Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone ), which allowed Labour to contest
10240-422: The Labour Party executive criticised the government, he replied that "public doles, Poplarism [local defiance of the national government], strikes for increased wages, limitation of output, not only are not Socialism, but may mislead the spirit and policy of the Socialist movement". The Government lasted only nine months and did not have a majority in either House of the Parliament, but it was still able to support
10400-471: The Labour Party. They responded by forming a new National Labour Organisation , which provided a nominal party base for the expelled MPs, but received little support in the country or the unions. Great anger in the labour movement greeted MacDonald's move. Riots took place in protest in Glasgow and Manchester . Many in the Labour Party viewed this as a cynical move by MacDonald to rescue his career, and accused him of 'betrayal'. MacDonald, however, argued that
10560-400: The Labour movement as a traitor to its cause. Since the 1960s, some historians have defended his reputation, emphasising his earlier role in building up the Labour Party, dealing with the Great Depression , and as a forerunner of the political realignments of the 1990s and 2000s. MacDonald was born at Gregory Place, Lossiemouth , Moray , Scotland , the illegitimate son of John MacDonald,
10720-408: The Lancashire party, the centre of discontent, on 21 December. Law was preoccupied with the problem of Irish Home Rule and was unable to give the discontent his full attention. He continued to believe that his approach to the problem of tariff reform was the correct one, and wrote to John Strachey on 16 November saying that "it was a case of a choice of two evils, and all that one could do was to take
10880-577: The Law children. When James Law remarried in 1870, his new wife took over Janet's duties, and Janet decided to return home to Scotland. She suggested that Bonar Law should go with her, as the Kidston family were wealthier and better connected than the Laws, and Bonar would have a more privileged upbringing. Both James and Bonar accepted this, Bonar's father then accompanied him on his move to his aunt's. Bonar would never return to Kingston. Law went to live at Janet's house in Helensburgh , near Glasgow . Her brothers Charles, Richard and William were partners in
11040-413: The Liberal Party falling to third-party status. The Conservative Party went on to spend all but eight of the next forty-two years as the largest party in Parliament, and Labour emerged as the main competition to the Conservatives. The election was the first not to be held in Southern Ireland , due to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, under which Southern Ireland was to secede from
11200-417: The Liberal Party. In August 1911 enough Unionist peers abstained or voted in favour of the Liberal bill for it to pass as the Parliament Act 1911 , ending that particular dispute. On the coronation of George V on 22 June 1911, Law was appointed as a Privy Councillor on the recommendation of the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and Arthur Balfour . This was evidence of his seniority and importance within
11360-409: The Liberals and Labour, a minor party supporting the Liberal governments of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith . MacDonald became the leader of the left-wing of the party, arguing that Labour must seek to displace the Liberals as the main party of the left. In 1911 MacDonald became "Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party", the leader of the party. He was the chief intellectual leader of
11520-444: The Lords, had suggested sarcastically that tariff reform – a policy of questionable popularity because of the likelihood of increased prices on imported food – should also be submitted to a referendum. Arthur Balfour now announced to a crowd of 10,000 at the Royal Albert Hall that after the coming election, a Conservative Government would indeed submit tariff reform to a referendum, something he described as "Bonar Law's proposal" or
11680-597: The National Government to carry out spending cuts to defend the gold standard , but it had to be abandoned after the Invergordon Mutiny , and he called a general election in 1931 seeking a "doctor's mandate" to fix the economy. The National coalition won an overwhelming landslide and the Labour Party was reduced to a rump of around 50 seats in the House of Commons. His health deteriorated and he stood down as Prime Minister in 1935, remaining as Lord President of
11840-554: The Reverend James Law, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland , and his wife Eliza Kidston Law. He was of Scottish and Irish (mainly Ulster Scots ) ancestry. At the time of his birth, New Brunswick was still a separate colony, as the Canadian Confederation was not formed until 1867. His mother originally wanted to name him after Robert Murray M'Cheyne , a preacher she greatly admired, but as his older brother
12000-624: The SDF, aimed to progress socialist ideals through the parliamentary system. MacDonald witnessed the Bloody Sunday of 13 November 1887 in Trafalgar Square , and in response, had a pamphlet published by the Pall Mall Gazette , titled Remember Trafalgar Square: Tory Terrorism in 1887 . MacDonald retained an interest in Scottish politics . Gladstone 's first Irish Home Rule Bill inspired
12160-728: The Singapore military base, despite strong opposition from the Admiralty . He believed the building of the base would endanger the disarmament conference ; the First Sea Lord Lord Beatty considered the absence of such a base as dangerously imperilling British trade and territories East of Aden and could mean the security of the British Empire in the Far East being dependent on the goodwill of Japan . In June 1924, MacDonald convened
12320-402: The Unionists took office they would "do so with a free hand to deal with tariffs as they saw fit". Law then rose to speak, and in line with his agreement to let Lansdowne speak for tariff reform mentioned it only briefly when he said "I concur in every word which has fallen from Lord Lansdowne". He instead promised a reversal of several Liberal policies when the Unionists came to power, including
12480-543: The United Kingdom as a Dominion – the Irish Free State – on 6 December 1922. This reduced the size of the House of Commons by nearly one hundred seats when compared to the previous election. The Liberal Party had divided into two factions following the ousting of H. H. Asquith as Prime Minister in December 1916. From then until October 1922 the Conservatives had been in coalition with a Liberal faction (which later became
12640-432: The bill on 30 April, setting off a constitutional crisis. The Liberals called a general election for January 1910 , and Law spent most of the preceding months campaigning up and down the country for other Unionist candidates and MPs, sure that his Dulwich seat was safe. He obtained an increased majority of 2,418. The overall result was more confused: the Conservatives gained 116 seats, bringing their total to 273, but this
12800-538: The cherished possessions of French preponderance on the Reparations Commission, the right of sanctions in the event of German default, the economic occupation of the Ruhr, the French-Belgian railroad Régie, and finally, the military occupation of the Ruhr within a year." MacDonald was proud of what had been achieved, which was the pinnacle of his short-lived administration's achievements. In September, he made
12960-510: The conference by David Lloyd George was a coalition government with members of both major parties in the Cabinet and a programme involving Home Rule , Poor Law reforms, imperial reorganisation and possibly tariff reforms . The Home Rule proposal would have made the United Kingdom a federation, with "Home Rule All Round" for Scotland, Ireland, and England and Wales . In the end the plans fell through: Balfour told Lloyd George on 2 November that
13120-543: The costs of the Second Boer War , Lord Salisbury 's Chancellor of the Exchequer ( Michael Hicks Beach ) suggested introducing import taxes or tariffs on foreign metal, flour and grain coming into Britain. Such tariffs had previously existed in Britain, but the last of these had been abolished in the 1870s because of the free trade movement. A duty was now introduced on imported corn. The issue became "explosive", dividing
13280-608: The damage of its education, its music, its literature, its genius, and the generation that is growing up under this influence is uprooted from its past." Politics in the 1880s was still of less importance to MacDonald than furthering his education. In 1886–87, MacDonald studied botany , agriculture , mathematics , and physics at the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution (now Birkbeck, University of London) but his health suddenly failed him due to exhaustion one week before his examinations, which put an end to any thought of
13440-434: The day before Balfour resigned on 7 November. At the beginning of the election Law held the support of no more than 40 of the 270 members of parliament; the remaining 230 were divided between Long and Chamberlain. Although Long believed he had the most MPs, his support was largely amongst backbenchers , and most of the whips and frontbenchers preferred Chamberlain. With Long and Chamberlain almost neck-and-neck they called
13600-460: The disestablishment of the Welsh Church , land taxes, and Irish Home Rule. The crowd "cheered themselves hoarse" at Law's speech. However, the reaction from the party outside the conference hall was not a positive one. Law had not consulted the local constituency branches about his plan, and several important constituency leaders led by Archibald Salvidge and Lord Derby planned for a meeting of
13760-574: The district, and had little time or energy to help with its increasingly difficult problems regarding coal disputes, strikes, unemployment and poverty. The miners expected a wealthy man who would fund party operations, but he had no money. He disagreed with the increasingly radical activism of party leaders in the district, as well as the permanent agent, and the South Wales Mineworkers' Federation . He moved to Seaham Harbour in County Durham ,
13920-419: The divided Conservatives into a single body, with him as the leader. During his early time as Conservative leader, the party's social policy was the most complicated and difficult to agree. In his opening speech as leader he said that the party would be one of principle, and would not be reactionary, instead sticking to their guns and holding firm policies. Despite this he left women's suffrage alone, leaving
14080-482: The downfall of the Lloyd George coalition. Most attention was focused on Law and Lloyd George. Asquith's daughter Violet Bonham-Carter , a prominent Liberal Party campaigner, likened the election to a contest between a man with sleeping sickness (Bonar Law) and a man with St Vitus Dance (Lloyd George). Some of Lloyd George's National Liberals were not opposed by Conservative candidates (e.g. Winston Churchill , who
14240-601: The early years of World War I, she had been engaged for a time to the Australian war correspondent Keith Murdoch ) and Catherine married, firstly, Kent Colwell and, much later, in 1961, The 1st Baron Archibald . In 1897, Law was asked to become the Conservative Party candidate for the parliamentary seat of Glasgow Bridgeton . Soon after he was offered another seat, this one in Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown , which he took instead of Glasgow Bridgeton. Blackfriars
14400-465: The economist John Maynard Keynes . Mosley put forward a memorandum in January 1930, calling for the public control of imports and banking as well as an increase in pensions to boost spending power. When this was repeatedly turned down, Mosley resigned from the government in February 1931 and formed the New Party . He later converted to Fascism . By the end of 1930, unemployment had doubled to over two and
14560-584: The election of 1895. MacDonald stood for Parliament again in 1900 for one of the two Leicester seats; he lost, and was accused of splitting the Liberal vote to allow the Conservative candidate to win. That same year he became Secretary of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), the forerunner of the Labour Party, allegedly in part because many delegates confused him with prominent London trade unionist Jimmie MacDonald when they voted for "Mr. James R. MacDonald". MacDonald retained membership of
14720-522: The family income, he bought a small farm on the Richibucto River , which Bonar helped tend along with his brothers Robert, William and John, and his sister Mary. Studying at the local village school, Law did well at his studies, and it is here that he was first noted for his excellent memory. After Eliza Law died in 1861, her sister Janet travelled to New Brunswick from her home in Scotland to look after
14880-568: The family merchant bank Kidston & Sons , and as only one of them had married (and produced no heir) it was generally accepted that Law would inherit the firm, or at least play a role in its management when he was older. Immediately upon arriving from Kingston, Law began attending Gilbertfield House School , a preparatory school in Hamilton . In 1873, aged fourteen, he transferred to the High School of Glasgow , where with his good memory he showed
15040-594: The free scope should be given to the initiative and enterprise of our own citizens, for it is in that way, far more than by any action of the Government that we can hope to recover from the economic and social results of the war. The Labour Party proposed to nationalise the mines and railways, to impose a levy on financial capital, and to revise the peace treaties. It promised a higher standard of living for workers, higher wages, and better housing. Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law ( / ˈ b ɒ n ər ˈ l ɔː / BONN -ər ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923)
15200-574: The front. Returning home, he paid a public tribute to the courage of the French troops, but said nothing then or later of having been under fire himself. During the early part of the war, he was extremely unpopular and was accused of treason and cowardice. Former Liberal Party MP and publisher Horatio Bottomley attacked him through his magazine John Bull in September 1915, by publishing an article carrying details of MacDonald's birth and his so-called deceit in not disclosing his real name. His illegitimacy
15360-473: The government had to deal with the 1926 General Strike . Unemployment remained high but relatively stable at just over 10% and, apart from 1926, strikes were at a low level. At the May 1929 election , Labour won 288 seats to the Conservatives' 260, with 59 Liberals under Lloyd George holding the balance of power. MacDonald was increasingly out of touch with his supposedly safe Welsh seat at Aberavon ; he largely ignored
15520-449: The government should do so. It went on to say that a resolution of the relationship between the two countries would "assist in the revolutionising of the international and British proletariat ... make it possible for us to extend and develop the ideas of Leninism in England and the Colonies". The government had received the letter before its publication in the newspapers. It had protested to
15680-510: The hammering of a skilled riveter, every blow hitting the nail on the head". Despite Law's efforts to forge consensus within the Conservatives, Balfour was unable to hold the two sides of his party together, and resigned as prime minister in December 1905, allowing the Liberals to form a government. The new prime minister, the Liberal Henry Campbell-Bannerman , immediately dissolved Parliament. Despite strong campaigning and
15840-427: The illegitimacy rate was around 15%—nearly every sixth person was born out of wedlock. MacDonald's mother had worked as a domestic servant at Claydale farm, near Alves , where his father was also employed. They were to have been married, but the wedding never took place, either because the couple quarrelled and chose not to marry, or because Anne's mother, Isabella Ramsay, stepped in to prevent her daughter from marrying
16000-552: The implementation of the Dawes Plan . MacDonald, who accepted the popular view of the economist John Maynard Keynes of German reparations as impossible to pay, pressured French Premier Édouard Herriot until many concessions were made to Germany, including the evacuation of the Ruhr . A British onlooker commented, "The London Conference was for the French 'man in the street' one long Calvary ... as he saw M. Herriot abandoning one by one
16160-580: The invitation, while MacDonald failed to secure the nomination despite strong support among Liberals. In 1893, Keir Hardie had formed the Independent Labour Party (ILP) which had established itself as a mass movement. In May 1894 MacDonald applied for membership and was accepted. He was officially adopted as the ILP candidate for one of the Southampton seats on 17 July 1894 but was heavily defeated at
16320-428: The layout of the real Parliament of the United Kingdom . This helped Law hone the skills that served him so well in the political arena. By the time he was thirty, Law had established himself as a successful businessman. He had time to devote to more leisurely pursuits. He remained an avid chess player, whom Andrew Harley called "a strong player, touching first-class amateur level, which he had attained by practice at
16480-519: The lesser of the two, and that I am sure we have done". Speaking to Edward Carson , F.E. Smith , Austen Chamberlain and Lord Balcarres in December after two weeks of receiving negative letters from party members about the change, Law outlined that he would not be averse to a return to the previous policy considering the negative feelings from the party, but felt that this would require the resignation of both himself and Lansdowne. Law again wrote to Strachey saying that he continued to feel this policy
16640-620: The managing partner. Working long hours (and insisting that his employees did likewise), Law turned the firm into one of the most profitable iron merchants in the Glaswegian and Scottish markets. During this period Law became a "self-improver"; despite his lack of formal university education, Law sought to test his intellect, attending lectures given at Glasgow University and joining the Glasgow Parliamentary Debating Association, which adhered as closely as possible to
16800-429: The minority included senior ministers such as Arthur Henderson who made it clear they would resign rather than acquiesce in the cuts. With this unworkable split, on 24 August 1931, MacDonald submitted his resignation and then agreed, on the urging of King George V , to form a National Government with the Conservatives and Liberals. With Henderson taking the lead, MacDonald, Snowden, and Thomas were quickly expelled from
16960-580: The name of Ramsay, and cannot understand it now. From my earliest years, my name has been entered in lists, like the school register, etc. as MacDonald. In August 1916 the Moray Golf Club passed a resolution declaring that MacDonald's anti-war activities "had endangered the character and interests of the club" and that he had forfeited his right to membership. In January 1917 MacDonald published National Defence , in which he argued that open diplomacy and disarmament were necessary to prevent future wars. As
17120-520: The new Chancellor of the Exchequer ( C. T. Ritchie ) had instead abolished Hicks Beach's corn duty altogether in his budget. Angered by this, Chamberlain spoke at the Birmingham Town Hall on 15 May without the government's permission, arguing for an Empire-wide system of tariffs which would protect Imperial economies, forge the British Empire into one political entity and allow them to compete with other world powers. The speech and its ideas split
17280-572: The new leader, while MacDonald took the party Treasurer's post. Despite his opposition to the war, MacDonald visited the Western Front in December 1914 with the approval of Lord Kitchener . MacDonald and General Seely set off for the front at Ypres and soon found themselves in the thick of an action in which both behaved with the utmost coolness. Later, MacDonald was received by the Commander-in-Chief at St Omer and made an extensive tour of
17440-467: The occasion at the Labour Party Conference of 1930 at Llandudno when he appeared to imply unemployment could be solved by encouraging the jobless to return to the fields "where they till and they grow and they sow and they harvest". Equally, there were times when it was unclear what his policies were. There was already some unease in the party about what he would do if Labour was able to form
17600-427: The opposition. These sections contained their previous speeches which supported and commended the policies which they now denounced. Although lasting only fifteen minutes and not a crowd- or press-pleaser (like the maiden speeches of F. E. Smith or Winston Churchill ), his speech attracted the attention of the Conservative Party leaders. Law's chance to make his mark came with the issue of tariff reform . To cover
17760-447: The party machine", selecting newer, younger and more popular whips and secretaries, elevating F. E. Smith and Lord Robert Cecil to the Shadow Cabinet and using his business acumen to reorganise the party, resulting in better relations with the press and local branches, along with the raising of a £671,000 "war chest" for the next general election: almost double that available at the previous one. On 12 February 1912, he finally unified
17920-685: The party unwhipped and saying that "the less part we take in this question the better". In terms of social reform (legislation to improve the conditions of the poor and working classes) Law was similarly unenthusiastic, believing that the area was a Liberal one, in which they could not successfully compete. His response to a request by Lord Balcarres for a social programme was simply "As the [Liberal Party] refuse to formulate their policy in advance we should be equally absolved". His refusal to get drawn in may have actually strengthened his hold over Conservative MPs, many of whom were similarly uninterested in social reform. In his first public speech as leader at
18080-485: The party, paying little attention to class warfare and much more to the emergence of a powerful state as it exemplified the Darwinian evolution of an ever more complex society. He was an Orthodox Edwardian progressive, keen on intellectual discussion, and averse to agitation. Within a short period, his wife became ill with blood poisoning and died. This deeply and permanently affected MacDonald. MacDonald had always taken
18240-457: The place in Hansard where Harcourt's speech was to be found. As a result of Law's proven experience in business matters and his skill as an economic spokesman for the government, Balfour offered him the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade when he formed his government, which Law accepted, and he was formally appointed on 11 August 1902. As Parliamentary Secretary his job
18400-415: The pre-revolutionary Russian government and been rejected by the Bolsheviks. There were, in fact, two proposed treaties: one would cover commercial matters, and the other would cover a fairly vague future discussion on the problem of the bondholders. If the treaties were signed, the British government would conclude a further treaty and guarantee a loan to the Bolsheviks. The treaties were popular neither with
18560-458: The proposal would not work, and the conference was dissolved a few days later. With the failure to establish a political consensus after the January 1910 general election , the Liberals called a second general election in December . The Conservative leadership decided that a good test of the popularity of the tariff reform programme would be to have a prominent tariff reformer stand for election in
18720-433: The referendum. If the electorate liked food duties, they would vote for the entire package; if not, they did not have to. Law replied arguing that it would be impossible to do so effectively, and that with the increasing costs of defence and social programmes it would be impossible to raise the necessary capital except by comprehensive tariff reform. He argued that a failure to offer the entire tariff reform package would split
18880-406: The rest was only part of the game". After further review with members of his party, Law changed his initial beliefs on tariff reform and accepted the full package, including duties on foodstuffs. On 29 February 1912 the entire Conservative parliamentary body (i.e. both MPs and peers) met at Lansdowne House, with Lord Lansdowne chairing. Lansdowne argued that although the electorate might prefer
19040-493: The results came in on 4 October, Law was returned to Parliament with a majority of 1,000, overturning Provand's majority of 381. He immediately ended his active work at Jacks and Company (although he retained his directorship) and moved to London. Law initially became frustrated with the slow speed of Parliament compared to the rapid pace of the Glasgow iron market, and Austen Chamberlain recalled him saying to Chamberlain that "it
19200-495: The safe Conservative seat of Dulwich , offered him a chance. Law was returned to Parliament in the ensuing by-election , increasing the Conservative majority to 1,279. The party was struck a blow in July 1906, when two days after a celebration of his seventieth birthday, Joseph Chamberlain suffered a stroke and was forced to retire from public life. He was succeeded as leader of the tariff reformers by his son Austen Chamberlain , who despite previous experience as Chancellor of
19360-519: The second-largest political party in 1922, was now clearly the third party. Labour had put up more candidates than in 1923, and its total vote increased, suggesting that the Zinoviev letter had little effect. But for years many Labourites blamed their defeat on the Letter, through misunderstanding the political forces at work. The strong majority held by the Conservatives gave Baldwin a full term during which
19520-841: The setting-up of a Scottish Home Rule Association in Edinburgh. On 6 March 1888, MacDonald took part in a meeting of London-based Scots, who, upon his motion, formed the London General Committee of the Scottish Home Rule Association. For a while he supported home rule for Scotland, but found little support among London's Scots. However, MacDonald never lost his interest in Scottish politics and home rule, and in Socialism: critical and constructive , published in 1921, he wrote: "The Anglification of Scotland has been proceeding apace to
19680-633: The so-called "new style" of speaking, with harsh, accusatory rhetoric, which dominates British politics to this day. This was as a counter to Arthur Balfour, known for his "masterly witticisms", because the party felt they needed a warrior-like figure. Law did not particularly enjoy his tougher manner, and at the State Opening of Parliament in February 1912 apologised directly to Asquith for his coming speech, saying, "I am afraid I shall have to show myself very vicious, Mr Asquith, this session. I hope you will understand." Law's "warrior king" figure helped unify
19840-644: The tariff reform programme was "a question of trade figures and not national and Imperial policy of expansion and consolidation of which trade was merely the economic factor". Keith Laybourn attributes Law's interest in tariff reform not only to the sound business practice that it represented but also that because of his place of birth "he was attracted by the Imperial tariff preference arrangements advocated by Joseph Chamberlain". Law's constituents in Blackfriars were not overly enthusiastic about tariff reform – Glasgow
20000-546: The two Unionist parties (Conservatives and Liberal Unionists) into the awkwardly named National Unionist Association of Conservative and Liberal-Unionist Organisations. From then on all were referred to as "Unionists" until the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, after which they became Conservatives again (though the name "Unionist" continued in use in Scotland and Northern Ireland). In Parliament, Law introduced
20160-404: The two groups, some MPs were claimed for both sides. By one estimate, there were 29 seats where Liberals stood against one another. This is thought to have cost them at least 14 seats, 10 of them to Labour, so in theory a reunited Liberal Party would have been much closer to, and perhaps even ahead of, Labour in terms of seats. However, in reality the two factions were on poor terms, and Lloyd George
20320-512: The unanimous support of the MPs, Law became Leader of the Conservative Party despite never having sat in Cabinet. Law's biographer, Robert Blake, wrote that he was an unusual choice to lead the Conservatives as a Presbyterian Canadian-Scots businessman had just become the leader of "the Party of Old England, the Party of the Anglican Church and the country squire, the party of broad acres and hereditary titles". As leader, Law first "rejuvenated
20480-624: The unemployed with the extension of benefits and amendments to the Insurance Acts. In a personal triumph for John Wheatley , Minister for Health, a Housing Act was passed, which greatly expanded municipal housing for low-paid workers. MacDonald had long been a leading spokesman for internationalism in the Labour movement; at first, he verged on pacifism. He founded the Union of Democratic Control in early 1914 to promote international socialist aims, but it
20640-542: The war dragged on, his reputation recovered but he still lost his seat in the 1918 " Coupon Election ", which saw the Liberal David Lloyd George 's coalition government win a large majority. The election campaign in Leicester West focused on MacDonald's opposition to the war, with MacDonald writing after his defeat: "I have become a kind of mythological demon in the minds of the people". MacDonald denounced
20800-469: Was defeated at Dundee nonetheless), while many leading Conservatives (e.g. former parliamentary leaders Arthur Balfour and Sir Austen Chamberlain , and former Lord Chancellor Lord Birkenhead ) were not members of Bonar Law's government, and hoped to hold the balance of power after the election (comparisons were made with the Peelite group—the ousted Conservative front bench of the late 1840s and 1850s); this
20960-630: Was "unprincipled and treacherous", particularly since he then circulated a questionnaire among Lancashire party members with leading questions such as "do you think the abandonment of the referendum will do harm?" Law met the Lancashire party on 2 January 1913 and ordered that they must replace any food tariff based resolutions with a vote of confidence in him as a leader, and that any alternative would result in his resignation. Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald ( né James McDonald Ramsay ; 12 October 1866 – 9 November 1937)
21120-415: Was a British statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , the first who belonged to the Labour Party , leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 and again between 1929 and 1931 . From 1931 to 1935, he headed a National Government dominated by the Conservative Party and supported by only a few Labour members. MacDonald was expelled from the Labour Party as
21280-407: Was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a Canadian province). He was of Scottish and Ulster Scots descent and moved to Scotland in 1870. He left school aged sixteen to work in the iron industry, becoming a wealthy man by the age of thirty. He entered
21440-413: Was a good idea, particularly since other nations such as (Germany) and the United States had increasingly high tariffs. Using his business experience, he made a "plausible case" that there was no proof that tariffs led to increases in the cost of living, as the Liberals had argued. Again his memory came into good use – when William Harcourt accused Law of misquoting him, Law was able to precisely give
21600-520: Was a poor area at the time that had benefited from free trade. In parliament, Law worked exceedingly hard at pushing for tariff reform, regularly speaking in the House of Commons and defeating legendary debaters such as Winston Churchill , Charles Dilke and H. H. Asquith , former home secretary and later prime minister. His speeches at the time were known for their clarity and common sense; Sir Ian Malcolm said that he made "the involved seem intelligible", and L. S. Amery said his arguments were "like
21760-492: Was accepted that Balfour was likely to resign, with the main competitors for the leadership being Law, Carson, Walter Long and Austen Chamberlain . When the elections began, Long and Chamberlain were the frontrunners; Chamberlain commanded the support of many tariff reformers, and Long that of the Irish Unionists. Carson immediately announced that he would not stand, and Law eventually announced that he would run for Leader,
21920-483: Was adopted as its candidate, announcing that his candidature would be under a Labour Party banner. He denied the Labour Party was a wing of the Liberal Party but saw merit in a working political relationship. In May 1894, the local Southampton Liberal Association was trying to find a labour-minded candidate for the constituency. Two others joined MacDonald to address the Liberal Council: one was offered but turned down
22080-457: Was already called Robert, he was instead named after Andrew Bonar , a biographer of M'Cheyne. Throughout his life he was always called Bonar by his family and close friends, never Andrew. He originally signed his name as A. B. Law, changing to A. Bonar Law in his thirties. He was referred to as Bonar Law by the public. James Law was the minister for several isolated townships, and had to travel between them by horse, boat and on foot. To supplement
22240-543: Was appointed as Minister of Labour , becoming the first-ever woman cabinet minister. MacDonald's second government was in a stronger parliamentary position than his first, and in 1930 he was able to raise unemployment pay , pass an act to improve wages and conditions in the coal industry (i.e. the issues behind the General Strike ) and pass the Housing Act 1930 which focused on slum clearances . However, an attempt by
22400-449: Was better suited to business than to university, and when he was sixteen, Law left school to become a clerk at Kidston & Sons. At Kidston & Sons, Law received a nominal salary, on the understanding that he would gain a "commercial education" from working there that would serve him well as a businessman. In 1885 the Kidston brothers decided to retire, and agreed to merge the firm with
22560-663: Was carried, and the King granted MacDonald a dissolution of Parliament the following day. The issues that dominated the election campaign were the Campbell Case and the Russian treaties, which soon combined into the single issue of the Bolshevik threat. On 25 October 1924, just four days before the election, the Daily Mail reported that a letter had come into its possession which purported to be
22720-464: Was complete; the Labour New Leader magazine opined that his election was, "enough in itself to transform our position in the House. We have once more a voice which must be heard". By now, the party was reunited and MacDonald was re-elected as Leader . Historian Kenneth O. Morgan examines his newfound stature: At the 1922 election , Labour replaced the Liberals as the main opposition party to
22880-459: Was disqualified from the register in 1904 due to his absences abroad. In 1906, the LRC changed its name to the " Labour Party ", amalgamating with the ILP. In that same year, 29 Labour MPs were elected, including MacDonald, for Leicester , who then became one of the leaders of the Parliamentary Labour Party . These Labour MPs undoubtedly owed their election to the ' Gladstone–MacDonald pact ' between
23040-544: Was dissolved on 28 November, with the election to take place and polling to end by 19 December. The Conservative and Liberal parties were equal in strength, and with the continued support of the Irish Nationalists the Liberal Party remained in government. Law called his campaign in Manchester North West the hardest of his career; his opponent, George Kemp, was a war hero who had fought in the Second Boer War and
23200-485: Was during this period that MacDonald and his wife began a long friendship with the social investigator and reforming civil servant Clara Collet with whom he discussed women's issues. She was an influence on MacDonald and other politicians in their attitudes towards women's rights. In 1901, he was elected to the London County Council for Finsbury Central as a joint Labour– Progressive Party candidate, but he
23360-464: Was elected in a March 1911 by-election for the safe Conservative seat of Bootle . The Liberal attempt to curb the veto power of the House of Lords was now backed by a threat, if necessary, to create hundreds of Liberal peers. Law favoured surrender on pragmatic grounds, as a Unionist-dominated House of Lords would retain some ability to delay Liberal attempts to introduce Irish Home Rule, Welsh Disestablishment or electoral reforms gerrymandered to help
23520-461: Was likely, MacDonald responded by declaring that "this country ought to have remained neutral". In the Labour Leader he claimed that the real cause of the war was the "policy of the balance of power through alliance". The Party supported the government in its request for £100,000,000 of war credits and, as MacDonald could not, he resigned from the party Chairmanship. Arthur Henderson became
23680-408: Was most likely aware of the plans even if he did not actively participate. The conference was opened on 14 November 1912 by Lord Farquhar , who immediately introduced Lord Lansdowne. Lansdowne revoked the Referendum Pledge, saying that as the government had failed to submit Home Rule to a referendum, the offer that tariff reform would also be submitted was null and void. Lansdowne promised that when
23840-503: Was no secret and he had not seemed to have suffered by it, but, according to the journal he had, by using a false name, gained access to parliament falsely and should suffer heavy penalties and have his election declared void. MacDonald received much internal support, but how the disclosures were made public had affected him. He wrote in his diary: ...I spent hours of terrible mental pain. Letters of sympathy began to pour in upon me. ... Never before did I know that I had been registered under
24000-546: Was not a seat with high prospects attached; a working-class area, it had returned Liberal Party MPs since it was created in 1884, and the incumbent, Andrew Provand , was highly popular. Although the election was not due until 1902, the events of the Second Boer War forced the Conservative government to call a general election in 1900 , later known as the khaki election . The campaign was unpleasant for both sides, with anti- and pro-war campaigners fighting vociferously, but Law distinguished himself with his oratory and wit. When
24160-525: Was not to be, as Bonar Law won an overall majority. It was the first election at which Labour surpassed the combined strength of both Liberal parties in votes and seats. The election was also notable for Labour in that it saw future Prime Minister Clement Attlee elected as MP for Limehouse . Some Liberal candidates stood calling for a reunited Liberal Party, while others appear to have backed both Asquith and Lloyd George. Few sources are able to agree on exact numbers, and even in contemporary records held by
24320-564: Was overwhelmed by the war. His 1917 book, National Defence , revealed his own long-term vision for peace. Although disappointed at the harsh terms of the Versailles Treaty, he supported the League of Nations – but, by 1930, he felt that the internal cohesion of the British Empire and a strong, independent British defence programme might turn out to be the wisest British government policy. MacDonald moved in March 1924 to end construction work on
24480-558: Was replaced by H. H. Asquith . In 1909, he and his Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George introduced the People's Budget , which sought through increased direct and indirect taxes to redistribute wealth and fund social reform programmes. By parliamentary convention, financial and budget bills are not challenged by the House of Lords . But in this case, the predominantly Conservative and Liberal Unionist Lords rejected
24640-408: Was returned decisively, gaining 155 seats for a total of 413 members of parliament. This was a landslide victory against the Liberals, who lost 118 seats (leaving them with only 40); their vote fell by over a million. For Labour the result was a defeat not a disaster, holding on to 151 seats and losing 40. The real significance of the election was that the Liberal Party, which Labour had displaced as
24800-433: Was still hoping for a renewed coalition with the Conservatives. Neither of the leaders of the two main parties succeeded in enjoying their achievement in the election for very long; within less than a month of the election, Clynes was defeated in a leadership challenge by former Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald , while Bonar Law would only last a little over seven months as Prime Minister before being forced to step down due to
24960-622: Was still less than the Liberal caucus, and produced a hung parliament , as neither had a majority of the seats (the Irish Parliamentary Party , the Labour Party and the All-for-Ireland League took more than 120 seats in total). The Liberals remained in office with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party. The Budget passed through the House of Commons a second time, and – as it now had an electoral mandate –
25120-507: Was the correct one, and only regretted that the issue was splitting the party at a time when unity was needed to fight the Home Rule problem. At the meeting of the Lancashire party the group under Derby condemned Law's actions and called for a three-week party recess before deciding what to do about the repeal of the Referendum Pledge. This was an obvious ultimatum to Law, giving him a three-week period to change his mind. Law believed that Derby
25280-471: Was then approved by the House of Lords without a division. However, the crisis over the Budget had highlighted a long-standing constitutional question: should the House of Lords be able to overturn bills passed by the House of Commons? The Liberal government introduced a bill in February 1910 which would prevent the House of Lords vetoing finance bills, and would force them to pass any bill which had been passed by
25440-595: Was to assist the President of the Board of Trade , Gerald Balfour . At the time the tariff reform controversy was brewing, led by the Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain , an ardent tariff reformer who "declared war" on free trade, and who persuaded the Cabinet that the Empire should be exempted from the new corn duty. After returning from a speaking tour of South Africa in 1903, Chamberlain found that
25600-437: Was very well for men who, like myself had been able to enter the House of Commons young to adapt to a Parliamentary career, but if he had known what the House of Commons was he would never had entered at this stage". He soon learnt to be patient, however, and on 18 February 1901 made his maiden speech. Replying to anti-Boer War MPs, including David Lloyd George , Law used his excellent memory to quote sections of Hansard back to
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