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Ramsay MacDonald Biography |
James Ramsay MacDonald (October 12, 1866 - November 9, 1937) was Britain's first Labour Prime Minister (January-November 1924 and June 1929-August 1931) and subsequently Prime Minister of the "National" Government of August 1931-June 1935.
Biography
Born at Lossiemouth in Scotland, he was from very humble beginnings and had no secondary education, but was a rousing speaker. A member of the Independent Labour Party from 1893 and subsequently of the broader Labour Party, he entered Parliament in 1906, and became leader of the Labour Party in 1911. In August 1914 he resigned the party leadership in opposition to World War I, subsequently losing his parliamentary seat.
Returned to Parliament at the November 1922 general election, he was re-elected Party leader. On January 22, 1924, after the failure of the Conservative government under Stanley Baldwin to win a majority of parliamentary seats at the previous month's election, MacDonald formed a minority Labour government with Liberal Party support. He served as both Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary However the government only lasted until November 4 of the same year, when Baldwin returned to office following an election marked by controversy over the Zinoviev Letter.
MacDonald took office as prime minister again on June 7, 1929,this time as leader of the largest party in Parliament, but still without an overall majority and dependent on Liberal support. The economic and financial crisis of 1931 split the government between advocates and opponents of stringent government spending cuts, MacDonald and senior colleagues joining with the Conservatives and Liberals in a "National Government" (August 24). Most of the Labour rank-and-file went into opposition, denouncing MacDonald as a "rat" and a traitor to the Labour Party. His position was further weakened in 1932 and 1933 when the Liberals slowly detached their support for the government and came to a position of complete opposition, even though part of the Liberal Party remained as the Liberal Nationals. However to many MacDonald appeared the mere puppet leader of a Conservative administration in disguise. He was deeply wounded by these attacks and the difficulties of governing over such a disastrous period and his health, both physical and mental, suffered over the next few years as a result. MacDonald surrendered the premiership of an increasingly Conservative-dominated government to Baldwin on June 7, 1935. He remained in the government as Lord President of the Council but proved increasingly ineffecitve over the next two years. In the 1935 general election he lost his parliamentary seat by over 21,000 votes to Emanuel Shinwell. MacDonald returned to the House of Commons for the Scottish Universities seat, though he had previously called for its abolition, and finally left office in May 1937. He declined all honours and sought a peaceful retirement. In November 1937, whilst travelling to South America for a long rest he was taken ill and died.
MacDonald's legacy is a mixed one, with few willing to praise his achievements. More than anyone else he transformed the Labour Party from the representatives of a section of British society into one of the two major political parties competing for office. His moderate course of politics has been followed by every subsequent successful Labour Prime Minister. However for many he remains the villain of the 1931 crisis who disrupted the steady rise of the Labour Party by forming a coalition against it. To this day he remains probably the most internally villified figure in the history of the Labour Party.
Ramsay MacDonald's first Labour government, January - November 1924
Ramsay MacDonald - Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons
Lord Haldane - Lord Chancellor
Lord Parmoor - Lord President
John Robert Clynes - Lord Privy Seal and Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
Philip Snowden - Chancellor of the Exchequer
Arthur Henderson - Home Secretary
James Henry Thomas - Colonial Secretary
Stephen Walsh - Secretary for War
Sir Sydney Olivier - Secretary for India
William Adamson - Secretary for Scotland
Christopher Birdwood Thomson - Secretary for Air
Lord Chelmsford - First Lord of the Admiralty
Josiah Clement Wedgwood - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Sidney Webb - President of the Board of Trade
Noel Buxton - Minister of Agriculture
Charles Philips Trevelyan - President of the Board of Education
Vernon Hartshorn - Postmaster-General
Frederick William Jowet - First Commissioner of Works
Thomas Shaw - Minister of Labour
John Wheatley - Minister of Health
Ramsay MacDonald's second Labour government, June 1929 - August 1931
Ramsay MacDonald - Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons
Lord Sankey - Lord Chancellor
Lord Parmoor - Lord President of the Council
J.H. Thomas - Lord Privy Seal
Philip Snowden - Chancellor of the Exchequer
J.R. Clynes - Home Secretary
Arthur Henderson - Foreign Secretary
Lord Passfield - Colonial and Dominions Secretary
Thomas Shaw - Secretary for War
W.W. Benn - Secretary for India
Lord Thomson - Secretary for Air
William Adamson - Secretary of State for Scotland
A. V. Alexander - First Lord of the Admiralty
William Graham - President of the Board of Trade
Sir C.P. Trevelyan - President of the Board of Education
N. Buxton - Minister of Agriculture
Margaret Bondfield - Minister of Labour
Arthur Greenwood - Minister of Health
George Lansbury - First Commissioner of Works
Changes
1930 - J.H. Thomas succeeds Lord Passfield as Dominions Secretary. Passfield remains Colonial Secretary. Vernon Hartshorn succeeds Thomas as Lord Privy Seal. Lord Amulree succeeds Lord Thomson as Secretary for Air. Christopher Addison succeeds N. Buxton as Minister of Agriculture.
1931 - H.B. Lees-Smith succeeds Sir C.P. Trevelyan at the Board of Education. H.S. Morrison enters the cabinet as Minister of Transport.
Ramsay MacDonald's first national government, August - November 1931
Ramsay MacDonald - Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons
Lord Sankey - Lord Chancellor
Stanley Baldwin - Lord President
Philip Snowden - Chancellor of the Exchequer
Sir Herbert Samuel - Home Secretary
Lord Reading - Foreign Secretary
Sir Samuel Hoare - Secretary for India
J.H. Thomas - Dominions Secretary and Colonial Secretary
Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister - President of the Board of Trade
Neville Chamberlain - Minister of Health
Ramsay MacDonald's second national government, November 1931 - May 1935
Ramsay MacDonald - Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons
Lord Sankey - Lord Chancellor
Stanley Baldwin - Lord President
Lord Snowden - Lord Privy Seal
Neville Chamberlain - Chancellor of the Exchequer
Sir Herbert Samuel - Home Secretary
Sir John Simon - Foreign Secretary
Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister - Colonial Secretary
J.H. Thomas - Dominions Secretary
Lord Hailsham - Secretary for War
Sir Samuel Hoare - Secretary for India
Lord Londonderry - Secretary for Air
Sir Archibald Sinclair - Secretary of State for Scotland
Sir B. Eyres-Monsell - First Lord of the Admiralty
Walter Runciman - President of the Board of Trade
Sir John Gilmour - Minister of Agriculture
Sir D. Maclean - President of the Board of Education
Sir H. Betterton - Minister of Labour
Sir E. Hilton-Young - Minister of Health
W. Ormsby-Gore - First Commissioner of Works
Changes
1932 - Stanley Baldwin succeeds Lord Snowden as Lord Privy Seal. Sir John Gilmour succeeds Sir Herbert Samuel as Home Secretary. Sir G. Collins succeeds Sir A. Sinclair as Scottish Secretary. W. Elliott succeeds Sir John Gilmour as Minister of Agriculture. Lord Irwin succeeds Sir D. Maclean as President of the Board of Education.
1933 - Stanley Baldwin ceases to be Lord Privy Seal, and his successor in that office is not in the cabinet. He continues as Lord President. Kingsley Wood enters the cabinet as Postmaster-General
1934 - Oliver Stanley succeeds Sir H. Betterton as Minister of Labour. |
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