National Government (1931–1935)

The National Government of 1931–1935 was formed by Ramsay MacDonald following his reappointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George V after the general election in October 1931.

As a National Government it contained members of the Conservative Party, Liberals, Liberal Nationals and National Labour, as well as a number of individuals who belonged to no political party. The Liberal Nationals had previously not held office in MacDonald's previous National Government, though two junior ministers appointed as Liberals had defected to them. Their relationship with the main Liberal Party had been unclear but following the election, the Liberal Nationals officially repudiated the official Liberal Party whip.

During the course of the Ministry the ministers from the Liberal Party, led by Sir Herbert Samuel, resigned over the adoption of a protectionist policy caused by the government negotiating the Ottawa Accords in 1932. The other Liberal faction in the Ministry, the Liberal National Party, had accepted the Conservative policy of protectionism before the National government had been formed so its ministers continued in office.

In June 1935, MacDonald resigned and was replaced as prime minister by Stanley Baldwin.

Cabinet

November 1931 – May 1935

• Ramsay MacDonald – Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons
• John Sankey, 1st Viscount Sankey – Lord Chancellor
• Stanley Baldwin – Lord President
• Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount 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
• Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham – Secretary of State for War and Leader of the House of Lords
• Sir Samuel Hoare – Secretary of State for India
• Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry – Secretary for Air
• Sir Archibald Sinclair – Secretary of State for Scotland
• Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell – First Lord of the Admiralty
• Walter Runciman – President of the Board of Trade
• Sir John Gilmour – Minister of Agriculture
• Sir Donald Maclean – President of the Board of Education
• Henry Betterton – Minister of Labour
• Hilton Young – Minister of Health
• William Ormsby-Gore – First Commissioner of Works

Changes

• June 1932 – Lord Irwin succeeds Donald Maclean (deceased) as President of the Board of Education
• September 1932 – Stanley Baldwin succeeds Philip Snowden as Lord Privy Seal, remaining also Lord President. John Gilmour succeeds Herbert Samuel as Home Secretary. Sir Godfrey Collins succeeds Sir Archibald Sinclair as Scottish Secretary. Walter Elliot succeeds Gilmour as Minister of Agriculture.
• December 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
• June 1934 – Oliver Stanley succeeds Henry Betterton as Minister of Labour

Key

• = Member of National Labour
• = Member of the Conservative Party
• = Member of the Liberal Party
• = Member of the Liberal National Party

List of ministers

Members of the Cabinet are in bold face.

Notes

References

• Bassett, Reginald. 1931 Political Crisis (2nd ed., Aldershot: Macmillan 1986)
• Butler, David, and G. Butler, Twentieth Century British Political Facts 1900–2000
• Hattersley, Roy. Borrowed Time: The Story of Britain Between the Wars (2008) pp 143–72.
• Howell, David. MacDonald's Party: Labour Identities and Crisis, 1922–1931 (Oxford U.P. 2002).
• Hyde, H. Montgomery. Baldwin: The Unexpected Prime Minister (1973)
• Jenkins, Roy. Baldwin (1987) excerpt and text search
• Marquand, David. Ramsay MacDonald (1977)
• Mowat, Charles Loch. Britain between the Wars: 1918–1945 (1955) pp. 413–79
• Raymond, John, ed. The Baldwin Age (1960), essays by scholars 252 pages; online
• Skidelsky, Robert. Politicians and the Slump: the Labour Government of 1929–1931. (1967.)
• Smart, Nick. The National Government. 1931–40 (Macmillan 1999)
• Taylor, A.J.P. English History 1914–1945 (1965) pp 321–88
• Thorpe, Andrew. The British general election of 1931 (Oxford UP, 1991).
• Thorpe, Andrew. Britain in the 1930s. The Deceptive Decade, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992).
• Williamson, Philip. National Crisis and National Government. British Politics, the Economy and the Empire, 1926–1932, (Cambridge UP, 1992).