The
National Government of August–October 1931, also known as the First National Government, was the first of a series of
national governments formed during the
Great Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression. It was Britain's largest and most profound economic depress ...
. It was formed by
Ramsay MacDonald as
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...
following the collapse of the previous
minority government, led by the
Labour Party, known as the
Second MacDonald ministry
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...
.
As a National Government, it contained members of the
Conservative Party,
Liberals and
National Labour, as well as a number of individuals who belonged to no political party. The breakaway
Liberal Nationals supported the National Government after their formation in September 1931 but none received posts in the new administration. Subsequently two Liberal ministers,
Alec Glassey and
John Pybus, defected to the Liberal Nationals. It did not contain members of the Labour Party as MacDonald had been expelled from it. The Labour Party led the opposition.
Viewed by many Labour supporters as a traitor, MacDonald was expelled from the Labour Party, and remained a hated figure within the Labour Party for many years thereafter, despite his great services to his party earlier in his life.
[A Social History of the English Working Classes 1815–1945 by Eric Hopkins]
Formation
The outgoing Labour cabinet, which was a minority government, was unable to agree upon proposals to cut public expenditure. Prime Minister MacDonald submitted his resignation to
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
on 24 August 1931.
The new Ministry was formed on 24 August 1931, when MacDonald was re-appointed Prime Minister. A smaller-than-usual cabinet was appointed the following day. The King persuaded MacDonald that it was his duty to form a new government to address the financial crisis. The original idea was that the National Government would be free to draw upon the talents of members of all parties, so that it would represent the nation as a whole rather than being a coalition of parties like those which had existed between 1915 and 1922. However, as the main body of the Labour Party refused to co-operate, the government comprised members from MacDonald's small group of
National Labour supporters, the
Conservative Party and the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
.
The Liberal Party was split into three factions. The mainstream party led by
Sir Herbert Samuel
Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, (6 November 1870 – 5 February 1963) was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931 to 1935.
He was the first nominally-practising Jew to serve as a Cabinet minister and to beco ...
, who had been the Deputy Leader of the party before the formation of the National Government, continued to support free trade. The
Liberal National group led by
Sir John Simon
John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, (28 February 1873 – 11 January 1954), was a British politician who held senior Cabinet posts from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. He is one of only three peop ...
had accepted the Conservative policy of protectionism. These two Liberal factions were supporters of the National Ministry. The third group led by
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...
(later to be called the
Independent Liberals) had initially supported the creation of the National Government with two of them (
Gwilym Lloyd George
Gwilym Lloyd George, 1st Viscount Tenby, (4 December 1894 – 14 February 1967) was a Welsh politician and cabinet minister. The younger son of David Lloyd George, he served as Home Secretary from 1954 to 1957.
Background, education and milit ...
and
Goronwy Owen) taking office. David Lloyd George had been expected to join the government after recovering from surgery following an operation on his prostate as he was still the official leader of the Liberal party. However, he refused to support the calling of a general election, and persuaded his supporters to leave the government and go into opposition.
General election
MacDonald's National Government had not originally been intended to fight a general election, but under Conservative pressure one was soon called. The Samuelite Liberal Party was opposed to a general election but found it could not prevent one. Parliament was dissolved on 8 October 1931.
The
1931 general election took place on 27 October 1931 and led to a landslide victory for candidates supporting the National Government. MacDonald reconstructed his government on 5 November 1931, establishing the
1931-35 National Government.
Cabinet
August 1931 – November 1931
* Ramsay MacDonald – Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons
*
Lord Sankey – Lord Chancellor
*
Stanley Baldwin – Lord President
*
Philip Snowden
Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden, PC (; 18 July 1864 – 15 May 1937) was a British politician. A strong speaker, he became popular in trade union circles for his denunciation of capitalism as unethical and his promise of a socialist utop ...
– Chancellor of the Exchequer
*
Sir Herbert Samuel
Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, (6 November 1870 – 5 February 1963) was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931 to 1935.
He was the first nominally-practising Jew to serve as a Cabinet minister and to beco ...
– Home Secretary
*
Lord Reading – Foreign Secretary and
Leader of the House of Lords
The leader of the House of Lords is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Lords. The post is also the leader of the majority party in the House of Lords who acts as ...
*
Sir Samuel Hoare – Secretary for India
*
J.H. Thomas
James Henry Thomas (3 October 1874 – 21 January 1949), sometimes known as Jimmy Thomas or Jim Thomas, was a Welsh people, Welsh Labour union, trade unionist and Labour Party (UK), Labour (later National Labour Organisation, National Labour) ...
– Dominions Secretary and Colonial Secretary
*
Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister – President of the Board of Trade
*
Neville Chamberlain – Minister of Health
Key
* = Member of
National Labour
* = Member of the
Conservative Party
* = Member of the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
Members of the Ministry
The First National Government was composed of members of the following parties:
*
National Labour
*
Conservative Party
*
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
Members of the
Cabinet are in bold face.
Notes
Footnotes
References
* Bassett, Reginald. ''1931 Political Crisis'' (2nd ed., Aldershot: Macmillan 1986)
*
* 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* 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* Smart, Nick. ''The National Government. 1931-40'' (Macmillan 1999)
*
* Taylor, A.J.P. ''English History 1914-1945'' (1965) pp 321–88
* 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).
* Cawood, Ian, (10 May 2013), 'Liberal-Conservative Coalitions - ‘a farce and a fraud’?' ''History & Policy''. http://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/liberal-conservative-coalitions-a-farce-and-a-fraud
{{DEFAULTSORT:National 1
Ministry 2
British ministries
1931 establishments in the United Kingdom
1931 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Political history of the United Kingdom
Ministries of George V
Cabinets established in 1931
Cabinets disestablished in 1931
1930s in the United Kingdom
Interwar Britain
1931 in British politics