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The first Labour government of the United Kingdom lasted from January to November 1924. The Labour Party, under James Ramsay MacDonald, had won the general election of December 1923, winning 151 seats, although the Conservative government under Stanley Baldwin was not dissolved immediately since Labour did not possess a majority in the House of Commons. The Conservatives had won the previous general election held shortly after the fall of the Lloyd George Coalition where, along with their Unionist allies, they had won 344 seats. This seemed a significant enough majority to expect a full-parliamentary term. Nevertheless, shortly afterwards the Conservative leader, Andrew Bonar Law, died, and was replaced by Baldwin, who reneged on his predecessor's electoral pledge not to introduce protective tariffs. As such, Baldwin had to seek a fresh mandate from the electorate. The result was a decisive indictment against protectionism. Baldwin had little chance of remaining prime minister when it was the Liberal Party, under H.H. Asquith, who had campaigned vigorously for free trade (to the point of healing the rift that had existed between the Asquith and Lloyd George factions to a certain extent), who held the balance of power. Baldwin advised the King to send for MacDonald, whose individual party held the most seats in the Commons. MacDonald accepted the King's commission later that day, arriving with his Labour colleagues, to the amusement and dismay to many, in full court dress. January is the first month of the year and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ...
Look up November in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the main democratic socialist [1] political party in the United Kingdom. ...
James Ramsay MacDonald (October 12, 1866 - November 9, 1937) was Britains 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. ...
Look up December in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...
The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative & Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), and the largest in terms of public membership. ...
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC (3 August 1867–14 December 1947) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on three separate occasions. ...
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor, OM (January 17, 1863–March 26, 1945) was a British statesman and the last Liberal to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ...
Andrew Bonar Law (16 September 1858–30 October 1923) was a Conservative British statesman and Prime Minister. ...
A tariff is a tax on imported goods. ...
In the common law legal system, an indictment is a formal charge of having committed a serious criminal offence. ...
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between nations, through methods such as high tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, a variety of restrictive government regulations designed to discourage imports, and anti-dumping laws in an attempt to protect domestic industries in a particular nation from foreign take-over...
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (September 12, 1852 - February 15, 1928) served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. ...
Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ...
MacDonald and the Cabinet
MacDonald had become Labour's first proper leader in 1922. To become prime minister in two years was a remarkable achievement. As well as Prime Minister, he became his own Foreign Secetary, a double role which he performed well enough but which alienated the second man in the party, Arthur Henderson, who became Home Secretary. Philip Snowden, the evangelical ex-member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) became a rigidly orthodox Chancellor of the Exchequer, while the next two prominent members of the party, Jimmy Thomas and Johnny Clynes, became Colonial Secretary and Lord Privy Seal respectively. The Fabian Sidney Webb, who had, along with Henderson, been instrumental in conceiving Labour's 1918 programme 'Labour and the New Social Order' which had committed the party to nationalisation (Clause IV) was appointed President of the Board of Trade; another Fabian, Lord Olivier, became Secretary of State for India. A former chairman of the parlaimenatry party, Willie Adamson, became Scottish Secretary while left-wingers Fred Jowett and John Wheatley became, respectively, First Commissioner of Works and Minister of Health. The Cabinet was characterised by a moderate trade union feel, although it also contained a few Liberals. 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
The Right Honourable Arthur Henderson (September 13, 1863 – October 20, 1935) was a British politician and union leader. ...
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, known as the Home Secretary, is the chief United Kingdom government minister responsible for law and order (except in Scotland). ...
Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden (July 18, 1864 - May 15, 1937) was a British politician, and the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer. ...
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a former political party in the United Kingdom. ...
Various governments have a Chancellor who serves as some form of junior or senior minister. ...
James (Jimmy) Henry Thomas, (October 3, 1874 - January 21, 1949) was a British trade unionist and Labour politician. ...
1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...
Nationalization is the act of taking assets into state ownership. ...
John Wheatley (May 19, 1869 - May 12, 1930) was a Scottish socialist politician. ...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
Achievements The main achievement of the government was that it showed itself to be 'fit to govern'. Although this might not have meant much in terms of concrete policy-making, it at least did not alarm voters who may have feared that the party would dismantle the country and promulgate 'socialism'; although, in any case, its tenuous parliamentary position would have made radical moves near impossible. Hence, Labour policies such as nationalisation, the 'capital levy' taxation and public works programmes to alleviate unemployment were either played down or ignored altogether. However, to act 'respectably', as any other government would have, was a major component of the MacDonald electoral appeal and strategy. Indeed, some historians have seen in this time an electoral consensus that existed between MacDonald and his Conservative counterpart Baldwin to maintain the stability of the electoral system and preclude any radicalism that might have alienated voters or exacerbated crises such as unemployment. By 1929 voters felt able to trust Labour and thus they were voted back in again. 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
The main achievement of this government was the 1924 Wheatley Housing Act, which MacDonald dubbed 'our most important legislative item'[citation needed]. It went a way towards rectifying the problem of the housing shortage caused by the disruption of the building trade during the World war I and the inaccessibility of working-class tenants to rent decent, affordable housing. Wheately was able to provide public housing to council tenants, as against the previous government's commitment to privatisation. The United States detonated an atomic bomb over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. ...
The fall of the government Apart from this there was little concrete achievement. Foreign policy encompassed attempting to improve relations with the Soviet Union, but success here was modest and ultimately proved the government's undoing, as Conservative's critics were quick to point out any 'Red' (Soviet) influence in Britain. One example of this was the 'Campbell Case'. The Communist J.R Campbell had been prosecuted by the government for publishing an article calling on troops not to fire on strikers. When Labour withdrew the prosecution, it was seen by many as a 'red' influence on the leadership. Herbert Asquith, the Leader of the Liberal Party called for the appointment of a committee of enquiry as this would allow Labour time to survive the scandal, but MacDonald would not allow it. He said that if MPs voted in favour of the enquiry then the government would resign. They consequently voted for the enquiry with a large majority, so MacDonald announced that the Labour government would resign after only nine months in office. Soon after this resignation, came the emergence of the Zinoviev letter, which has become part of Labour party mythology. The 'Daily Mail' published a letter apparently written by Zinoviev, the head of the Communist International (Comintern), which asked supporters to prepare for imminent revolution. It is now known that the Zinoviev letter was a fake, but it scarcely helped Labour during their election campaign. However, ultimately the government fell because it ran out of steam: there was bankruptcy in terms of policy, many leaders were faltering and, in particular, the Liberals were becoming increasingly restive about continuing to support the government. MacDonald's inability to delegate tasks to subordinates was also a factor in Labour's demise. He had taken the postition of Foreign Secretary as well as Prime Minister and by the end of the nine months it seemed as if MacDonald had wanted to give up power through fatigue. He once wrote in his diary that he worked from '7am to 1am, with occasional extras'. However, ultimately the first Labour government showed that Labour was 'fit to govern' and it returned to office five years later. The Zinoviev Letter is thought to have been instrumental in the Conservative Partys victory in the United Kingdom general election, 1924, which ended the countrys first Labour government. ...
The first edition of Communist International, journal of the Comintern published in Moscow and Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) in May 1919. ...
It has been suggested that Revolutionary be merged into this article or section. ...
The Zinoviev Letter is thought to have been instrumental in the Conservative Partys victory in the United Kingdom general election, 1924, which ended the countrys first Labour government. ...
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