Sometimes in life you must take a chance regardless of the consequences.
One hundred years ago Labour leader Ramsey Macdonald found himself in this position. With no clear victor determined from a General Election, he grasped the opportunity to lead his party into the previously unknown domain of national government.
In this blog, I shall be giving an overview of the drama-packed nine months of governance that followed. Looking at the problems they encountered, the mistakes that were made, and the notable successes achieved.
Nobody said it would be easy and ultimately, that proved to be the case.
LIFT OFF
Things were looking up for the Labour Party at the beginning of the twenties. Strong leadership combined with a rapidly growing working-class franchise base saw them build up quite a head of electoral steam. This momentum was shown in the positive poll results attained in the November 1922 Election. Following four years in the Parliamentary wilderness, Ramsey MacDonald took over the reins with the intention of knocking the Liberals from its second-party perch. As Stanley Baldwin’s Conservatives divided over tariffs the Labour benches delivered a definitive mission statement in the Commons Chamber with Phillip Snowden’s strident motion denouncing capitalism.
That’s not to say the Labour camp didn’t have its differences with James Maxton’s ‘Red Clydeside’ faction advocating a revolutionary direction. Looking to establish a mandate to proceed with their economic reforms the Conservatives announced an election in the winter of 1923 that failed to produce the required majority result. A power vacuum quickly developed and as Herbert Asquith’s Liberals dithered Labour seized the initiative. MacDonald used a festive break in Scotland to come to his final decision and after deliberating back in London with close confidants Sidney and Beatrice Webb accepted the call to arms in a non-power-sharing premiership.
Read Snowden’s Capitalism motion parlimanet.uk/historic-hansard
MEET THE TEAM
Upon entering 10 Downing Street MacDonald realised the sheer number of cabinet occupancies at senior and junior level that needed filling. Of uttermost importance was to place in key positions individuals considered as safe bets. Thus, Phillip Snowden a respected financial expert become Chancellor of the Exchequer while veteran campaigner Arthur Henderson was rewarded as Home Secretary. Jimmy Thomas of Trade Union repute would preside over the Colonial Office and former party boss John Clynes as Lord Privy Seal resided next door to MacDonald at No 11 where to his wife, Mary Clynes’s annoyance a piano had to be delivered.
There was a lack of Home Counties backgrounds amongst the novice ministerial recruits. Primarily from various industrial heartlands across the country with some exceptions such as Noel Buxton the Minister of Agriculture an Oxford University graduate and heir to a famous brewery. Though vastly inexperienced in the machinations of government a consensus was agreed to promote ‘ethical socialism’ within reason. The only hint of imposter syndrome arose from the requirement to wear court dress for formal occasions. Reluctantly a throng of ministers were marched to Moss Bros to pay £30 for a frock coat supplemented with a traditional silk hat.
Read Buxton introduce an Agricultural Wages Bill - parliament.uk/historic-hansard
DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE
Eyebrows were raised when MacDonald was self-appointed as Foreign Secretary. The question of solving rising unemployment remained legislatively unanswered and critics accused him of a dereliction of duty as he appeared more concerned with events on the continent. Maybe it was the break from continuing domestic strife, but MacDonald thrived on the international stage as he endeavoured to broker with France to reduce German wartime reparations borne from the ill-fated 1919 Treaty of Versailles. Tensions between the two countries had increased due to French occupation of the Ruhr coal mining region that the Germans viewed as morally and financially exploitative.
Aided by Snowden and understudy Charles Ponsonby he chaired the July 1924 Inter-Allied Conference in London. Round the negotiating table MacDonald engineered a solution to reconcile the opposing participants and table an agreement suiting all parties. He noted that a night at the theatre watching Sybil Thorndike in Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan was ruined by numerous arrivals of telegrams detailing the talks progress. This turned out to be the highpoint of MacDonald’s tenure and he hoped to expand on this with the Geneva Protocol that was drafted in the autumn. Calling for further reconciliation, greater arbitrations, and future mass disarmament.
Read MacDonald tell Parliament of the Inter-Allied Conference proceedings - parliament.uk/historic-hansard
HOME AND DRY
‘Homes for Heroes’ was a flagship policy of Lloyd George’s post-war Coalition Government. By 1924 the programme felt tired, and the Labour administration decided to reinvigorate it as part of a comprehensive social housing framework. Put in charge of this was John Wheatley a dyed in wool ‘Red Clydesider’. What set him apart from his contemporaries was an acute business acumen highlighted by the wealth he’d accumulated from printing services and a chain of Glasgow billiard halls. He’d discovered his political voice organizing the 1915 Rent Strikes in the city and seemed a natural choice to remedy the housing crisis.
Crucially Wheatley got private industry on board building the foundations for a plan that sought to use capital investment for a public works scheme. The beauty of the initiative was to decentralize the funding with the creation of local municipal corporations to oversee a fixed rental system. The Conservatives labelled him as being ‘anti homeownership’ however necessary Liberal support got the bill passed in August. An exhausted Wheatley confessed to a colleague that a few days later he travelled on a train to Littlehampton and fell asleep in a field beyond the station.
By 1927 250,000 homes had been built.
Read Wheatley introduce the Housing (Financial Provisions) Bill - parliament.uk/historic-hansard
PRESSURE POINT
Periodicals were of paramount importance to Labour in terms of exposure and funding. The New Leader symbolized the progressive strand of the movement with regular contributions from the likes of H G Wells. Alternatively, The Workers Weekly was akin to a naughty little brother edited by Communist firebrand John Campbell. In the summer of 1924, an article in the paper instructed British soldiers in accordance with the ongoing class war to attack capitalist oppressors not fellow workers. Campbell was charged under the 1797 Incitement to Mutiny Act and given a six-month sentence that Attorney General Sir Patrick Hastings subsequently withdrew.
Sniffing a rat, the Conservatives backed by an unrepentant Lloyd George refused to let the issue go away. They requested that a Select Committee be formed to scrutinise the matter. MacDonald was jeered by his own backbenchers for passing the buck to Hastings who earned praise for defending his actions. The screws were turning on MacDonald as the Daily Mail investigated a title, he'd endorsed for his friend the McVitie’s Biscuits manufacturer Alexander Grant. Adding insult to injury it was then revealed that Grant had gifted him a Daimler car for official purposes and shares worth £40,000 in his company.
Read MacDonald on the Campbell Case - parliament.uk/historic-hansard
ZINOVIEV BLUES
If songwriter Ivor Novello had a penchant for topical tunes, he’d have certainly wrote one titled Zinoviev Blues for the controversy surrounding the last act of Labour’s first Government. The ‘Red Threat’ was ever-present since the rise of the Bolsheviks and once MacDonald began dialogue with Russia it went into overdrive. Allied with the Campbell furore a Conservative/Liberal alliance carried a no-confidence vote against MacDonald and with options limited he called an October election. Making a fist of it he hit the road with gusto, yet his valiant efforts were soon undermined by another Daily Mail exclusive on the newsstands.
An unauthorised letter they published drafted by Russian politician Grigory Zinoviev to the Communist Party of Great Britain suggested Labour’s recent Russian overtures was a prelude to revolution. It contents bogus or not had the desired effect and Jimmy Thomas told MacDonald, ‘We’re sunk’. At the polls Labour suffered losing 40 seats despite an impressive increase in the national voting average. The post-mortem cabinet meeting was acrimonious with plenty of spleen vented at MacDonald for the defeat. In the aftermath he participated in a West Country walking tour surmising on its completion,
‘If friends fail, the hill road never does’.
SOURCES
The Men of 1924: The First Labour Government by Peter Clark
The Wild Men: The Remarkable Story of Britain’s First Labour Government by David Torrance
MacDonald’s Party: Labour Identities and Crisis by David Howell
Ramsay MacDonald by David Marquand
Labour Story by Lord Shinwell
John Wheatley by Ian S Wood
Hansard Parliamentary Debates
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