Ramsay MacDonald

The Right Honourable James Ramsay MacDonald (12 October 1866–9 November 1937), British politician, was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. One of the pioneers of British socialism, he rose from humble origins to become the first Labour Prime Minister in 1924. During his second government, faced with the crisis of the Great Depression, he formed a "National Government" in coalition with the Conservatives and was expelled from the Labour Party.

National Government

MacDonald did not want an immediate election, but the Conservatives forced him to agree to one in October 1931. The National Government won 554 seats, comprising 470 Conservatives, 35 National Labour, 32 Liberals and various others, while Labour won only 52 and the Lloyd George Liberals four. This was the largest mandate ever won by a British Prime Minister at a democratic election, but it left MacDonald a prisoner of the Conservatives, as was shown after the election when Neville Chamberlain became Chancellor and Baldwin, as Lord President, the real power in the government. MacDonald was deeply affected by the anger and bitterness caused by the fall of the Labour government. He continued to regard himself as a socialist and a true Labour man, but the rupturing of virtually all his old friendships left him an isolated figure.

Related Topics:
1931 - Neville Chamberlain - Lord President

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During 1933 and 1934 MacDonald's health declined, and he became an increasingly ineffective leader as the international situation grew more threatening. His pacifism, which had been widely admired in the 1920s, led Winston Churchill and others to accuse him of failure to stand up to the threat of Adolf Hitler: he was later seen as the father of appeasement. In May 1935 he was forced to resign as Prime Minister, taking the largely honorary post of Lord President vacated by Baldwin, who returned to power. At the election later in the year MacDonald was defeated at Seaham by Emanuel Shinwell. Shortly after he was elected at a bye-election for the Combined Scottish Universities seat, but his physical and mental health collapsed in 1936. A sea voyage was recommended to restore his health, and he died at sea in November 1937.

Related Topics:
1933 - 1934 - Winston Churchill - Adolf Hitler - Appeasement - 1935 - Emanuel Shinwell - Combined Scottish Universities seat - 1936 - 1937

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MacDonald's defection from Labour and his alliance with the Conservatives, as well as the decline in his powers as Prime Minister after 1931, left him a discredited figure at the time of his death, and he received rough treatment from generations of Labour-inclined British historians. It was not until 1977 that he received a sympathetic biography, when Professor David Marquand wrote Ramsay MacDonald with the stated intention of giving MacDonald his due for his work in founding and building the Labour Party, and in trying to preserve peace in the years between the two world wars. He tried also to place MacDonald's fateful decision in 1931 in the context of the crisis of the times and the limited choices open to him.

Related Topics:
1931 - 1977 - David Marquand

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