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.

Party leader

In 1911 MacDonald became Party Leader (formally "Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party"), but in 1914 he adopted a position of opposition to British involvement in World War I. The party majority, led by Arthur Henderson, refused to support this stand, and MacDonald resigned as Leader. During the early part of the war he was extremely unpopular and was accused of treason and cowardice, but as the war dragged on his reputation recovered. Nevertheless he lost his seat in the 1918 "khaki election", which saw the David Lloyd George coalition government win a huge majority.

Related Topics:
1911 - 1914 - World War I - Arthur Henderson - 1918 - Khaki election - David Lloyd George

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1922 MacDonald returned to the House as MP for Aberavon in Wales. By now the party was reunited and MacDonald was re-elected as Leader. The Liberals were in rapid decline and at the 1922 election Labour became the main opposition party to the Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin, making MacDonald Leader of the Opposition. By this time he had moved away from the left and abandoned the rigorous socialism of his youth. He strongly opposed the wave of radicalism that swept through the labour movement in the wake of the Russian revolution, and became a determined enemy of Communism. Unlike the French Socialist Party and the German SPD, the Labour Party did not split and the Communist Party of Great Britain remained small and isolated.

Related Topics:
1922 - Aberavon - Wales - Stanley Baldwin - Leader of the Opposition - Russian revolution - Communism - French Socialist Party - German SPD - Communist Party of Great Britain

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although he was a gifted speaker, MacDonald became noted for "woolly" rhetoric, and it was unclear what his policies were. There was already some unease in the party about what he would do if Labour was able to form a government. At the 1923 election the Conservatives lost their majority, and when they lost a vote of confidence in the House in January 1924 King George V called on MacDonald to form a minority Labour government, with the tacit support of the Liberals under Asquith from the corner benches. MacDonald thus became the first Labour Prime Minister, the first (and some would say last) from a working class background and one of the very few not to have had a university education.

Related Topics:
1923 - 1924 - King George V

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~