Neville Chamberlain
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" style="margin: 0em 1em 0em 1em;"\n|+
The Right Hon. Neville Chamberlain\n|style="background:#efefef;" align="center" colspan="2"|
\n|-\n|
Period in Office:\n|
28 May 1937 -
10 May 1940 \n|-\n|
PM Predecessor:\n|
Stanley Baldwin\n|-\n|
PM Successor:\n|
Winston Churchill\n|-\n|
Date of Birth:\n|
18 March 1869\n|-\n|
Place of Birth:\n|
Birmingham\n|-\n|
Political Party:\n|
Conservative\n|}\n
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (
18 March 1869 -
9 November,
1940) was a
British politician and
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from
1937 -
1940.
Chamberlain was the eldest son from
Birmingham Mayor Joseph Chamberlain's second marriage and also half-brother to
Sir Austen Chamberlain. He became
Lord Mayor of Birmingham himself in
1915 after a successful start in business. He served as
Chancellor of the Exchequer from
1923 -
1924 and again
1931-
1937, and was Minister of Health in
1923, from
1924 to
1929 and again in
1931.
Appointment
\nIn May of 1937, Stanley Baldwin tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party and nominating Neville Chamberlain as his successor. He became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on May 28 1937 and leader of the Conservative Party a few days later. Ironically he never considered himself to be a "Conservative", preferring personally to use the term "Unionist" which had been more commonplace when he first entered politics and which recalled the Liberal Unionist Party of his father.
Domestic policy
\nChamberlain's domestic policy receives little attention from historians but was considered to be highly significant and radical at the time.
Foreign policy
\nHis foreign policy is often called appeasement and culminated in the Munich Agreement which effectively allowed Adolf Hitler to annex large areas of Czechoslovakia, and delayed the onset of World War II by a year. \nWhen Hitler invaded and seized the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Chamberlain felt betrayed by the breaking of the Munich Agreement and decided to take a much harder line against the Nazis.
One popular view is that Chamberlain believed passionately in peace, and wanted to avoid war at virtually any cost, which seems to have contributed to his willingness to believe that satisfying each of Hitler's escalating demands for control of more and more territory would finally be the last, and that peace would be ensured. Eventually, although too late to prevent the war that arguably could have been ended by British military intervention when the Third Reich had not yet established its military strength, Chamberlain was able to see through Hitler's tactics and supported the declaration of war against Germany after the invasion of Poland.
on his return from Germany in September 1938.]]
However, this view has been criticised as being inconsistent with the historical facts. Under Chamberlain, the United Kingdom undertook a massive expansion of its military and war industry and instituted a peacetime draft. According to some historians, Chamberlain was under no illusions about the aims and goals of Nazi Germany, but was informed by his military advisers that Britain was in no condition to fight Germany over Czechslovakia. Seen from this vantage point, Chamberlain's actions in Munich were less a cowardly and ignorant cave-in, but rather a calculated and necessary tactic to buy time so that Britain could rearm against the Nazi menace. The rearmament program accelerated after Hitler's seizure of Czechoslovakia, and by the time Hitler's armies attacked Poland, Britain was well on its way to building its own war machine to confront Nazi Germany's.
Following the debacle of the British expedition to Norway in April of 1940, Chamberlain found himself under siege in the House of Commons. On May 7 Leo Amery delivered a devastating indictment in the Norway Debate of Chamberlain's conduct of the war. In concluding his speech he quoted the words of Oliver Cromwell to the Long Parliament; "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go".
Resignation
\nOn May 10, the day of the invasion of The Netherlands, Belgium and France, finding it impossible to retain the support of the House of Commons, he resigned as Prime Minister to allow Winston Churchill to form a new national government. He retained his leadership of the Conservative Party and announced in his resignation broadcast that he would remain in government as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House. The Labour and Liberal leaders (and many Tories) were reluctant to serve in a government in which Chamberlain retained such power, and Churchill appointed him as Lord President of the Council instead. A broken man, his health soon deteriorated and in July he was operated on for stomach cancer. On October 3, the cancer forced his resignation as Tory leader and Lord President. He died on November 9 aged 71.
Neville Chamberlain's First Cabinet, May 1937 - September 1939
\n*Neville Chamberlain - Prime Minister\n*Lord Hailsham - Lord Chancellor\n*Lord Halifax - Lord President of the Council\n*Lord De La Warr - Lord Privy Seal\n*Sir John Allsebrooke Simon - Chancellor of the Exchequer\n*Sir Samuel Hoare - Secretary of State for the Home Department\n*Anthony Eden - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs\n*Lord Harlech - Secretary of State for the Colonies\n*Malcolm MacDonald - Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs\n*Leslie Hore-Belisha - Secretary of State for War\n*Lord Zetland - Secretary of State for India and Burma\n*Lord Swinton - Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force\n*Walter Elliot Elliot - Secretary of State for Scotland\n*Alfred Duff Cooper - First Lord of the Admiralty\n*Oliver Stanley - President of the Board of Trade\n*Lord Stanhope - President of the Board of Education\n*William Shepherd Morrison - Minister of Agriculture\n*Ernest Brown - Minister of Labour\n*Sir Kingsley Wood - Minister of Health\n*Edward Leslie Burgin - Minister of Transport\n*Sir Thomas Inskip - Minister for the Coordination of Defense
Changes
\n*February 1938: Lord Halifax succeeds Eden as Foreign Secretary. Halifax is succeeded as Lord President by Lord Hailsham, who is succeeded as Lord Chancellor by Lord Maugham.\n*March 1938: Lord Winterton, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, enters the Cabinet.\n*May 1938: Malcolm MacDonald succeeds Lord Harlech as Colonial Secretary. Lord Stanley succeeds MacDonald as Dominions Secretary. Kingsley Wood succeeds Lord Swinton as Secretary for Air. Walter Elliot Elliot succeeds Wood as Minister of Health. David John Colville succeeds Elliot as Scottish Secretary.\n*October 1938: Lord Stanhope succeeds Duff Cooper as First Lord of the Admiralty. Lord De La Warr succeeds Stanhope at the Board of Education. Sir John Anderson succeeds De La Warr as Lord Privy Seal. Malcolm MacDonald succeeds Stanley as Dominions Secretary, remaining also Colonial Secretary. Lord Runciman succeeds Lord Hailsham as Lord President.\n*January 1939: Sir Thomas Inskip succeeds Malcolm MacDonald as Dominions Secretary. Maconald remains Colonial Secretary. Lord Chatfield succeeds Inskip as Minister for the Coordination of Defense. W.S. Morrison succeeds Lord Winterton at the Duchy of Lancaster. Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith succeeds Morrison as Minister of Agriculture.\n*April 1939: Edward Leslie Burgin becomes Minister Without Portfolio. He is succeeded as Minister of Transport by David Euan Wallace.\n*July 1939: Edward Leslie Burgin becomes Minister of Supply.
Neville Chamberlain's Second Cabinet, September 1939 - May 1940
\nUpon the outbreak of the war, Chamberlain carried out a fullscale reconstruction of the government and introduced a small War Cabinet who were as follows:\n*Neville Chamberlain - Prime Minister\n*Sir Samuel Hoare - Lord Privy Seal\n*Sir John Allsebrooke Simon - Chancellor of the Exchequer\n*Lord Halifax - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs\n*Leslie Hore-Belisha - Secretary of State for War\n*Sir Kingsley Wood - Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force\n*Winston Churchill - First Lord of the Admiralty\n*Lord Chatfield - Minister for the Coordination of Defense\n*Lord Hankey - Minister without Portfolio
Changes
\n*January 1940: Oliver Stanley succeeds Leslie Hore-Belisha as Secretary for War.\n*April 1940: Sir Samuel Hoare succeeds Kingsley Wood as Secretary for Air. Wood succeeds as Hoare as Lord Privy Seal. Lord Chatfield leaves the Government and the office of Minister for the Coordination of Defence is abolished.
{| border="2" align="center"\n|width = 30% align = center|Preceded by:
Stanley Baldwin\n|width = 40% align = center|Chancellor of the Exchequer
1923-1924\n|width = 30% align = center|Followed by:
Philip Snowden\n|-\n|width = 30% align = center|Preceded by:
Philip Snowden\n|width = 40% align = center|Chancellor of the Exchequer
1931-1937\n|width = 30% align = center|Followed by:
Sir John Allsebrook Simon\n|-\n|width = 30% align = center|Preceded by:
Stanley Baldwin\n|width = 40% align = center|Leader of the British Conservative Party
1937-1940\n|width = 30% align = center|Followed by:
Winston Churchill\n|-\n|width = 30% align = center|Preceded by:
Stanley Baldwin\n|width = 40% align = center|Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1937-1940\n|width = 30% align = center|Followed by:
Winston Churchill\n|-\n|width = 30% align = center|Preceded by:
The Earl Stanhope\n|width = 40% align = center|Lord President of the Council
1940\n|width = 30% align = center|Followed by:
Sir John Anderson\n|}
Chamberlin, Neville\nChamberlain, Neville\nChamberlain, Neville\nChamberlin, Neville\nChamberlin, Neville\n\n\n
