An in-depth look at the diverse group of men who comprised Britain’s first Labour Party in 1924.
In January of 1924, the cabinet of the first Labour government consisted of twenty white, middle-aged men, as it had for generations. But the election also represented a radical departure from government by the ruling class. Most members of the administration had left school by the age of fifteen. Five of them had started work by the time they were twelve years old. Three were working down the mines before they entered their teens. Two were illegitimate, one was abandoned at birth, and three were of Irish immigrant descent. For the first time in Britain’s history, the cabinet could truly be said to represent all of Britain’s social classes. This unheralded revolution in representation is the subject of Peter Clark’s fascinating new book, The Men of 1924. Who were these men? Clark’s vivid portrayal is full of evocative portraits of a new breed of politician, the forerunners of all those who, later in the last century and this one, overcame a system from which they had been excluded for too long.
In January of 1924, the cabinet of the first Labour government consisted of twenty white, middle-aged men, as it had for generations. But the election also represented a radical departure from government by the ruling class. Most members of the administration had left school by the age of fifteen. Five of them had started work by the time they were twelve years old. Three were working down the mines before they entered their teens. Two were illegitimate, one was abandoned at birth, and three were of Irish immigrant descent. For the first time in Britain’s history, the cabinet could truly be said to represent all of Britain’s social classes. This unheralded revolution in representation is the subject of Peter Clark’s fascinating new book, The Men of 1924. Who were these men? Clark’s vivid portrayal is full of evocative portraits of a new breed of politician, the forerunners of all those who, later in the last century and this one, overcame a system from which they had been excluded for too long.
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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1. Tuesday, 22 January 1924 5
The King and the Prime Minister – Cabinet Making –
Contrasting Experiences – The Junta – Pride and Prejudice
2. The Arrival of Labour 21
Labour’s Impact on the House of Commons in 1906 – The
Emergence of a Working-Class Identity – The Political Classes
and Reform – Trade Unions Become Political – The Independent
Labour Party (ILP) – The Fabian Society – The Social Democratic
Federation (SDF) – The Labour Representation Committee
(LRC) – The Politics of 1906 and After
3. From Pressure Group to Government in Waiting 45
The Impact of the Great War – British Labour and the World –
MacDonald and the Independent Labour Party (ILP) – Cross-Party
Cooperation Against the War – Labour Enters the Government
– Revolutionary Fervour – Responses to the Bolshevik Revolution
– Labour Comes Together – Labour at the End of the War
4. Steps to Downing Street 69
The New Franchise – The 1918 General Election – The 1918
Parliament – The 1922 General Election – The 1922 Parliament
– The Labour Party on the Eve of Office – The 1923 General
Election – Final Steps to Office
5. The Leader 89
The Challenge of Writing About MacDonald – Lossiemouth
– Bristol and London in the 1880s and 1890s – Husband and
Widower – Party Leader and War-Time Dissident – Leader
Again: Charisma and Vulnerabilities – Reaching Number 10
– MacDonald: Socialist and Socialite – Foreign Secretary – In
Number 10
6. The Big Four 115
J. R. Clynes – Arthur Henderson – Philip Snowden – J. H.
Thomas
7. Old Labour 143
William Adamson – Vernon Hartshorn – F. W. Jowett – Sydney
Olivier – Thomas Shaw – Stephen Walsh – Sidney Webb – John
Wheatley
8. New Labour 177
Noel Buxton – Viscount Chelmsford – Viscount Haldane –
Lord Parmoor – Lord Thomson – Charles Trevelyan – Josiah
Wedgwood
9. In Office but not in Power 207
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August
– September – October and the End
Notes 239
Acknowledgements 267
Bibliography 269
1. Tuesday, 22 January 1924 5
The King and the Prime Minister – Cabinet Making –
Contrasting Experiences – The Junta – Pride and Prejudice
2. The Arrival of Labour 21
Labour’s Impact on the House of Commons in 1906 – The
Emergence of a Working-Class Identity – The Political Classes
and Reform – Trade Unions Become Political – The Independent
Labour Party (ILP) – The Fabian Society – The Social Democratic
Federation (SDF) – The Labour Representation Committee
(LRC) – The Politics of 1906 and After
3. From Pressure Group to Government in Waiting 45
The Impact of the Great War – British Labour and the World –
MacDonald and the Independent Labour Party (ILP) – Cross-Party
Cooperation Against the War – Labour Enters the Government
– Revolutionary Fervour – Responses to the Bolshevik Revolution
– Labour Comes Together – Labour at the End of the War
4. Steps to Downing Street 69
The New Franchise – The 1918 General Election – The 1918
Parliament – The 1922 General Election – The 1922 Parliament
– The Labour Party on the Eve of Office – The 1923 General
Election – Final Steps to Office
5. The Leader 89
The Challenge of Writing About MacDonald – Lossiemouth
– Bristol and London in the 1880s and 1890s – Husband and
Widower – Party Leader and War-Time Dissident – Leader
Again: Charisma and Vulnerabilities – Reaching Number 10
– MacDonald: Socialist and Socialite – Foreign Secretary – In
Number 10
6. The Big Four 115
J. R. Clynes – Arthur Henderson – Philip Snowden – J. H.
Thomas
7. Old Labour 143
William Adamson – Vernon Hartshorn – F. W. Jowett – Sydney
Olivier – Thomas Shaw – Stephen Walsh – Sidney Webb – John
Wheatley
8. New Labour 177
Noel Buxton – Viscount Chelmsford – Viscount Haldane –
Lord Parmoor – Lord Thomson – Charles Trevelyan – Josiah
Wedgwood
9. In Office but not in Power 207
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August
– September – October and the End
Notes 239
Acknowledgements 267
Bibliography 269