Stanley Baldwin

Introduction

Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley was born on 3rd August 1867 and died on 14th December 1947. He was a member of the British Conservative Party. He was elected three times for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1923–1924, 1924–1929 and 1935–1937). He became known for his part at the abdication of Edward VIII.

Political career

In 1908 Baldwin’s father died and he decided to succeed him and adopted his position as a Member of Parliament. When the first World War broke out, Stanley received the position as Parliamentary Private Secretary under the Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law. In 1917 he became Financial Secretary to the Treasury. His task was to erase Britain’s war debts. Therefore he encouraged rich people to pay a little obolus. By collecting the amount of money of the volunteers a big sum was gathered with which some debts could be erased. To serve as a model Stanley Baldwin himself donated one fifth of his personal income.

He did his task so well that in 1920 Baldwin was appointed to the Privy Council and one year later he received the title President of the Board of Trade.

In 1922 the Conservative Party decided to form a coalition with the Liberal party under David Lloyd George. Soon however a lot of party members were no longer satisfied with this coalition, among them Stanley Baldwin. At a meeting of the Conservative MPs Baldwin publicly expressed his own point of view and insulted Lloyd George. The party decided to dissolve the coalition although a lot of party leaders were not satisfied with this decision. From this moment on party leader Bonar Law needed a few new ministers for his cabinet and at once it became clear that Stanley Baldwin became the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. 1922 a new general election took place in which the Conservative Party received the majority of the votes.

Prime Minister (1923-1924)

In 1923 it became known that the Conservative leader Bonar Law suffered from cancer. He had to retire at once. His retirement was a big problem for the Conservative Party as it needed a new leader as quickly as possible. King George V suggested that Stanley Baldwin should succeed Bonar Law. As at this point of time Baldwin still held the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer it was necessary to find a new one who would be able to fulfill this position. After some disappointment about some rejections Baldwin appointed Neville Chamberlain as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. Baldwin himself was now able to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Before Baldwin could act freely in his new position he had to fight with Bonar Law’s promise that there would be no introduction of taxes before a new election. As Baldwin was no longer able to keep this promise he was forced to call for a new election in 1923. Thereby he hoped to get a mandate to introduce protectionist tariffs in order to reduce the unemployment rate. The British population, however, was not willing to support protectionist tariffs and that is why the Conservative Party had to accept an electoral defeat although they had had the majority before the election. In 1924 Stanley Baldwin decided to resign from his office as Prime Minister. Although he gave up the office of the Prime Minister Baldwin remained the party leader of the Conservatives for the following ten months.

Prime Minister (1924-1929)

In October 1924 new general elections took place and Baldwin managed to improve the reputation of his party in such a way that it received the majority in the House of Commons again.

His new cabinet offered now a lot of politicians who were always connected with the Liberal David Lloyd George who Baldwin rejected. His new Chancellor of the Exchequer was Winston Churchill. Together with his cabinet Baldwin managed to introduce a law which led to the fact that the state gained a lot more money than before [how? please specify]. In 1929 new general elections took place and this time it was the Labour Party who won the majority. Again, Stanley Baldwin had to give up his position as Prime Minister.

Prime Minister (1935-1937)

In 1935 it was the Conservative Party that convinced British people and that is why it received the majority within parliament. From this moment on Stanley Baldwin gained back his position as Prime Minister. In Germany Hitler was accepted as leader of the country and it soon became clear that he was willing to wage wars to get more power. At the beginning Stanley Baldwin was not willing to improve the military equipment of the British forces as he explained "the bomber will always get through". Source: <http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/stanley-baldwin>

He preferred to support international disarmament. But when the threat from Germany became stronger and stronger he accepted the cabinet's will and supported the improvement of the British forces. In 1937 Stanley Baldwin retired from work.

Abdication of Edward VIII

During the Abdication Crisis in 1936, Baldwin accepted the affair between Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson until that day when Edward explained that he was going to marry he. Baldwin and the majority of Parliament was not willing to accept Wallis Simpson as Queen of England because of her past. That is why Baldwin presented Edward three options to choose from in the current situation: firstly Edward could renounce Mrs Simpson, secondly he could marry her but then Baldwin assured Edward that the government would resign and thirdly he could marry Wallis Simpson under the condition that he would abdicate the British throne and thereby give up the his own rights and the ones of his future children who he might have with Mrs Simpson. After some time of thinking Edward VIII chose the last option: he abdicated and was therefore able to marry Wallis Simpson in France in 1937.

Stanley Baldwin had hoped that Edward VIII would not abdicate and was very astonished when he realized that Edward was willing to give up his whole life for this woman. After Edward's abdication Baldwin was praised for his discreteness and his popularity was restored among the whole British population.

Further Links and Reading

The official site of the Prime Minister's office <http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/stanley-baldwin>

BBC Radio 4 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jhpj5>

Williamson, Philip, Stanley Baldwin: Conservative Leadership and National Values, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Wiliamson, Philip; Baldwin, Edward, Baldwin Papers: A Conservative Statesman, 1908-1947, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.