| Essential facts: Born:
12 October 1866 (Lossiemouth. Morayshire)
Died: 9 November 1937 (On the liner Reina del
Pacifico on holiday during the crossing of the Atlantic)
Education: Church of Scotland school in Drainie, evening classes
at Birkbeck Institute
Family: Ramsay MacDonald was an only child. He was married to
Margaret Ethel Gladstone, and had 3 sons and 3 daughters
Age at appointment: 57 years, 102 days; 62
years, 236 days
First entered Parliament: 16 January 1906
Maiden Speech: 5 March 1906 attacking the
examination syllabus for factory inspectors
Total time as PM: 6 years, 289 days
Quotes:
"The League of Nations grows in moral
courage. Its frown will soon be more dreaded than a nation's
arms, and when that happens you and I shall have security and
peace"
"We hear war called murder. It is not:
it is suicide"
"If God were to come to me and say
'Ramsay, would you rather be a country gentleman than a prime
minister?' I should reply, 'Please God, a country gentleman'"
Biography:
Ramsay MacDonald was the first Labour Prime Minister. He came
from a working class family and grew up in Lossiemouth. He
worked as a pupil teacher at the local board school he attended,
and at 18 moved to Bristol as a clergymans assistant, where he
joined the Social Democratic Federation. He was employed as a
Liberal candidate's assistant in London for three years, and
joined the Independent Labour Party in 1893. He stood
unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate in 1895, meanwhile
working as a journalist. But with the encouragement of his new
wife, Margaret, he rose through the party ranks.
Elected for Leicester in 1906, MacDonald established a
reputation as a distinguished thinker. In 1911 he became
chairman of the parliamentary Labour group. As the Labour Party
grew, however, he was criticised as being too moderate. His
opposition to the Great War made him more unpopular still, and
he was mercilessly attacked by the press. He lost his seat in
1918, but later returned to represent a Welsh mining
constituency. Back in Parliament, he became party leader and
therefore Leader of the Opposition, and in 1924 was asked by
George V to form a government when
Stanley Baldwin's small Conservative majority
proved ungovernable.
In the first ever Labour government the survival of MacDonald's
small Commons majority depended on the good will of opposition
parties. This difficult situation prompted him to call an
election. During the campaign a newspaper published the
notorious 'Zinoviev' letter. Although later accepted to be a
fraud, the letter ruined MacDonald's anti-Communist credentials.
His Labour administration was then heavily defeated in the
election.
In his second minority government in 1929, MacDonald set an
historic precedent by appointing Margaret Bondfield as the first
female minister. Economic crises, including the doubling of
unemployment levels, persuaded him to include the opposition
leaders in a cross-party National Government. However, this step
lost him the support of his own party and he resigned in 1935.
The coalition was considered by many party members to be a
cynical betrayal of their hopes. MacDonald subsequently lost his
seat. He then fought to return to Parliament, winning a
by-election two years before his death in 1937. |
