I.

Introduction

Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947), British statesman and Prime Minister (1923-1924; 1924-1929; 1935-1937), who dominated politics in inter-war Britain. Born in Bewdley, England, he was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he briefly expressed an interest in ordination into the Anglican clergy. In 1908 he was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for the Bewdley division of Worcestershire, a seat that his father had held since 1892. Before his parliamentary career he had worked for the family business and served in local government.

His first decade at Westminster was unspectacular. His failure to secure ministerial preferment led him to consider in 1916 the possibility of retiring from politics. Eventually he was offered the post of financial secretary to the Treasury (1917-1921), before becoming President of the Board of Trade (1921-1922). He spoke against the Conservatives maintaining their wartime coalition with David Lloyd George at the October 1922 Carlton Club meeting. His reward was to be elevated to Chancellor of the Exchequer (1922-1923), which secured him vital national exposure. When Andrew Bonar Law resigned in May 1923, due to ill health, Baldwin was chosen as prime minister and Conservative Party leader in preference to Lord Curzon. He retained the party leadership until May 1937.