1929 - 1935

Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) a Scottish working class boy born out of wedlock, worked his way into politics through journalism; elected in 1900 as Secretary of the Labour Representation Committee, he struck a deal with the Liberals in 1903 which allowed Labour to gain its first representation in Parliament at the election of 1906, including MacDonald himself. Although he opposed the First World War, and lost his seat as a result, he returned to the Commons in 1922 and won the Chairmanship of the Parliamentary Labour Party. When Baldwin called a general election in 1923 and was left without a majority, MacDonald took the opportunity to form a short-lived minority Labour government, which was defeated the following year in the Commons and at the polls. In the general election of 1928, however, Labour came close to gaining an overall majority. MacDonald's second government was derailed by the consequences of the international financial crisis which broke in 1929; he agreed to enter a national coalition with the Liberals and Conservatives in 1931, creating a bitter split in the Labour party, which removed him as its Leader. The national government won the general election of that year, but quickly became effectively a Conservative administration. MacDonald fell ill in 1933, and stepped down as premier in 1935.