Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain was a Conservative politician, member of the Parliament, and prime minister of the United Kingdom.
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History
Neville was the younger son of Joseph Chamberlain, a leading Liberal and later Liberal Unionist. Additionally his half-brother Austen was a leading Unionist.
Chamberlain entered politics through the Birmingham city council in 1911. In 1915, after World War 1 had begun, he was made mayor and became deeply involved with wartime logistics. George appointed him director of National Service in late 1916 to administer conscription logistics. His professional relationship with George soured however, and he resigned just 9 months later.
Chamberlain finally entered the Parliament in the December 1918 general elections, standing as a Unionist. He was offered a ministerial role under George but declined it. When Law took over leadership however, he was quickly appointed to government. When Baldwin took over leadership a year later, he appointed Chamberlain as chancellor.
The December 1923 snap elections saw the Baldwin's government defeated. MacDonald's government was in turn defeated by the October 1924 snap elections. Chamberlain notably won re-election in his borough by a mere 77 votes against the future leader of British fascists, Oswald Mosley, in 1924. He returned to government under Baldwin's second term and relocated to a safer Conservative borough.
Baldwin again led the Conservatives to defeat in the May 1929 general elections. However, the Great Depression began just a few months later and greatly strained the second MacDonald term. The Liberals soon dissolved their coalition, and he turned to the Conservatives for a unity government instead. Chamberlain was included in the new government's cabinet. Furthermore, after the Conservatives won a commanding majority in the October 1931 snap elections, he was promoted back to chancellor. Baldwin succeeded MacDonald as leader of the unity government in 1935; he in turn planned to resign after the coronation of George VI. Chamberlain was the clearly designated successor, and was sworn in as PM in May 1937.
Chamberlain enacted a foreign policy of engagement and appeasement to Germany and Italy. The latter was especially controversial, as Italy had been isolated since their invasion of Ethiopia. Furthermore, he enacted this policy by circumventing the foreign office; Eden resigned in protest of the re-establishment of normal diplomatic relations with Italy, but also in the context that Chamberlain had just decided to not intervene in the Anschluss. Chamberlain and Edward Wood then were heavily involved in brokering the Munich Agreement, over which Duff Cooper similarly resigned in protest from the Admiralty.
After Germany invaded Poland in September, Chamberlain hesitated to follow through on security guarantees and ultimatums. He nonetheless declared war two days later, and appointed Churchill to the Admiralty and war cabinet. He blocked plans for aggressive mobilization in the Baltic Sea, leading to the first few months of the war being known as the 'Phoney War'. This culminated in the disastrous Narvik campaign.
The Norway Debate, also known as the Norvik Debate, began on May 7th. A vote of no confidence was held, and failed, but it spurred several party defections and demonstrated that Chamberlain had no standing among the other parties and no control over his own party. Then Germany invaded Belgium on the 10th, making the formation of a national government imperative. Labour made ousting Chamberlain a precondition on any coalition, and Churchill immediately emerged as the best candidate to replace him in leadership. So, all on May 10th, Chamberlain resigned as PM and Churchill was sworn in.
Chamberlain remained in government and the war cabinet, and also as party leader. His health rapidly failed though and he resigned in September. He died shortly after in November.