MacDonald versus Henderson: The Foreign Policy of the Second Labour Government

241 Pages·1970·25.977 MB·English

by  David Carlton (auth.)

MacDonald versus Henderson
The Foreign Policy of the Second Labour Government
MacDonald
versus
Henderson
THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE
SECOND LABOUR GOVERNMENT
David Carlton
Palgrave Macmillan
©David Carlton 1970
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1970
First published I970 by
MACMILLAN AND CO LTD
Little Essex Street London wcz
and also at Bombay Calcutta and Madras
Macmillan South Africa (publishers) Pty Ltd Johannesburg
The Macmillan Company of Australia Pty Ltd Melbourne
The Macmillan Company of Canada Ltd Toronto
Gill and Macmillan Ltd Dublin
ISBN 978-1-349-00677-9 ISBN 978-1-349-00675-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00675-5
TO ANN
Contents
List of Illustrations 9
Author's Note II
Abbreviations 13
CHAPTER ONE The Setting 15
CHAPTER TWO The German Problem to the End of
the First Hague Conference, 1929 33
CHAPTER THREE The German Problem from the
Death of Stresemann to the Opening of the
Customs Union Crisis, 1929-1931 57
CHAPTER FOUR Geneva, 1929-1931: The Disarma-
ment, Arbitration and Security Questions 73
CHAPTER FIVE Anglo-American Relations prior to
the London Naval Conference, 1929 100
CHAPTER SIX The London Naval Conference and its
Aftermath, 193o-1931 119
CHAPTER SEVEN Anglo-Soviet Relations, 1929-1931 144
CHAPTER EIGHT Anglo-Egyptian Relations,
1929-1930 163
CHAPTER NINE Anglo-Chinese Relations, 1929-1931 174
CHAPTER TEN The Austrian Crisis, 1931 185
CHAPTER ELEVEN The International Financial Crisis
from Hoover's Moratorium Proposal to the Fall of
the Labour Government, 1931 197
CONCLUSION 218
Sources and Select Bibliography 224
Index 231
List of Illustrations
BETWEEN PAGES II2 AND II3
Ramsay MacDonald and Arthur Henderson, 1929
Photopress
The second Labour Cabinet descend to the garden at 10 Downing
Street
Photopress
The British delegation to the first Hague Conference sign the Rhineland
Evacuation Protocol, August 1929
Sport and General
The London Naval Conference of 1930
Radio Times Hulton Picture Library
Ramsay MacDonald receiving a ticker-tape welcome in Broadway, New
York, October 1929
Wide World Photos
Ramsay MacDonald and President Herbert Hoover outside the White
House, October 1929
Wide World Photos
Gustav Stresemann, Aristide Briand, Montagu Norman, Viscount Cecil
of Chelwood
Radio Times Hulton Picture Library
The Seven-Power London Conference, July 1931
Radio TitMs Hulton Picture Library
CARTOONS
Philip Snowden's Versatility page 39
MacDonald, Briand and security 125
Henderson and the Russian Bear 149
All by courtesy of Punch
A2
Author's Note
AN earlier version of this work was submitted in 1966 to the University
of London as a Ph.D. thesis. It has since been revised to take account of
the official material made available to researchers at the beginning of
1968 under the new 'Thirty-Year Rule' covering governmental archives.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to a number of
people who have helped me at various stages in the preparation of this
work. First, I wish to thank the staffs of the British Museum, the Public
Record Office, the Royal Archives at Windsor, the British Library of
Political and Economic Science, the Labour Party Library, the Library
of Churchill College, Cambridge, and the University of Birmingham
Library. Secondly, I must record my gratitude to the following who
have variously guided me on matters of fact, interpretation and presenta
tion: Dr Douglas Dakin, Mr W. N. Ewer, Lord Henderson, the Hon.
Margaret Lambert, the late Sir Harold Nicolson, Mr Peter Richards
and the late Lord Rowley. Finally, I am especially grateful to Professor
W. N. Medlicott, who first suggested this subject to me and who
supervised the preparation of my thesis. Needless to say, I remain
solely responsible for all eccentricities of interpretation and for errors
of fact.
Extracts from the papers of King George V are reproduced by gracious
permission of Her Majesty the Queen. Extracts from Crown Copyright
records in the Public Record Office appear by permission of the Con
troller of H.M. Stationery Office. The following are also thanked for
consenting to my use of copyright material: Mr Francis Noel-Baker,
the Hon. Anne Crawshay, Sir Patrick Duff, Lady Beatrix Evison, Mr
Martin Gilbert, Mrs Katharine Gordon, Lord Hankey, Lord Hender
son, Lord Howard of Penrith, Professor Ann Lambton, Lord Lloyd,
Mr Malcolm MacDonald, Lady Rugby, Sir Anthony Rumbold, Lady
Selby, Mr H. B. Usher, Lady Vansittart, the Librarians of the Uni
versity of Birmingham and of the British Library of Political and
Economic Science.
DAviD CARLTON
Abbrevz"atz"ons
B.D. Documents on British Foreign Policy, I9I9-I939, 2nd series,
ed. E. L. Woodward and Rohan Butler
Cabinet
Minutes Conclusions of Meetings of the Cabinet, deposited at the
Public Record Office (P.R.O.), London
C.A.H.C. Records of Cabinet Ad Hoc Committees, P.R.O.
C.P. Cabinet Papers and Memoranda, P.R.O.
C.R.F. Cabinet: Registered Files, P.R.O.
F.O. Foreign Office Confidential Prints and General Corre
spondence, P.R.O.
F.R. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States
G.F.M.R. German Foreign Ministry Records, deposited at the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office Library and the P.R.O.
H.C. Deb. House of Commons Debates (Hansard), 5th series
H.L. Deb. House of Lords Debates
I.C . Records of International Conferences, P.R.O.
Premier Records of the Prime Minister's Office, P.R.O.
R.A. GV The Papers of King George V, deposited at the Royal
Archives, Windsor
The Setting
cHAPTER oNE
AT the British General Election of 30 May 1929 the Labour Party, for
the first time in its history, became the largest grouping in the House
of Commons; but it came 21 seats short of an overall majority.1 On
4 June Stanley Baldwin resigned as Prime Minister and advised King
George V to send for Ramsay MacDonald. Despite the unhappy experi
ence of minority rule in 1924, the Labour leader again decided to accept
office without unfettered power.
It thus fell to a Labour Cabinet to preside over the remarkable
domestic happenings of the ensuing twenty-seven months, which saw
the growth of unemployment to unparalleled proportions and cul
minated in the creation of the so-called National Government in the
middle of the spectacular financial crisis of August 1931. These unusual
developments have deservedly attracted considerable attention from
students of economics, constitutional history and Socialism. By contrast,
the less dramatic and less seminal aspects of the Labour administration's
record have so far been the subject of only cursory analyses. In par
ticular, little has yet been written on foreign policy, although this repre
sented the least unsuccessful feature of the history of the second Labour
Government. In the following pages an attempt is made to correct this
orrusston.
When it became clear that MacDonald was about to form his second
Cabinet, a series of struggles for various coveted offices ensued among
his lieutenants. Perhaps the sharpest contest was that between Arthur
Henderson and J. H. Thomas for the Foreign Office. The Prime
Minister with marked reluctance chose Henderson only after the latter
had indicated that he would accept no other post.2 The Foreign Secretary
1 The actual figures were: Labour, 287; Conservatives, 26o; Liberals, 59;
Independents, 9· One Liberal and one Independent subsequently indicated
that they intended to support the Labour Government: The Times, 15 June
1929. For a detailed account of this election, see E. A. Rowe, 'The British
General Election of 1929', unpublished Oxford University B.Litt. thesis, 1960.
z For details of the struggle between Henderson and Thomas, see Reginald