Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC, JP, FRS (3 August 1867 14 December 1947) was a British Conservative politician who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars. Three times Prime Minister, he is the only premier to have served under three monarchs (George V, Edward VIII and George VI).Baldwin first entered the House of Commons in 1908 as the Member of Parliament for Bewdley, in succession to his father Alfred Baldwin. He held government office in the coalition ministry of David Lloyd George. In 1922, Baldwin was one of the prime movers in the withdrawal of Conservative support from Lloyd George; he subsequently became Chancellor of the Exchequer in Bonar Law's Conservative ministry. Upon Bonar Law's resignation due to health reasons in May 1923, Baldwin became Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader. He called an election on the issue of tariffs and lost the Conservatives' majority, after which Ramsay MacDonald formed a minority Labour government.After winning the 1924 General Election Baldwin formed his second government, which saw important tenures of office by Sir Austen Chamberlain (Foreign Secretary), Winston Churchill (at the Exchequer) and Neville Chamberlain (Health). The latter two ministers strengthened Conservative appeal by reforms in areas formerly associated with the Liberal Party. They included industrial conciliation, unemployment insurance, a more extensive old-age pension system, slum clearance, more private housing, and expansion of maternal and child care. However, continuing sluggish economic growth and declines in mining and heavy industry weakened his base of support and, although Baldwin was supportive of Labour politicians forming minority governments at Westminster, his government also saw the General Strike in 1926 and the 1927 Trades Disputes Act to curb the powers of trade unions.Baldwin narrowly lost the 1929 General Election and his continued leadership of the party was subject to extensive criticism by the press barons Lord Rothermere and Lord Beaverbrook. In 1931, Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald formed a National Government, most of whose ministers were Conservatives and which won an enormous majority at the 1931 General Election. As Lord President of the Council, and one of four Conservatives among the small ten-member Cabinet, Baldwin took over many of the Prime Minister's duties due to MacDonald's failing health. This government saw an Act delivering increased self-government for India, a measure opposed by Churchill and by many rank-and-file Conservatives. The Statute of Westminster 1931 gave Dominion status to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, while establishing the first step towards the Commonwealth of Nations. As party leader, Baldwin made many striking innovations, such as clever use of radio and film, that made him highly visible to the public and strengthened Conservative appeal.In 1935, Baldwin replaced MacDonald as Prime Minister of the National Government, and won the 1935 General Election with another large majority, which still remains as the last time when a political party has received over 50% of the popular vote in a UK General Election. During this time, he oversaw the beginning of the rearmament process of the British military, as well as the very difficult abdication of King Edward VIII. Baldwin's third government saw a number of crises in foreign affairs, including the public uproar over the HoareLaval Pact, remilitarization of the Rhineland and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.Baldwin retired in 1937 and was succeeded by Neville Chamberlain. At that time, he was regarded as a popular and successful prime minister,[4] but for the final decade of his life, and for many years afterwards, he was vilified for having presided over high unemployment in the 1930s and as one of the Guilty Men who had tried to appease Adolf Hitler and who had supposedly not rearmed sufficiently to prepare for the Second World War.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Baldwin Show less «