ABSTRACT
The ostensible reason for forming a National Government of all parties had been that only by this means could foreign investors be assured that the war of parties would be replaced by a united resolve to prove to the foreign investor that Britain was financially and politically sound. The plan worked only partially. Snowden brought in an emergency budget on 10 September. The standard rate of income tax was raised from 45. 6d. to 5s., allowances for children were reduced, and surtax was increased. The Invergordon affair was one of the few events in 1931 which was followed by immediate results. The Navy achieved, in a matter of days, two things the politicians and economists failed to do. The reason for the failure of the new Government immediately to restore foreign confidence was that its creation had not ended party warfare, but had made it worse.
