ABSTRACT
Neville Chamberlain was a truly pivotal figure in British politics between the wars. After four dynamic years as a member of the council, Chamberlain began his first term as Lord Mayor of Birmingham in November 1915. Within little more than a year he was thrust reluctantly on to the national stage as head of the hastily-formed Department of National Service - a brief, ill-fated venture which left him with an intense and enduring contempt for Lloyd George's character and methods. Entering the Commons in 1918 at the age of almost fifty, Chamberlain swiftly established a formidable claim to advancement. The fall of the Lloyd George coalition in October 1922 provided the opportunity for a meteoric rise from Postmaster-General, via the Ministry of Health, to the Treasury within only ten months. Thereafter, Chamberlain remained at the very centre of national politics until his death. The principal architect of Baldwin's ‘New Conservatism’ in opposition during 1924, as Minister of Health between 1924 and 1929 he gave policy substance to the promise of progressive Toryism. As Conservative Chairman during the party crisis of 1930-31 he played a central role in defending Baldwin's leadership from internal and external attack. As the economic slump deepened, he played an equally crucial part in determining the outcome of the 1931 political crisis. Thereafter he rapidly emerged as the dominant personality within the National Government as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1931 and 1937, and then as Prime Minister. Even after his fall from the premiership in May 1940, he still exercised considerable influence and authority within both the party and the Churchill coalition until his sudden death from cancer in early November that year. By any standard, this was a record of remarkable prominence and achievement. Yet for all that was achieved, Neville Chamberlain often still remains a profoundly underrated, misjudged and misunderstood figure.
