ABSTRACT
Neville Chamberlain's social background was in prosperous, middle-class, provincial industry; his political roots were in Liberalism and radical Unionism, and not in orthodox Conservatism. Chamberlain's dynamism and constructive purpose stood out among the cabinet; his only rival was the imaginative but erratic and distrusted figure who had been given the Chancellorship after he had turned it down Winston Churchill. In October 1930 his forcefulness and tactical grasp propelled Baldwin into seizing a vital chance to defeat his critics, and in March 1931 Chamberlain was responsible for ending the remaining strife by concluding a deal with the press baron Lord Beaverbrook. In August 1931 Chamberlain represented his party during key stages of the meetings which shaped the fall of the Labour government and its replacement by an allparty National ministry, and it has been suggested that he did more than any other figure to bring this about.
