With debates raging within the Labour party about how to re-connect with its traditional supporters, the History & Policy Trades Union and Employment Forum is hosting this special in-person round table discussion of the first Labour government of 1924. Recent publications have made a case for a re-assessment of Ramsay MacDonald’s first administration, which was able to draw on a talented group of politicians who were arguably more representative of the British electorate than any government before or since.
The round table panel will include:
- Gill Bennett (former FCDO Chief Historian and author of The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy that Never Dies (2018))
- David Torrance (constitutional specialist at the House of Commons Library and author of The Wild Men: The Remarkable Story of Britain’s First Labour Government (1924))
- Jon Cruddas (former Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham)
- Jim Moher (former trades union national official and author of Walter Citrine: Forgotten Statesman of the TUC)
- Peter Ackers (Emeritus Professor in the History of Industrial Relations at Loughborough University)
- Tom Wilson (former director of Unionlearn)
Image: The first Labour Government in the gardens of 10 & 11 Downing Street, 1924. James Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937), became Labour’s first leader proper in 1922. As well as being Prime Minister from 22nd January 1924 to 3rd November 1924, he became Foreign Secretary, a dual role which alienated Arthur Henderson, who became Home Secretary. The ex-member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) Philip Snowden, became Chancellor of the Exchequer, whilst James Henry Thomas and John Robert Clynes, became Colonial Secretary and Lord Privy Seal respectively. Wiki Commons.
