Stanley Baldwin

Born in 1867 at Bewdley in Worcestershire he was educated at Harrow and Cambridge, and went into the family business. He became a Conservative MP in 1906, and was appointed president of the Board of Trade in 1921. The unexpected illness and death from cancer of Andrew Bonar Law resulted in Baldwin being selected to replace him as prime minister in 1923, but his government lasted only months.

After a brief interlude in which Britain's first-ever Labour government came to power, Baldwin regained his position as prime minister in the following year, and retained it until 1929. This period included the General Strike of 1926, a crisis which the government managed to weather, despite the havoc it caused nationally. In 1931 he and the Conservatives entered into a coalition with Labour Party Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. This decision led to MacDonald's expulsion from his own party, and Baldwin, as Lord President of the Council became de facto Prime Minister for the increasingly senile MacDonald over the next four years, when he, once again, became Prime Minister. During his third term of office, in 1935-1937, his foreign policy was much criticised, and he also faced the problem of the abdication of King Edward VIII. In the face of the growing Nazi threat to Europe, he resigned and was created Earl Baldwin of Bewdley. He died in 1947.

Stanley Baldwin's First Government, May 1923 - January 1924

• Stanley Baldwin - Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Lord Cave - Lord Chancellor
• Lord Salisbury - Lord President
• Lord Cecil - Lord Privy Seal
• William Clive Bridgeman - Home Secretary
• Lord Curzon - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
• The Duke of Devonshire - Secretary of State for the Colonies
• Lord Derby - Secretary of State for War
• Lord Peel - Secretary of State for India
• Sir Samuel Hoare - Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force
• Lord Novar - Secretary for Scotland[?]
• L.S. Amery - First Lord of the Admiralty
• Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame - President of the Board of Trade
• Sir R. Sanders - Minister of Agriculture.
• E.F.L. Wood - President of the Board of Education
• Sir A. Montague-Barlow - Minister of Labour
• Neville Chamberlain - Minister of Health
• Sir William Joynson-Hicks - Financial Secretary to the Treasury
• Sir Laming Worthington-Evans - Postmaster-General

Changes

• 1923 - Neville Chamberlain becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sir William Joynson Hicks succeeds him as Minister of Health. Joynson-Hicks' successor as Financial Secretary to the Treasury is not in the Cabinet.

Stanley Baldwin's Second Cabinet, November 1924 - June 1929

• Stanley Baldwin - Prime Minister
• Lord Cave - Lord Chancellor
• Lord Curzon - Lord President
• Lord Salisbury - Lord Privy Seal
• Winston Churchill - Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Sir William Joynson-Hicks - Home Secretary
• Sir Austen Chamberlain - Foreign Secretary
• L.S. Amery - Colonial Secretary
• Sir Laming Worthington-Evans - Secretary for War
• Lord Birkenhead - Secretary for India
• Sir Samuel Hoare - Secretary for Air
• Sir John Gilmour - Secretary for Scotland
• William Clive Bridgeman - First Lord of the Admiralty
• Lord Cecil - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister - President of the Board of Trade
• E.F.L. Wood - Minister of Agriculture
• Lord Edward Percy - President of the Board of Education
• Lord Peel - First Commissioner of Works
• Sir A. Steel-Maitland - Minister of Labour
• Neville Chamberlain - Minister of Health
• Sir D. Hogg - Attorney-General

Changes

• 1925 On Curzon's death, Lord Balfour succeeds him as Lord President. W. Guinness succeeds E.F.L. Wood as Minister of Agriculture.
• 1927 - Lord Cushendun succeeds Lord Cecil as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• 1928 - Lord Hailsham (former Sir D. Hogg) succeeds Lord Cave as Lord Chancellor. Hailsham's successor as Attorney-General is not in the Cabinet. Lord Londonderry succeeds Lord Peel as First Commissioner of Public Works

Stanley Baldwin's Third Cabinet, May 1935 - May 1937

• Stanley Baldwin - Prime Minister
• Lord Hailsham - Lord Chancellor
• Ramsay MacDonald - Lord President
• Lord Londonderry - Lord Privy Seal
• Neville Chamberlain - Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Sir John Simon - Home Secretary
• Sir Samuel Hoare - Foreign Secretary
• Malcolm MacDonald - Colonial Secretary
• James H. Thomas - Dominions Secretary
• Lord Halifax - Secretary for War
• Lord Zetland - Secretary for India
• Lord Swinton - Secretary for Air
• Sir G. Collins - Secretary for Scotland
• Lord Monsell - First Lord of the Admiralty
• Lord Runciman - President of the Board of Trade
• W. Elliott - Minister of Agriculture
• O. Stanley - President of the Board of Education
• E. Brown - Minister of Labour
• Sir Kingsley Wood - Minister of Health
• W. Ormsby-Gore - First Commissioner of Works
• Anthony Eden - Minister of League of Nations Affairs
• Lord Percy - Minister without Portfolio

Changes

• 1935 - Malcolm MacDonald succeeds J.H. Thomas as Dominions Secretary. Thomas succeeds MacDonald as Colonial Secretary. Lord Halifax succeeds Lord Londonderry as Lord Privy Seal. Duff Cooper succeeds Halifax as Secretary for War. Anthony Eden succeeds Sir Samuel Hoare as Foreign Secretary.
• 1936 - William Ormsby-Gore succeeds J.H. Thomas as Colonial Secretary. Lord Stanhope succeeds Ormsby-Gore as First Commissioner of Works. W. Elliott succeeds Sir G. Collins as Secretary for Scotland. W.S. Morrison succeeds Elliott as Minister of Agriculture. Samuel Hoare succeeds Lord Monsell as First Lord of the Admiralty. Lord Percy leaves the cabinet. Sir T. Inskip enters the cabinet as Minister for the Coordination of Defense. Leslie Hore-Belisha enters the Cabinet as Minister of Transport.