entered my room with a telegram in his hand saying: ‘It has come. I have been expecting it. There is some devilment afoot and I must get back to back up poor dear old Austen’ 6 …. It was decided that he should leave next day for London and that I should stop on and finish my baths and meet him in Paris. 3
Baldwin reached London in time for a Cabinet on the morning of 1 October. This provided an occasion for him to develop his new-found resolve. He came out firmly for caution and against the Turkish adventure which was exciting Lloyd George, Churchill, Birkenhead and most of the other ardent Coalitionists. But this was not enough to secure a break, particularly as an armistice with Turkey was fairly quickly obtained. The more divisive issue was the old question of an election under united Coalition leadership. Chamberlain proposedthis at a meeting of the Conservative ministers on 10 October. At this stage Baldwin alone dissented strongly. It was by far the most resolute action of his political life up to that point. He had nudged his way at Aix into an instinctive decision about the correct course to follow but he was agreeably shocked by his own daring in following it. Lucy Baldwin did not return to England until 12 October. Their plan for a Paris
rendez-vous
had collapsed. Baldwin then went to meet her at Victoria Station and walked the half mile to their Eaton Square house with her, describing, as she subsequently wrote to her husband’s mother, what had happened, in slightly breathless terms:
I have done something dreadful without consulting you. I do hope you won’t mind. I have been fearfully worried, but I felt that it had to come. I am resigning from the Cabinet. I shall never get a job again. I do hope you won’t mind fearfully, but I’ve said I cannot continue to serve under the G 7 any longer.
He then described the development of the Turkish situation and continued:
And then at a Cabinet meeting of Unionist Ministers it was decided to have the General Election and go to the country at once (without consulting any of the party) under the L.G. banner as Coalitionists. I arose and spoke and told them that I could not and would not do it. I must be free and stand as a Conservative; I could not serve under L.G. again. The rest of the Unionist Ministers were aghast and they were all apparently against me. At the next meeting of the Unionist Cabinet Ministers Boscawenthrew in his lot with me. Curzon was sympathetic, but that was all. So there it is. They will follow the G and I can’t, so it means I shall drop out of politics altogether. 4
Baldwin’s pessimism about the future was probably genuine, although totally misplaced. At any rate he took it sufficiently seriously to be anxious to resign and retreat to Worcestershire immediately, without waiting to see what forces might crystallize around him, and to make tentative plans for spending the winter abroad. In fact his position was very strong, and predictably so. The Coalition was not really a confluence of parties. It was Lloyd George pirouetting on the large base of the Conservative Party. And the overwhelming part of the base was tired of the dance. Baldwin had the support of the Chief Whip (Leslie Wilson) 8 ; the Chairman of the Party (Younger); the Chief Agent; Salisburyand Derby, the Party’s two principal territorial magnates, although the latter as always was a little hesitant; the majority of Conservative junior ministers; a substantial but uncounted number of backbenchers; and the editor of
The Times.
9 As a team with which to go goat-hunting it was not quite so exiguous as he implied.
What he thought he needed was someone with the public fame to take over the leadership and to hold a candle to the great names of Lloyd George, Austen Chamberlain, Churchill, Birkenhead and Balfour. He could not at that stage hope to fulfil this rôle himself. There seemed only one man who could, and that was Bonar Law, his fragile health somewhat
Baldwin reached London in time for a Cabinet on the morning of 1 October. This provided an occasion for him to develop his new-found resolve. He came out firmly for caution and against the Turkish adventure which was exciting Lloyd George, Churchill, Birkenhead and most of the other ardent Coalitionists. But this was not enough to secure a break, particularly as an armistice with Turkey was fairly quickly obtained. The more divisive issue was the old question of an election under united Coalition leadership. Chamberlain proposedthis at a meeting of the Conservative ministers on 10 October. At this stage Baldwin alone dissented strongly. It was by far the most resolute action of his political life up to that point. He had nudged his way at Aix into an instinctive decision about the correct course to follow but he was agreeably shocked by his own daring in following it. Lucy Baldwin did not return to England until 12 October. Their plan for a Paris
rendez-vous
had collapsed. Baldwin then went to meet her at Victoria Station and walked the half mile to their Eaton Square house with her, describing, as she subsequently wrote to her husband’s mother, what had happened, in slightly breathless terms:
I have done something dreadful without consulting you. I do hope you won’t mind. I have been fearfully worried, but I felt that it had to come. I am resigning from the Cabinet. I shall never get a job again. I do hope you won’t mind fearfully, but I’ve said I cannot continue to serve under the G 7 any longer.
He then described the development of the Turkish situation and continued:
And then at a Cabinet meeting of Unionist Ministers it was decided to have the General Election and go to the country at once (without consulting any of the party) under the L.G. banner as Coalitionists. I arose and spoke and told them that I could not and would not do it. I must be free and stand as a Conservative; I could not serve under L.G. again. The rest of the Unionist Ministers were aghast and they were all apparently against me. At the next meeting of the Unionist Cabinet Ministers Boscawenthrew in his lot with me. Curzon was sympathetic, but that was all. So there it is. They will follow the G and I can’t, so it means I shall drop out of politics altogether. 4
Baldwin’s pessimism about the future was probably genuine, although totally misplaced. At any rate he took it sufficiently seriously to be anxious to resign and retreat to Worcestershire immediately, without waiting to see what forces might crystallize around him, and to make tentative plans for spending the winter abroad. In fact his position was very strong, and predictably so. The Coalition was not really a confluence of parties. It was Lloyd George pirouetting on the large base of the Conservative Party. And the overwhelming part of the base was tired of the dance. Baldwin had the support of the Chief Whip (Leslie Wilson) 8 ; the Chairman of the Party (Younger); the Chief Agent; Salisburyand Derby, the Party’s two principal territorial magnates, although the latter as always was a little hesitant; the majority of Conservative junior ministers; a substantial but uncounted number of backbenchers; and the editor of
The Times.
9 As a team with which to go goat-hunting it was not quite so exiguous as he implied.
What he thought he needed was someone with the public fame to take over the leadership and to hold a candle to the great names of Lloyd George, Austen Chamberlain, Churchill, Birkenhead and Balfour. He could not at that stage hope to fulfil this rôle himself. There seemed only one man who could, and that was Bonar Law, his fragile health somewhat
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