| This Mere Men article has not been expanded past December 1940 yet. |
| Leopold Amery | |
|---|---|
| |
| Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
| In office May 1940 – 1945 | |
| Monarch | George VI |
| Preceded by | Neville Chamberlain |
| Succeeded by | Clement Attlee |
| Leader of the Conservative Party | |
| In office 9 October 1940 – 1949 | |
| Preceded by | Neville Chamberlain |
| Succeeded by | Harold Macmillan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery 22 November 1873 Gorakhpur, British India |
| Died | London, United Kingdom 16 September 1955 (aged 82) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Florence Greenwood (m. 1910) |
| Children | John, Julian |
Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery (22 November 1873 – 16 September 1955) was a British Conservative politician and journalist, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and then as the Leader of the Opposition until in 1949. He served as MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook from 1911 until his retirement in 1949, after which the seat was on by the Labour party in a by-election.
Early life and career[]
Leopold Amery was born in 1873 in Gorakhpur, India, but in 1877 he moved back to England with his mother. He went to Harrow School, where he was a contemporary of Winston Churchill, and later to Balliol College. During the Second Boer War, he worked as a correspondent for The Times. However, by 1908, he started turning down offers to continue his journalist career to focus on politics. He stood in the 1908 Wolverhampton East by-election as a Liberal Unionist, but only succeeded in the 1911 Birmingham South by-election. During the First World War he served as an Intelligence Officer in the Balkans campaign.
Amery became a cabinet secretary in Lloyd George's coalition government. After the war, he was personal secretary of Lord Milner at the Colonial Office. From 1921 to 1924 he was the First Lord of the Admiralty and from 1924 to 1929 he worked as Colonial Secretary. He was however not invited to the National Government in 1931. He remained in Parliament and joined the boards of several prominent companies to fund his career. Together with Churchill, he was a critic of appeasement and called for re-armament of the British Army through the 1930s.
Prime Minister[]
Amery continued to criticize Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain after the outbreak of the Second World War, but he also disagreed with some of Churchill's proposals including the invasion of Scandinavia. An anti-communist, he supported the declaration of war on the Soviet Union in April 1940. During the cabinet crisis in May, he gained prominence for his speech, in which he called for Chamberlain's resignation as Prime Minister. He was the first Conservative MP to do so. Thanks to this speech, the Labour Party under Clement Attlee began considering him as suitable successor to Chamberlain, instead of Lord Halifax, who was the Deputy Prime Minister at the time. After an endorsement by Churchill, Amery was ultimately recommended to King George VI as the new Prime Minister, despite his unpopularity in some circles both in the opposition parties and the Conservative Party. He soon assembled a national unity war cabinet together with both Labour and Liberal parties.
Amery tried to prevent the surrender of the French army at all costs, even suggesting an Anglo-French political union, but these proposals were rejected by the new French government of Philippe Pétain. Even after the surrender of France in June 1940 Amery resisted calls to attack and sink the French navy as he hoped that France might still participate in the war against the Soviet Union and possibly re-enter the war against Germany in the future. Amery soon clashed with Foreign Secretary lord Halifax, who wanted to negotiate a peace settlement with Germany, but with the support of Churchill, Attlee and Labour Deputy Leader Arthur Greenwood Amery secured enough support for continuing the fight. From July 1940 until December 1941, the United Kingdom was the only major power at war with the Fourpartite Pact and as such faced heavy bombardment during the Battle of Britain while also figthing in the North African campaign. During this time, Amery promised the creation of independent Indian and Jewish states to gain local support for the war.
In October 1940, Amery was chosen as the leader of the Conservative Party after Chamberlain's resignation, despite Amery's reputation was being damaged by his older son John, who had left Britain for France before the war and sympathised with Nazism. During the reshuffle, Amery conceded his position as Leader of the House of Commons to Winston Churchill to reduce his workload. Later, in December, lord Halifax became the British ambassador to the United States and Anthony Eden assumed his position as Foreign Secretary, leaving Samuel Hoare as the last pro-appeasement politician in the government as the Lord Chancellor.
Leader of Opposition and retirement[]
In 1945, calls emerged for a general election, which was not held since 1935. The Luftwaffe attacks had already largely ceased as the German air force was being shifted towards the Polish and Italian frontlines. Amery tried to postpone the election until after the war was over and British soldiers returned from abroad, but the Labour Party threatened to leave the government. Amery was reelected, defeating the candidate of the Communist Party of Great Britain by a landslide as the Labour Party decided not to contest the seat. The 1945 general election however resulted in a Labour landslide and Amery became the Leader of the Opposition as Labour leader Clement Attlee was appointed as Prime Minister. His suggestion to continue the wartime grand coalition was rejected by the Labour Party.
The main point of contention between Attlee and Amery was foreign policy. Amery criticised Attlee's and US President James Byrnes' effort to establish the United Nations as an successor to the pre-war League of Nations. In 1946, Amery criticised Attlee's participation at the Havana Conference and repeatedly rejected any negotiations with the Soviet Union. Although supporting Attlee's continued effort towards an Indian dominion, Amery also opposed the Prime Minister in colonial affairs, especially in Africa and Palestine.
In the 1949 general election, Amery was reelected, defeating Labour candidate Percy Shurmer, but the Conservative Party was again defeated, albeit by a narrower margin. Shortly after the election, he announced his intention to retire from politics. There was no clear successor as the leader of the Conservative Party with Lord Woolton, who was appointed by Amery as Chairman of the party in 1946, and Harold Macmillan the frontrunners. Macmillan was ultimately chosen after Lord Woolton declined because of his peerage. Amery himself was offered the title Duke of Warwickshire by the King (rather than receiving the title of an earl, as was the common practice for former Prime Ministers), but he declined to allow his son Julian to continue his political career. Leopold Amery died on 16 September 1955 in London and was buried in Lustleigh, his father's home village.