On This Day

23 August 1931

A day of meetings leads to the formation of the National Government

In a day of frantic activity, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald advises King George V to hear the views of the opposition leaders. Sir Herbert Samuel deputising for Lloyd George who was ill visited Buckingham Palace at 12.30pm and indicated to the King that he favoured a national government lead by MacDonald to solve the financial crisis. Stanley Baldwin meeting the King later in the day concurred with this view. At a meeting of the cabinet the following evening MacDonald informed his colleagues that he had accepted the King’s commission to reconstruct the government and include Liberal and Conservative members.