Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1924, 1929-1931 & 1931-1935.

The Second Labour Government was formed by Ramsay MacDonald on his second appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on June 5 1929. As the name suggests it was the second occasion on which the Labour Party had formed a government; the First Labour Government held office during 1924.

The government lacked a parliamentary majority, whilst also facing the problems stemming from the impact of the Great Depression. In the summer of 1931 it was gripped by a political and financial crisis as the value of the pound and its place on the Gold Standard came under threat over fears that the budget was unbalanced. During August 1931 the Cabinet struggled to produce budget amendments that were politically acceptable but proved unable to do so without causing mass resignations and a fullscale split in the party. On August 24 1931 the government formerly resigned.

It was succeeded by the First National Ministry , also headed by Ramsay MacDonald and made up of members of Labour, the Conservatives and Liberals, calling itself a National Government.

The circumstances of the downfall of the Labour government and its replacement by the National Government have provoked massive controversy ever since.

Ramsay MacDonald's Cabinet, June 1929 - August 1931

• Ramsay MacDonald - Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons
• Lord Sankey - Lord Chancellor
• Lord Parmoor - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords
• J.H. Thomas - Lord Privy Seal
• Philip Snowden - Chancellor of the Exchequer
• J.R. Clynes - Home Secretary
• Arthur Henderson - Foreign Secretary
• Lord Passfield - Secretary of State for the Colonies and Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
• Thomas Shaw - Secretary of State for War
• William Wedgwood Benn - Secretary of State for India
• Lord Thomson - Secretary of State for Air
• William Adamson - Secretary of State for Scotland
• A. V. Alexander - First Lord of the Admiralty
• William Graham - President of the Board of Trade
• Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan - President of the Board of Education
• Noel Buxton - Minister of Agriculture
• Margaret Bondfield - Minister of Labour
• Arthur Greenwood - Minister of Health
• George Lansbury - First Commissioner of Works

Changes

• 1930 - J.H. Thomas succeeds Lord Passfield as Dominions Secretary. Passfield remains Colonial Secretary. Vernon Hartshorn succeeds Thomas as Lord Privy Seal. Lord Amulree succeeds Lord Thomson as Secretary of State for Air. Christopher Addison succeeds N. Buxton as Minister of Agriculture.
• 1931 - H.B. Lees-Smith succeeds Sir C.P. Trevelyan at the Board of Education. Herbert Morrison enters the cabinet as Minister of Transport.