National Government
4thNational Government of the United Kingdom
1937–1939
Neville Chamberlain
Date formed	28 May 1937 (1937-05-28)
Date dissolved	3 September 1939 (1939-09-03)
People and organisations
Monarch	George VI
Prime Minister	Neville Chamberlain
Prime Minister's history	1937–1940
Totalno. of members	119 appointments
Member parties	Conservative Party Liberal National Party National Labour
Status in legislature	Majority(coalition)
Opposition party	Labour Party
Opposition leaders	Clement Attlee[note 1] in theHouse of Commons Lord Snell in theHouse of Lords
History
Legislature terms	37th UK Parliament
Predecessor	Third National Government
Successor	Chamberlain war ministry

TheNational Government of 1937–1939 was formed byNeville Chamberlain on his appointment asPrime Minister of the United Kingdom by KingGeorge VI. He succeededStanley Baldwin, who announced his resignation following thecoronation of the King and Queen in May 1937.

As aNational Government it contained members of theConservative Party,Liberal Nationals andNational Labour, as well as a number of individuals who belonged to no political party. In September 1939, Chamberlain requested the formal resignations of all his colleagues, reconstructing the government in order to better confrontNazi Germany in theSecond World War.

Chamberlain is best known for hisappeasement policy, and in particular for his signing of theMunich Agreement in 1938, conceding theSudetenland region ofCzechoslovakia to theNazi regime. He said it brought "peace in our time" and was widely applauded. He also stepped up Britain's rearmament program, and worked closely with France. When in 1939 Hitler continued his aggression,taking over the rest of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939 and threateningPoland, Chamberlainpledged to defend Poland's independence if the latter were attacked. Britain andFrance declared war two days after the Nazi regime had begun toinvade Poland on1 September 1939.

Chamberlain wanted to focus on domestic issues. He obtained passage of theFactories Act 1937, designed to better working conditions in factories, and placed limits on the working hours of women and children.^[1] TheCoal Act 1938 allowed for nationalisation of coal deposits. Another major piece of legislation passed that year was theHolidays with Pay Act 1938. The Housing Act 1938 provided subsidies aimed at encouragingslum clearance, and maintainedrent control.^[1] Chamberlain's plans for the reform of local government were shelved because of the outbreak of war in 1939. Likewise, the proposal to raise the school-leaving age to 15, scheduled for implementation on 1 September 1939, could not go into effect.^[2]

• Neville Chamberlain –Prime Minister andLeader of the House of Commons
• Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham –Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
• The Viscount Halifax –Leader of the House of Lords andLord President of the Council
• Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr –Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
• SirJohn Simon –Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Sir Samuel Hoare, 2nd Baronet –Secretary of State for the Home Department
• Anthony Eden –Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
• William Ormsby-Gore –Secretary of State for the Colonies
• Malcolm MacDonald –Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
• Leslie Hore-Belisha –Secretary of State for War
• Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland –Secretary of State for India and Burma
• Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Viscount Swinton –Secretary of State for Air
• Walter Elliot –Secretary of State for Scotland
• Duff Cooper –First Lord of the Admiralty
• Oliver Stanley –President of the Board of Trade
• James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope –President of the Board of Education
• William Shepherd Morrison –Minister of Agriculture
• Ernest Brown –Minister of Labour
• SirKingsley Wood –Minister of Health
• Leslie Burgin –Minister of Transport
• SirThomas Inskip –Minister for Coordination of Defence

For a full list of ministerial office-holders, seeNational Government 1935-1940.

• Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton –Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• Robert Hutchison, 1st Baron Hutchison of Montrose –Paymaster General
• Herwald Ramsbotham –Minister of Pensions
• George Tryon –Postmaster General
• Sir Philip Sassoon –First Commissioner of Works
• SirDonald Somervell –Attorney General
• SirTerence O'Connor –Solicitor General
• David Margesson –Chief Whip
• Osmund Somers Cleverly –Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister

• February 1938 – Lord Halifax succeeds Eden as Foreign Secretary. Halifax is succeeded as Lord President by Lord Hailsham, who is succeeded as Lord Chancellor byLord Maugham. Halifax is succeeded as Leader of the House of Lords by Lord Stanhope, who remains President of the Board of Education as well.
• March 1938 –Lord Winterton, theChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, enters the Cabinet.
• May 1938 – Orsmby-Gore inherits the titleBaron Harlech. He subsequently steps down from the government and is succeeded by Malcolm MacDonald as Colonial Secretary.Lord Stanley succeeds MacDonald as Dominions Secretary. Kingsley Wood succeeds Lord Swinton as Secretary of State for Air. Walter Elliot succeeds Wood as Minister of Health.John Colville succeeds Elliot as Scottish Secretary.
• June 1938 – TheEarl of Munster succeeds Lord Hutchison as Paymaster-General.
• October 1938 – Lord Stanhope succeeds Duff Cooper (resigned) as First Lord of the Admiralty, remaining also Leader of the House of Lords. Lord De La Warr succeeds Stanhope at the Board of Education. SirJohn Anderson succeeds De La Warr as Lord Privy Seal, with special responsibility forAir Raid Precautions. Malcolm MacDonald succeeds Stanley (deceased) as Dominions Secretary, remaining also Colonial Secretary.Lord Runciman succeeds Lord Hailsham as Lord President.
• January 1939 – Sir Thomas Inskip succeeds Malcolm MacDonald as Dominions Secretary. MacDonald remains Colonial Secretary.Lord Chatfield succeeds Inskip asMinister for Coordination of Defence. William Morrison succeeds Lord Winterton at the Duchy of Lancaster, who becomesPaymaster General outside the Cabinet. SirReginald Dorman-Smith succeeds Morrison as Minister of Agriculture.Lord Winterton leaves the Cabinet and the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, becoming Paymaster-General in succession to the Earl of Munster.
• April 1939 – Leslie Burgin becomesMinister without Portfolio pending the legislation to create theMinistry of Supply. He is succeeded as Minister of Transport byEuan Wallace.
• June 1939 – Herwald Ramsbotham succeeds Sir Philip Sassoon (deceased) as First Commissioner of Works and is succeeded as Minister of Pensions by SirWalter Womersley.
• July 1939 – Leslie Burgin becomesMinister of Supply.

Members of the Cabinet are inbold face.

• Butler, David, and Butler, G.Twentieth Century British Political Facts 1900–2000
• Cowling, Maurice.The Impact of Hitler: British Politics and British Policy, 1933–1940 (Cambridge University Press, 1975).
• Feiling, Keith.A Life of Neville Chamberlain (London: Macmillan, 1970)
• Macklin, Graham.Chamberlain (Haus Books, 2006)
• Mowat, Charles Loch.Britain between the Wars: 1918–1945 (1955), pp. 413–79
• Raymond, John, ed.The Baldwin Age (1960), essays by scholars 252 pages;onlineArchived 10 October 2019 at theWayback Machine
• Roberts, Andrew. 'The Holy Fox': The Life of Lord Halifax (1997).
• Self, Robert C.Neville Chamberlain: A Biography (2006)excerpt and text search
• Smart, Nick.The National Government. 1931–40 (Macmillan 1999)ISBN 0-333-69131-8
• Taylor, A. J. P.English History 1914–1945 (1965), pp. 321–88
• Thorpe, Andrew.Britain in the 1930s. The Deceptive Decade, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992).ISBN 0-631-17411-7

• Chamberlain, Neville.The Neville Chamberlain Diary Letters: The Downing Street Years, 1934–1940 edited by Robert Self (2005)

• 1930s in the United Kingdom
• 1937 establishments in the United Kingdom
• 1939 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
• British ministries
• Cabinets disestablished in 1939
• Cabinets established in 1937
• Coalition governments of the United Kingdom
• Interwar Britain
• Ministers in the Chamberlain peacetime government, 1937–1939
• Ministries of George VI
• Neville Chamberlain

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