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Noel Skelton | |
|---|---|
 Skelton,c. 1924 | |
| Member of Parliament forCombined Scottish Universities | |
| In office 1931–1935 | |
| Member of Parliament forPerth | |
| In office 1924–1931 | |
| Preceded by | Robert MacGregor Mitchell |
| Succeeded by | Lord Scone |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 July 1880 Hermitage of Braid,Edinburgh |
| Died | 22 November 1935 (aged 55) Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Political party | Unionist Party |
| Parent(s) | Sir John Skelton Anne Adair |
| Education | Glenalmond College |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh Christ Church, Oxford |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | Scottish Horse |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Archibald Noel Skelton (1 July 1880 – 22 November 1935) was a ScottishUnionist politician, journalist and intellectual.
The son ofSir John SkeltonKCBLLD, Skelton was born on 1 July 1880 atHermitage of Braid in Edinburgh and was educated atGlenalmond College, theUniversity of Edinburgh and atChrist Church, Oxford, to which he won a history scholarship. He was placed in the Second Class in the School of Modern History in 1902 and in 1906 he was called to theScottish Bar and therefore joined theFaculty of Advocates. Skelton was respected as a lawyer, but he dealt mainly with divorce cases and those involving disputed wills. In 1920, he was appointed Junior Counsel to thePost Office and to the Board ofInland Revenue in 1921. In theFirst World War, Skelton served with theScottish Horse as aLieutenant,Captain and latterly aMajor inGallipoli,Salonika and France, where he was seriously wounded in the last weeks of the war.
Skelton first stood forParliament at thesecond general election of 1910, but he lost theEast Perthshire Division to hisLiberal opponent. Despite his defeat, Skelton remained active in politics, speaking frequently from Unionist platforms across Scotland. He was opposed toIrish Home Rule, but he was more progressive on issues likeland reform,industrial relations and the use of thereferendum. At the end of the Great War, Skelton stood aside and allowed the Coalition candidate in East Perthshire to be elected unopposed. However, he was electedMember of Parliament for the newPerth Division in 1922, although he lost the constituency a year later to a Liberal.
Skelton was a talented journalist and wrote frequently forThe Spectator, including four articles in 1923 under the heading "Constructive Conservatism".[1]: 38 These lively articles set out his political philosophy—chiefly the pursuit of a property-owning democracy, the division of land into small-holdings, co-partnership and share options to improve industrial relations and finally the use of referendums to resolve disputes between the House of Commons and House of Lords—as well as urge the Unionists to compete with Labour on more typically socialist issues like pensions and housing. The fourSpectator articles were republished in 1924 as a pamphlet, which had a lasting influence, particularly among younger Tory MPs.[citation needed] Ben Jackson, a historian at theUniversity of Oxford, suggests that Skelton's views may have been influenced byHilaire Belloc, particularly the views expounded inThe Servile State.[1]
Skelton was re-elected for Perth in 1924 and again in 1929. He quickly struck up friendships with English Conservative MPs such asAnthony Eden,Harold Macmillan,Robert Boothby,John Buchan andOliver Stanley and became the intellectual leader of a parliamentary grouping dubbed the YMCA by cynical older MPs. The group lobbied to make sure that Prime MinisterStanley Baldwin resisted the influence of reactionary elements in the Conservative Party and instead implemented progressive legislation. Baldwin was sympathetic and it was soundings with the YMCA that prevented Baldwin backing a controversial Political Levy Bill that would have had disastrous consequences for industrial relations in the United Kingdom. Skelton also wrote several articles forThe Spectator, theQuarterly Review and theEnglish Review.
Skelton switched to theScottish Universities constituency in 1931 and was returned unopposed. That same year he was appointed ParliamentaryUnder-Secretary of State for Scotland with responsibility for health, housing and education.
By 1935 Skelton wasterminally ill with cancer and after several weeks in a nursing home he died in Edinburgh, aged 55, on 22 November 1935. The declaration for the Scottish Universities constituency was made three days later and Skelton was re-elected posthumously.
Skelton was cremated and his ashes were buried inDean Cemetery with those of his sister. A separate memorial lies in the old churchyard inKinross on the edge of Loch Leven.
Once viewed as a prospective Conservative leader and a prominent Cabinet minister, Skelton's influence, though fleeting in the public eye, was acknowledged by Harold Macmillan in his memoirs. Macmillan noted that Skelton's impact on politics and political thought grew steadily over the years. Skelton's ideas on property ownership as a cornerstone of modern conservatism gained significant traction, with Anthony Eden later revitalizing Skelton's concept of "a property-owning democracy" at the Conservative Party conference in 1946. This slogan was subsequently adopted by Macmillan to underpin the extensive house-building initiatives of the 1950s.
Macmillan's successor as Prime Minister,Sir Alec Douglas-Home, owed his early political career to Skelton, having been his PPS from 1931 to 1935.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forPerth 1922–1923 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forPerth 1924–1931 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCombined Scottish Universities 1931–1936 With:John Buchan, 1927–1935; Dugald Cowan, to 1924; George Morrison, from 1934; John Graham Kerr, from 1935 | Succeeded by |
