Leopold Amery
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Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery (22 November 1873 – 16 September 1955), also known as L. S. Amery, was a British Conservative Party politician and journalist. During his career, he was known for his interest in military preparedness,
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
and the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
and for his opposition to
appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...
. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies (1924-29), opposed the National Government of the 1930s and served as Secretary of State for India during the Second World War (1940-45). He was also a prolific writer whose output included a multi-volume history of the
Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...
and several volumes of memoirs and (posthumously published) diaries. Nowadays he is best remembered for the remarks he made in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
on 7 May 1940 during the
Norway Debate The Norway Debate, sometimes called the Narvik Debate, was a momentous debate in the British House of Commons from 7 to 9 May 1940, during the Second World War. The official title of the debate, as held in the ''Hansard'' parliamentary archiv ...
, attacking the Prime Minister,
Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...
, for incompetence in the fight against Hitler's Germany. Many of Amery's Parliamentary contemporaries pointed to this speech as one of the key drivers in the division of the House on the following day, 8 May, which led to Chamberlain being forced to resign and his replacement by
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
.


Early life and education

Amery was born in
Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the West Rapti River, Rapti river in the Purvanchal , Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometres east of ...
,
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
, to an English father and a mother of Hungarian Jewish descent. His father was Charles Frederick Amery (1833–1901), of
Lustleigh Lustleigh is a small village and civil parish in the Wray Valley, inside the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. It is between the towns of Bovey Tracey and Moretonhampstead. The village has often been named in various publications as be ...
,
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, an officer in the Indian Forestry Commission.Deborah Lavin,
Amery, Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett (1873–1955)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011, accessed 2 June 2011.
His mother Elisabeth Johanna Saphir (''c''. 1841–1908), who was the sister of the orientalist
Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (14 October 1840 – 22 March 1899), also known as Gottlieb William Leitner, was a British orientalist. Early life and education Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner was born in Pest, Hungary, on 14 October 1840 to a Jewish fam ...
, had come to India from England, where her parents had settled and converted to Protestantism. In 1877 his mother moved back to England from India, and in 1885 she divorced Charles. In 1887, Amery went to
Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...
. Amery represented Harrow at gymnastics and held the top position in examinations for a number of years; he also won prizes and scholarships.
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
(born December 1874) was junior to him at Harrow, and on one occasion mistook Amery, who was very short in stature, for a younger boy and pushed him into Ducker, the school outdoor swimming pool. Churchill placated him by claiming that his father
Lord Randolph Churchill Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British aristocrat and politician. Churchill was a Tory radical who coined the term "One-nation conservatism, Tory democracy". He participated in the creation ...
was "a great man" but was also short, but neither man forgot the incident, and as late as June 1934 Amery would mention the incident in his diary while recording how he had humiliated Churchill in a debate over India. After Harrow he went to
Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...
,
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, where he performed well. He gained a
Double First The British undergraduate degree classification system is a Grading in education, grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and Master's degree#Integrated Masters Degree, integrated master's degrees in the United Kingd ...
in
Classical Moderations Honour Moderations (or ''Mods'') are a set of examinations at the University of Oxford at the end of the first part of some degree courses (e.g., Greats or '' Literae Humaniores''). Honour Moderations candidates have a class awarded (hence the ...
(classical languages) in 1894 and '' literae humaniores'' ("Greats", i.e. classical literature, history and philosophy) in 1896; he was '' proxime accessit'' (runner-up) for the Craven scholarship in 1894 and Ouseley scholar in Turkish in 1896. He also won a half-blue in cross-country running. He was elected a fellow of
All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...
. He could speak Hindi at the age of three years; Amery was born in India and would naturally have acquired the language of his ayah (nanny). He could converse in French, German, Italian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Serbian and Hungarian. Amery was an active
freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
.


Journalism

During the
Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...
Amery was a correspondent for ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
''. In 1901, in his articles on the conduct of the war, he attacked the British commander, Sir
Redvers Buller General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, (7 December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He served as Commander-in-Chief ...
, which contributed to Buller's sacking. Amery was the only correspondent to visit Boer forces and was nearly captured with Churchill. Amery later edited and largely wrote ''The Times History of the South African War'' (7 vol., 1899–1909). The Boer War had exposed deficiencies in the British Army and in 1903, Amery wrote ''The Problem of the Army'' and advocated its reorganisation. In ''The Times'' he penned articles attacking
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...
using the pseudonym "Tariff Reformer" and in 1906, he wrote ''The Fundamental Fallacies of Free Trade''. Amery described it as "a theoretical blast of economic heresy" because he argued that the total volume of British trade was less important than the question of whether British trade was making up for the nation's lack of
raw materials A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials/Intermediate goods that are feedstock for future finished ...
and food by exporting its surplus manufactured goods, shipping, and financial acumen. He was a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers, set up in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and
Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociology, sociologist, economist, feminism, feminist and reformism (historical), social reformer. She was among the founders of the Lo ...
.


Early political career

Amery turned down the chance to be editor of ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' in 1908 and of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' in 1912 to concentrate on politics. Standing as a
Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...
(a party, whose strength was by this time concentrated in and around the City of Birmingham and who were in an electoral alliance with the Conservatives) Amery narrowly failed to win the 1908 Wolverhampton East by-election, by eight votes. In 1911 Amery stood in the 1911 Birmingham South by-election again as a Liberal Unionist, this time unopposed and became a Member of Parliament (MP). One reason that Amery agreed to stand there under the Liberal Unionist label (that party would fully merge with the Conservative Party the following year) was that he had been a long-time political admirer of
Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading New Imperialism, imperial ...
and was an ardent supporter of
tariff reform Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
and imperial federation. According to
A. J. P. Taylor Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 â€“ 7 September 1990) was an English historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his telev ...
, Amery was a rare Conservative to promote protectionism "as merely the beginning of a planned economy". Amery was a noted sportsman, especially famous as a
mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...
. He continued to climb well into his sixties, especially in the
Swiss Alps The Alps, Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main Physica ...
but also in
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
,
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
,
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
, Italy and the
Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...
, where Mount Amery is named after him. He enjoyed
skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...
as well. He was a member of the
Alpine Club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...
(serving as its president, 1943–1945) and of the Athenaeum and Carlton Clubs. He was a Senior Knight Vice President of the
Knights of the Round Table The Knights of the Round Table (, , ) are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are a chivalric order dedicated to ensuring the peace ...
. On 16 November 1910, Amery married Florence Greenwood (1885–1975), daughter of the Canadian barrister John Hamar Greenwood and younger sister of
Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood Thomas Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood, PC, KC (7 February 1870 – 10 September 1948), known as Sir Hamar Greenwood, 1st Baronet between 1915 and 1929, was a Canadian-born British lawyer and politician. He served as the last Chief Se ...
. She was normally known by the forename Bryddie. They had two sons.


First World War

During the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Amery's knowledge of Hungarian led to his employment as an intelligence officer in the Balkans campaign. Later, working for the war cabinet secretariat in
Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...
's coalition government, Amery was vested with parliamentary under-secretary like powers, and at the request of
Lord Milner Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a very important role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and ear ...
, he redrafted the
Balfour Declaration The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman regio ...
. Amery was greatly concerned with questions of grand strategy, and championed the idea of an "all-red route" to India, calling for Britain to control the sea-lanes to India not only via the Mediterranean-Suez Canal-Red Sea route, but also around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, and for Britain to control the main land routes to India in the Middle East as well. In 1917-1918, Amery advocated as war aims the British occupation of Palestine, Mesopotamia, Persia, Arabia and the Caucasus. Amery regarded Britain's alliance with Imperial Russia as only temporary, and expected the traditional Anglo-Russian rivalry to resume after the war. However, the nation that Amery regarded as the most dangerous to the British Empire was Germany because the ''Reich'' had the world's second largest economy and its policy of ''Weltpolitik'' ("World Politics") was aimed at having Germany replace Britain as the world's dominant power. Amery argued that German attempts to dominate Europe along with the Middle East were intended to serve as the basis to make the ''Reich'' the world's number one power. In a memo written in April 1917, Amery traced the roots of German imperialism to Prussian imperialism in the 18th century. Amery argued that the Ottoman Empire had fallen into the German sphere of influence, and German efforts to push the influence of the ''Reich'' to the Persian Gulf were a major threat. Amery expressed much concern about the possible defeat of Russia under the Provisional Government which had taken over after the ousting of the Tsar in the
February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...
(March 1917 by the western calendar), writing that German control of Eastern Europe would be a major step towards allowing Germany to achieve "world power status". After the
October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
(November 1917 by the western calendar) Amery came to regard the new Soviet regime in Russia as a main threat to Britain's position in Asia. Amery argued that under no circumstances should Britain and its allies return any of the German colonies in Africa and in the Pacific that had been captured by the Allies, arguing that the German colonial empire would allow the ''Reich'' to establish submarine bases that would threaten British shipping in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Amery also warned that he foresaw the day when technological advances would allow submarines greater range, which led him to argue that a "mesh" of land, air, and naval bases would need to be established and led him to call for British annexation of German East Africa (modern Tanzania), German Southwest Africa (modern Namibia), the German colonies in the Pacific Ocean along with taking Mesopotamia and Palestine from the Ottoman Empire. Amery argued that with the Ottoman Empire having fallen into the German sphere of influence "and with Germany installed at the gates of Egypt on one side and in East Africa on the other, the Prussian instinct would never rest till the two were linked together, and the great railroad empire became continuous from Hamburg to Lake Nyasa". In Europe, Amery argued that Britain's chief aim was the liberation of Belgium. As for Britain's allies, he advocated that the French should annex Syria and lesser Armenia from the Ottoman Empire while Russia should annex greater Armenia and Constantinople (modern Istanbul). Amery took it for granted that both Germany and the Ottoman Empire would continue as major powers after the war, and advocated Britain seizing the Middle East in order to provide the best basis for maintaining British power in Asia after the war. The final draft of the Balfour Declaration issued on 1 November 1917 promising British support for a "Jewish national home" in Palestine was written by Amery. Amery was commissioned by the Foreign Secretary
Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (; 25 July 184819 March 1930) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As Foreign Secretary ...
to write a declaration promising the support of H.M. Government for Zionism while also taking into account the objections of the anti-Zionists in the cabinet such as
Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), known as Lord Curzon (), was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician, explorer and writer who served as Viceroy of India ...
and
Edwin Montagu Edwin Samuel Montagu PC (6 February 1879 – 15 November 1924) was a British Liberal politician who served as Secretary of State for India between 1917 and 1922. Montagu was a "radical" Liberal and the third practising Jew (after Sir Herber ...
. Hence the Balfour Declaration as written by Amery only promised a "Jewish national home", not a Jewish state, and likewise stated "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine". He also encouraged
Ze'ev Jabotinsky Ze'ev Jabotinsky (born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky; 17 October 1880  â€“ 3 August 1940) was a Russian-born author, poet, orator, soldier, and founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement and the Jewish Self-Defense Organization in O ...
in the formation of the
Jewish Legion The Jewish Legion was a series of battalions of Jewish soldiers who served in the British Army during the First World War. Some participated in the British conquest of Palestine from the Ottomans. The formation of the battalions had several ...
for the British Army in
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
. The Bolshevik coup in Russia in November 1917 followed by the decision by
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
to sign an armistice with Germany in December 1917 caused profound alarm for Amery who argued that the new regime in Russia threatened to change the course of the war as Germany could now redeploy millions of soldiers from the Eastern Front to the Western Front, and allowed Germany the opportunity to dominate the Middle East via its proxy of the Ottoman Empire. Amery tended to be more concerned about the fate of the Middle East, writing that the Western front was a "sideshow" compared to the Near East. Besides the possibility that the Ottomans under the command of
Erich von Falkenhayn Erich Georg Sebastian Anton von Falkenhayn (11 September 1861 – 8 April 1922) was a German general and Ottoman Field Marshal who served as Prussian Minister of War and Chief of the German General Staff during the First World War. Falkenha ...
might retake Baghdad, which the British had taken in 1917, he also argued that Falkenhayn would take advantage of the Russian Revolution to advance Ottoman forces into the Caucasus, Persia and finally into Central Asia. Amery expressed surprise that the Young Turk regime had not done more to achieve its pan-Turkish ambitions of uniting all the Turkic peoples into the Ottoman Empire, which he attributed to the backwardness of the Ottoman Empire. Amery argued that now that Russia was defeated Britain should fund and arm whatever Armenians had survived the
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
, along with Armenians who had served in the Imperial Russian Army, whom Amery believed would fight on as it was their only hope of survival. Amery argueed that Britain had a vested interest in ensuring that former Russian weapons stayed with the Armenians who served in the Russian Army to prevent those weapons "from passing into the hands of Kurds and Tatars and be used either for massacring Armenians, or for arming pro-German gangs of brigands in Persia". Amery also envisioned British officers taking command of the proposed Armenian army. Amery was an "easterner" on questions of grand strategy, believing that the war was to be won in the Middle East and was opposed to "westerners" such as William Robertson and
Douglas Haig Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the British Army. During the First World War he commanded the British Expeditionary F ...
who believed that the war would be won on the Western Front. Amery argued in late 1917-early 1918 that the Caucasus should be the prime British concern and that Britain needed to send more forces to Palestine and Mesopotamia to create an offensive line running from Alexandretta to the Caucasus "in order to drive the Turks out of the Arab and Armenian regions and bring about a collapse of their forces and a demand for peace". Besides the Middle East, Amery was deeply concerned about Russia, writing that if the Bolsheviks took control of Odessa and the Black Sea coast of Ukraine, it would allow Germany all of the immense resources of Ukraine, and hence undercut the British blockade of Germany. He wrote that Britain needed to "knock out" the Ottomans before the Bolsheviks took control of South Russia, saying that it was critical to "get into touch with South Russia through the Dardanelles" in order to "keep our friends in Russia going" to tie down German forces on the Eastern Front. Amery was opposed to the Constitution of the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
because he believed that the world was not equal and so the League, which granted all states equal voting rights, was absurd. He instead believed that the world was tending towards larger and larger states that made up a balanced world of inherently stable units. He contrasted that idea with what he called US President
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
's "facile slogan of
self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...
".


First Lord of the Admiralty

After the war, Amery was elected for the newly created seat of
Birmingham Sparkbrook Birmingham, Sparkbrook was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Sparkbrook area of Birmingham. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the pos ...
in the 1918 general election. From 1919 to 1921 he was Lord Milner's personal secretary at the Colonial Office. He was
First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...
(1922–1924) under
Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law (; 16 September 1858 â€“ 30 October 1923) was a British statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a Canadi ...
and
Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (3 August 186714 December 1947), was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was prominent in the political leadership of the United Kingdom between the world wars. He was prime ministe ...
. The
Washington Naval Conference The Washington Naval Conference (or the Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armament) was a disarmament conference called by the United States and held in Washington, D.C., from November 12, 1921, to February 6, 1922. It was conducted out ...
of 1921 to 1922 resulted in the 1922
Washington Naval Treaty The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting Navy, naval construction. It was negotiated at ...
, which reduced the strength of the Royal Navy and the naval estimates from over £83,000,000 to £58,000,000. Amery defended the financing of the
Singapore Naval Base His Majesty's Naval Base, Singapore, also Her Majesty's Naval Base, Singapore (HMNB Singapore), alternatively known as the Singapore Naval Base, Sembawang Naval Base and HMS Sembawang, was situated in Sembawang at the northern tip of Singapore ...
against both Liberal and Labour attacks. The plans for a
Singapore Strategy The Singapore strategy was a naval defence policy of the United Kingdom that evolved in a series of Military operation plan, war plans from 1919 to 1941. It aimed to deter aggression by Japan by providing a base for a fleet of the Royal Navy in ...
caused opposition from Australian prime minister
Stanley Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne (15 April 1883 â€“ 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician, statesman and businessman who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929. He held office as ...
, who in a series of letters with Amery in 1923 made it clear that he much preferred that the main British naval base in the Asia-Pacific region be located in Sydney rather than Singapore. Amery in his replies to Bruce stressed that Hong Kong would serve as an "advance base" for the Royal Navy in the event of a war with Japan and that it was highly unlikely that the Japanese would attack Singapore on account of the distance between Japan and Southeast Asia. Amery argued that Sydney would serve as a secondary base, but could not serve as the main base as it was too far away from Southeast Asia. Amery convinced Bruce that the Singapore Strategy would serve to protect Australia and he dropped the demand for a naval base at Sydney. The construction of the Singapore base, which was misleadingly presented to the public as a fortress, proceeded slowly throughout the 1920s, being cancelled by Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government of 1924, but revived by the Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin after he won the 1924 election; the Baldwin government however proceeded so slowly that the base was far from finished when Baldwin lost the 1929 election.


Colonial Secretary

Amery was Colonial Secretary in Baldwin's second government from 1924 to 1929. Amery expanded the role of the Commercial Adviser into the Economic and Financial Advisership under Sir George Schuster. He also created the post of Chief Medical Adviser, under Sir Thomas Stanton, and a range of advisers on education (Sir Hanns Visscher for Tropical Africa), agriculture ( Sir Frank Stockdale), a Veterinary Adviser, and a Fisheries Adviser. He also set up the
Empire Marketing Board The Empire Marketing Board was formed in May 1926 by the Colonial Secretary Leo Amery to promote intra-Empire trade and to persuade consumers to 'Buy Empire'. It was established as a substitute for tariff reform and protectionist legislation and ...
. A favourite scheme was to develop one or more colonies into white-ruled dominions, with special attention to Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe), Kenya, and Palestine. In Africa, he sought to create an East African Dominion composed of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika. The strong opposition by the overwhelming non-white populations in Africa, and by the Arabs in Palestine, destroyed his plans for Dominion status in those territories. The
Permanent Mandates Commission The Permanent Mandates Commission (PMC) was the commission of the League of Nations responsible for oversight of mandated territories. The commission was established on 1 December 1920 and was headquartered at Geneva. The existence of the Commis ...
, which oversaw Tanganyika (a mandated territory), opposed Amery's plan. Amery argued that his guiding principle in East Africa was the same "dual policy" applied in Kenya, namely the "protection" of the black population while also being responsible for "for the fullest development of those territories" and "those in particular of our race who had undertaken the task of that development". In effect, Amery was saying that the East African Dominion would be run in the interests of the British settlers in East Africa, especially in Kenya which had attracted a considerable number of such settlers. The model for the proposed East African Dominion was South Africa, a Dominion dominated politically by its white population. Tanganyika had attracted a number of German settlers when it had been the colony of German East Africa, and Amery wanted to join link Tanganyika to Kenya both to give the proposed Dominion a larger white population and for economic reasons. Uganda had not attracted many white settlers, but Amery wanted to include Uganda in the proposed Dominion as its rich soil made it highly productive for agriculture. Amery's East African federation plans ran into opposition because Tanganyikan sovereignty technically belonged not to Britain but to the League of Nations. Amery insisted that Britain ''did'' own Tanganyika, and could with it as it pleased, and that the League of Nations mandate only imposed certain standards on Britain. In a speech on 11 June 1926, Amery stated: "Our mandate in Tanganyika was in no sense a temporary tenure or lease from the League of Nations. It was rather what might be called in lawyer's language a "servitude", that is to say an obligation to observe certain rules of conduct with administration in that territory...We held Tanganyika under our obligations to the League of Nations, but we held in our right under the Treaty of Versailles. The foundations of the East Africa of the future were as sure and permanent in Tanganyika as they were in any other East African territory". Amery's speech was vigorously rebutted by
Heinrich Schnee Heinrich Albert Schnee (Albert Hermann Heinrich Schnee; 4 February 1871 – 23 June 1949) was a German lawyer, colonial civil servant, politician, writer, and association official. He served as the last Governor of German East Africa. Early ...
, the last governor of German East Africa, who in an article in the ''Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' newspaper on 19 June 1926 pointed out that under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles Germany had transferred sovereignty over German East Africa to the League of Nations, appointed Britain as the administering power over what was now called Tanganyika. Schnee argued that Britain could not violate the Treaty of Versailles by changing the status of Tanganyika without first obtaining the approval of the League Council (the executive arm of the League of Nations). From the German viewpoint, maintaining the Tanganyika mandate was crucial since it was always possible that the League Council (which Germany joined as a permanent veto-holding member in 1926) might restore Tanganyika to Germany. Amery's plans for an East African Dominion met with much opposition from the Indian merchants who dominated business life in East Africa and from the black African populations who saw the plans for a federation as a way to permanently disenfranchise them. A White Paper reflecting Amery's views stated that the claims of the white settlers in East Africa "to share progressively in the responsibilities of government could no longer be ignored" and "if clashes between these interests and those of the vast native populations are to be avoided, their he white settlersshare in the trusteeship for the progress and welfare of the natives must be developed". The White Paper was taken as confirming Indian and African fears that the proposed "Closer Union" in East Africa was only for the benefit of the white settlers at their expense. The Conservative Party, the British settlers in Kenya, and Sir
Edward Grigg Edward William Macleay Grigg, 1st Baron Altrincham, (8 September 1879 – 1 December 1955) was a British colonial administrator and politician. Early life Grigg was the son of Henry Bidewell Grigg, Order of the Indian Empire, CIE, a member of ...
, the governor of Kenya, all supported Amery's plans for a "Closer Union" in East Africa. Opposed to Amery's plans in Britain were the Labour Party; Amery's own under-secretary at the Colonial Office, William Ormsby-Gore along with most of the civil servants of the Colonial Office; Sir Donald Cameron, the governor of Tanganyika; and various humanitarian groups who charged the federation would be run in the interests of the white settlers. A number of former and current Colonial Office officials such as
Frederick Lugard Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong Kong (1907â ...
and Ormsby-Gore opposed the proposed Dominion as they preferred, as a cost-saving measure, "indirect rule" via traditional African elites. Despite what Amery claimed, the Treaty of Versailles had assigned sovereignty over Tanganyika to the League of Nations and to change the status of Tanganyika required the approval of the League Council. The German Foreign Minister,
Gustav Stresemann Gustav Ernst Stresemann (; 10 May 1878 – 3 October 1929) was a German statesman during the Weimar Republic who served as Chancellor of Germany#First German Republic (Weimar Republic, 1919–1933), chancellor of Germany from August to November 1 ...
, was very committed to regaining Germany's lost empire in Africa and made it clear to the British ambassador in Berlin that he would use the German veto at the League Council if Britain made an application to change the status of Tanganyika. The idea of having Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) join South Africa as a "fifth province" was frequently mooted in the 1920s, but the unwillingness of the British settlers in Rhodesia to join an Afrikaner-dominated state ensured that nothing came of it. In 1927, Amery toured Africa and concluded that Southern Rhodesia would only join South Africa on its own terms to preserve its "British character". Amery envisioned a future where the British settlers in Southern Rhodesia would build "an independent Central South African Dominion to check and counterbalance the parochial South African Union". In India, the strong resistance of the Congress movement defeated his hopes for greater integration into the Commonwealth. In the 1920s, the Palestine Mandate was seen as a backward, impoverished area and not the first choice for emigration of most European Jews. Amery carried out a policy of "constructive Zionism": building infrastructure such as paved roads, public sanitation and a hydroelectric grid, intended to encourage Jewish immigration. In Malta Amery's name became associated with the Royal Commission which recommended self-government for the Maltese following the 1919 riots in which four locals and one servicemen were killed. One of the most prominent streets in the resort town of Sliema was named after him.


Out of office

Amery was not invited to join the National Government formed in 1931. He remained in Parliament but joined the boards of several prominent corporations. This was necessary as he had no independent means and had depleted his savings during the First World War and when he was a cabinet minister during the 1920s. Among his directorships were the boards of several German metal engineering companies (representing British capital invested in the companies), the British Southern Railway, the Gloucester Wagon Company,
Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...
, the famous shipbuilding firm
Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...
and the Trust and Loan of Canada. He was also chairman of the Iraq Currency Board. In the course of his duties as a director of German metal engineering companies, Amery gained a good understanding of German military potential.
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
became alarmed at the situation and ordered a halt to the appointment of non-German directors. Amery spent a lot of time in Germany during the 1930s in connection with his work. He was not allowed to send his director's fees out of the country so he took his family on holiday in the
Bavarian Alps The Bavarian Alps (, ) is a collective name for several mountain ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps within the German state of Bavaria. Geography The term in its wider sense refers to that part of the Eastern Alps that lies on Bavarian state ...
. He had a lengthy meeting with Hitler on at least one occasion, and he met at length with Czech leader
Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1939 to 1948. During the first six years of his second stint, he led the Czec ...
, Austrian leaders
Engelbert Dollfuss Engelbert Dollfuss (alternatively Dollfuß; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian politician and dictator who served as chancellor of Federal State of Austria, Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and ...
and Kurt von Schuschnigg and Italian leader
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
.


Opposition to appeasement of Germany

In the debates on the need for an increased effort to rearm British forces, Amery tended to focus on army affairs, with Churchill speaking more about air defence and
Roger Keyes Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, (4 October 1872 – 26 December 1945) was a British naval officer. As a junior officer he served in a corvette operating from Zanzibar on slavery suppression missions. Earl ...
talking about naval affairs.
Austen Chamberlain Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (16 October 1863 – 16 March 1937) was a British statesman, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of ...
was, until his death, a member of the group as well. While there was no question that Churchill was the most prominent and effective, Amery's work was still significant. He was a driving force behind the creation of the Army League, a pressure group designed to keep the needs of the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
before the public. Like most Conservative MPs, Amery had little faith in the League of Nations saying in the House of Commons in 1935: "If we were victims of unprovoked aggression today we might as well call on the man in the street as make a direct appeal to the League". In the 1930s Amery, along with Churchill, was a bitter critic of the
appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...
of Germany; they often openly attacked their own party. Being a former Colonial and Dominions Secretary, he was very aware of the views of the dominions and strongly opposed returning Germany's colonies, a proposal seriously considered by
Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...
. Amery's opposition to appeasement was initially based primarily on opposition to the repeated German that the former German colonies in Africa "go home to the ''Reich''". Much of the Nazi claim to the former German African colonies was based on economic grounds as it was generally believed at the time that having African colonies to exploit was essential to the workings of European economies. The American Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 had set off a global trade war with the world broken up into various economic zones as nations imposed record high tariffs, which in particular was used as an argument why Germany needed its former colonial empire. On 5 February 1936, Amery was involved in a heated debate on the floor of the House of Commons with the former prime minister David Lloyd George who suggested that Britain and the Dominions return the former German colonies, saying that it was crucial for the peace of the world. Amery attacked Lloyd George, saying that the ''Reich'' lost its colonies as a result of a war that it had caused in 1914, and if Germany needed an "economic zone" to dominate, it should look to the "great markets of Central Europe", not Africa. Amery's statements indicated that he was open to Germany having Eastern Europe in its economic zone of influence. At a conference of the Conservative and Unionist Party's local constituency associations in June 1936, Amery spoke very strongly against returning any of the German colonies currently held as League of Nations mandates by Great Britain or the Dominions. Referring to pre-1914 colonial deals, Amery stated that it had been a mistake to import the "German menace" into Africa and that it would be a mistake to do so again, adding that Britain must not "sell white men or black men into Nazi slavery". In a review of the book ''Germany's Claims to Colonies'' by Ferdinand Joelson, Amery wrote "For the moment, there can be no other attitude to the German demand than a purely negative one. The issue should not be treated as open to discussion". However, Amery tempered his opposition to returning the former German colonies by writing that if the German government was headed by somebody other than
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
, then perhaps "some positive solution to what underlies this demand may be found when the present ferment has worked itself out, and when a more normal outlook has regained ascendency over the great German nation". Amery conceded that the present was an age of "economic nationalism" with nations imposing high tariffs on each other, and that Hitler's claim that the global trade war was hurting the German economy was correct. Amery ended by writing that the system of Imperial preference tariffs, which had turned the British empire into one economic unit (the Ottawa Agreement of 1932), was what allowed Britain to be a great power, and it was up to Hitler to negotiate a similar system to the Imperial preference tariffs with the states of Eastern Europe. On the rearmament question, Amery was consistent. He advocated a higher level of expenditure, but also a reappraisal of priorities through the creation of a top-level cabinet position to develop overall defence strategy so that the increased expenditures could be spent wisely. He thought that either he or Churchill should be given the post. When the post of
Minister for Co-ordination of Defence The Minister for Co-ordination of Defence was a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, British Cabinet-level position established in 1936 to oversee and co-ordinate the rearmament of United Kingdom, Britain's defences. It was abolished in 1940. History T ...
was finally created and given to a political lightweight, Sir
Thomas Inskip Thomas Walker Hobart Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, (5 March 1876 – 11 October 1947) was a British Conservative politician who served in many legal posts, culminating in serving as Lord Chancellor from 1939 until 1940. Despite legal posts d ...
, he regarded it as a joke. Amery differed from Churchill in hoping throughout the 1930s to foster an alliance with fascist Italy to counter the rising strength of Nazi Germany. A united front of Britain, France, and Italy would, he felt, have prevented a German occupation of Austria, especially with Czechoslovakia's support. He thus favoured appeasing Italy by tacitly conceding its claims to Ethiopia. A start was made in the so-called
Stresa Front The Stresa Front was an agreement made in Stresa, a town on the banks of Lake Maggiore in Italy, between French prime minister Pierre-Étienne Flandin (with Pierre Laval), British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, and Italian prime minister Benit ...
of 1935, but he felt that Britain's decision to impose economic sanctions on Italy, for invading Ethiopia in 1936, drove Italy into the arms of Germany. Amery later stated that feelings against the Soviet Union within the Conservative Party were running high in 1936 after the Soviet intervention in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side, but by 1937 the Soviet Union "hardly came into the picture" as the passions caused by Spain had cooled. He noted that most Conservative MPs strongly disliked the Soviet Union because of the Russian debt repudiation of 1918 (the largest debt repudiation in history), which caused a number of financial problems for Britain, and also for the continuing Comintern propaganda. During the Sudetenland crisis of 1938, Amery moved away somewhat from his anti-Soviet views as he stated it was a "fundamental mistake" by Chamberlain to treat the Soviet offer of help for Czechoslovakia as a joke, saying that it was a major blunder by the prime minister "to refuse to take Russia into his confidence". Amery favoured Churchill's approach of creating a "grand alliance" of the Soviet Union, France and Britain to deter Germany from invading Czechoslovakia. During two meetings both held on 26 September 1938, the first at the office of General Edward Spears and the second at Churchill's flat, Amery negotiated with Churchill, Spears, the Liberal leader
Archibald Sinclair Archibald Henry Macdonald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso, (22 October 1890 – 15 June 1970), known as Sir Archibald Sinclair between 1912 and 1952, and often as Archie Sinclair, was a British politician and leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Li ...
and the president of the League of Nations Union Viscount Cecil to find a way to create the "grand alliance". Amery wrote in his diary that the main theme of the meetings was the importance of "bringing Russia into the picture" and that he was "all for pressing the government on this". He wrote that "it was not only the Western powers that were concerned about Czechoslovakia. In Russian eyes it was an outpost and bastion of Slavdom...the key to the whole strategic picture in Central Europe, not to be lightly surrendered to a declared enemy". Amery himself found advocating an alliance with the Soviet Union distasteful as he never concealed his dislike of the Communist regime, but felt in that 1938 it was the lesser evil. However, Amery admitted that as a Conservative MP it was difficult to be a rebel against Chamberlain, a man who commanded the loyalty and respect of most of the Conservative MPs, writing that Churchill "wished for some public declaration by us, as Conservatives, that we stood for co-operation with Russia, to which I strongly objected". Amery stated he could not make this declaration as it would be the effective end of his political career by rebelling against a popular leader in favour of an alliance with a state he hated. Amery further noted that it was widely understood by military experts that the purge of senior officers in the ''Yezhovschina'' had wrecked the Red Army at least for the moment and that the Soviet Union had no border with Czechoslovakia, writing that if Germany invaded Czechoslovakia "Russia could not, indeed, have sent direct aid to Czechoslovakia, even by air, without Romanian or Hungarian consent". However, he noted that the Soviet Union as an ally could "have threatened action against Poland and Hungary, to restrain them from falling on Czechoslovakia's rear". When Chamberlain announced his flight to Munich to the cheers of the House, Amery was one of only four members who remained seated (the others were Churchill,
Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (12 June 1897 â€“ 14 January 1977) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achi ...
, and
Harold Nicolson Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, writer, broadcaster and gardener. His wife was Vita Sackville-West. Early life and education Nicolson was born in Tehran, Persia, the youngest son of dipl ...
). In 1939, Amery joined Churchill, Lloyd George,
Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 â€“ 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...
,
Brendan Bracken Brendan Rendall Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken (15 February 1901 – 8 August 1958), was an Irish-born businessman, politician and a Minister of Information and First Lord of the Admiralty in Winston Churchill's War Cabinet. He is best remembe ...
, Victor Cazalet and most of the Labour Party in voting against the White Paper introduced by the Colonial Secretary
Malcolm MacDonald Malcolm John MacDonald (17 August 1901 – 11 January 1981) was a British politician and diplomat. He was initially a Labour Party (UK), Labour Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP), but in 1931 followed his father ...
that sharply limited Jewish immigration to the Palestine Mandate. When war came Amery, a lifelong
anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...
, opposed cooperation with the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
against Germany.


Second World War

Amery is famous for two moments of high drama in the House of Commons early in the Second World War. On 2 September 1939, Neville Chamberlain spoke in a Commons debate and strongly implied that he was not declaring war on Germany immediately even if it had invaded Poland. Amery was greatly angered, and Chamberlain was felt by many present to be out of touch with the temper of the British people. As Labour Party leader
Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...
was absent,
Arthur Greenwood Arthur Greenwood (8 February 1880 – 9 June 1954) was a British politician. A prominent member of the Labour Party from the 1920s until the late 1940s, Greenwood rose to prominence within the party as secretary of its research department fr ...
stood up in his place and announced that he was speaking for Labour. Amery shouted, "Speak for England, Arthur!" That strongly implied that Chamberlain was not doing so (in fact the delay was caused by waiting for the French to promise to go to war also). The second incident occurred during the Norway Debate in 1940. After the failure of the expedition to Norway, Amery told the House of Commons: "If we had held Trondheim, the isolated German force at Narvik would have been bound to surrender". After a string of military and naval disasters had been announced, Amery attacked Chamberlain's government in a devastating speech, finishing by quoting Oliver Cromwell's words dismissing the Rump Parliament#Oliver Cromwell, Rump Parliament: "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" Lloyd George afterwards told Amery that in fifty years, he had heard few speeches that matched his in sustained power and none with so dramatic a climax. The debate led to 42 Conservative Members of Parliament voting against Chamberlain and 36 abstaining, leading to the downfall of the Conservative-dominated National Government and the formation of a new coalition government under Churchill. Amery himself noted in his diary that he believed that his speech was one of his best received in the House and that he had made a difference to the outcome of the debate.


Secretary of State for India and Burma

During the Churchill war ministry Amery was Secretary of State for India despite the fact that Churchill and Amery had long disagreed on the fate of India. Amery was disappointed not to be made a member of the small War Cabinet, but he was determined to do all he could in the position he was offered. He was continually frustrated by Churchill's intransigence, and in his memoirs, he recorded that Churchill knew "as much of the Indian problem as George III did of the American colonies". Through committed to the British Empire, Amery thought Churchill's views towards India were unrealistic. Amery was the only India Secretary to have been born in India and he was fluent in Sanskrit, giving him a closer commitment to India than previous India Secretaries. In the autumn of 1941 as war with Japan loomed, the Governor of Burma, Reginald Dorman-Smith, had agreed that the Burmese prime minister, U Saw, should go to London to discuss with Amery and Churchill Dominion status for Burma. Amery was less than enthusiastic about meeting U Saw. Churchill had no interest in Dominion status for Burma and agreed to see U Saw only once with the rest of the talks to be handled by Amery. U Saw duly arrived in London in October 1941 for a series of inconclusive meetings with Amery, where he was told that the issue of Burmese independence was complex. On the morning of 7 December 1941, Japan attacked the British Empire with Hong Kong and Malaya being bombed and invaded that day. U Saw who was in Lisbon on his way home to Burma stopped by at the Japanese embassy to offer his support for Burma joining the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. As the British had broken the Japanese codes, Amery was well aware of what U Saw had done. Amery sent a message to Dorman-Smith ordering that U Saw was to be arrested immediately upon his return to Burma for his "treacherous act". On 2 February 1942, Amery told the cabinet that the recent British defeats in Asia had shattered the prestige of the British Raj at a time when Britain needed the support of the Indians the most, and that the government would have to change its policy and engage with Indian public opinion to win their support for the war. Later in February 1942, the Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek and his charismatic English-speaking wife Soong Mei-ling visited India on a well received visit, offering the message that the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere was a sham and warning starkly that the when Japan invaded India the Imperial Japanese Army would treat the Indian people just as badly as it had treated the Chinese, repeating atrocities such as the Rape of Nanking. Chiang urged the British to promise India independence after the war, but also urged Indians to support the British war effort, saying that British rule was preferable to Japanese rule. The favourable reception of Chiang's visit to India seemed to offer a way forward to win the war in Asia. In March 1942, the cabinet dispatched Stafford Cripps, a prominent left-wing politician (currently expelled from the Labour Party), on a mission to India to offer Dominion status for India after the war in exchange for Indian support for the British war effort, but with the additional condition that Britain would concede the demand of Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Muslim League for a separate nation for Indian Muslims to be called Pakistan. Cripps landed in India on 22 March 1942. Upon hearing of the Cripps mission, the Viceroy of India, Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow, Lord Linlithgow, asked Amery "Why?" Amery assured Linlithgow that the purpose of the Cripps mission was to "help" him rule India by ending the opposition of the Congress Party to the Raj. The American President Franklin D. Roosevelt had made it clear to Churchill that he believed that Britain should grant independence to India, and as the United Kingdom was Lend-Lease, in effect being economically subsidised by the United States from 1941 onward, it was difficult for Churchill to reject Roosevelt's advice outright as much as he wanted to. Amery seemed to regard the Cripps mission as only useful for its effect on American public opinion as he wrote to Linlithgow in March 1942 that American public opinion would be impressed by "us sending out someone who has always been an extreme Left-Winger and in close touch with Nehru". Amery believed that the Cripps would fail as the British offer of independence for India was also tied to a partition of India, a condition that both he and Churchill knew would be rejected by Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru of the Congress Party who wanted independence without partition. There was a split within the Congress Party between Gandhi who took an absolute pacifistic position of opposing all wars on principle ''versus'' Nehru who took a more anti-fascist position and often suggested that he was prepared to support Britain provided independence was promised for India. In one speech, Nehru had declared: "Hitler and Japan must go to hell! I shall fight them to the end and this is my policy. I shall also fight Mr. Subhas Bose and his party along with Japan if he comes to India." During his talks with Cripps, Nehru was quite willing to accept Cripps' offer of Congress Party support for the war in exchange for Dominion status after the war, saying it was imperative that the Axis powers be defeated, and that Japan would be a far worse colonial master for India than Britain. However, the Cripps-Nehru talks broke down on the Pakistan question as Nehru was unwilling to accept the partition of India, and told Cripps that this part of his offer was unacceptable. Gandhi argued that the offer of independence tied to Pakistan as well as independence for the Princely States would lead to the "Balkanisation of India", and Nehru agreed with him. Churchill argued to Roosevelt that Indian Muslims made up the majority of the Indian Army and that India had 100 million Muslims, making it the most populous Muslim community in the world, and Britain could not afford to anger Jinnah of the Muslim League who wanted independence with partition. On 6 April 1942, the Cripps mission entered in failure as Gandhi and Nehru rejected Cripps's offer of independence after the war in exchange for support for the British war effort; as a dejected Cripps prepared to return to London, the Japanese bombed Calcutta for the first time. The Congress Party was deeply distrustful of the British and were angry about Amery having apparently given the Muslim League the right to create Pakistan as part of the deal. For their part, Amery along with other British officials, believed that Gandhi was extremely naïve in thinking that peaceful "soul force" would be all that would be needed to stop the Japanese invasion, the apparently imminent. Despite the loss of Burma, Amery was corresponding with Dorman-Smith in August 1942 about not only how best to restore British rule in Burma after Japan was defeated, but also plans to annex Thailand on the account of Thailand joining the war on the Axis side. In August 1942, Gandhi and Nehru launched the Quit India Movement protests, starting the largest demonstrations yet against the Raj, demanding that the British grant India independence immediately. Linlithgow in a report to Amery called the Quit India movement "the most serious [uprising] since Indian Rebellion of 1857, that of 1857". Officially, 1,028 Indians were killed during the protests, but the number may have actually as high as 25,000. Linlithgow also complained that the protests were being well covered by the American media and wrote to Amery asking him "to arrest at least for a time this flow of well meaning sentimentalists". Despite the massive demonstrations along with associated sabotage, Churchill insisted that most Indians were still loyal to the Raj as Churchill believed the Muslims, Sikhs and Christian communities of India along with untouchable caste and all of the Indians living in the Princely state, Princely States were all loyal and by his estimate 300 million of the 400 million Indians wanted the British to stay. Churchill tended to conflate volunteers for the Indian Army with support for the Raj, and he assumed that because the Indian Army were still meeting its recruiting targets that this reflected widespread public support for the Raj. However, most of the Indians volunteering for the Indian Army in 1942 were Muslims, and notably the Indian Army had difficulty recruiting Hindus, the most numerous of India's many religious groups. Unlike the Congress Party, the Muslim League had declared its support for the war, and Jinnah and the other Muslim leaders encouraged Indian Muslims to enlist in the Indian Army. Churchill expressed much anger at the Quit India movement, and Amery complained about Churchill's "Nazi-like" attitude towards Indians, especially Hindus, along with a belief that Churchill was wrong in believing that 300 million Indians supported the Raj. As too many Indians were taking part in the Quit India protests, it was impossible to jail all of them, leading the Raj to resort to corporal punishment with Indians being flogged for protesting. In response to newspaper accounts of "dreadfulness" about the floggings, Amery assured the House of Commons that the police were not flogging people with Cat o' nine tails whips, but instead with "light rattan canes" to "deter hooligans". Amery did not mention that being flogged with "light rattan canes" was immensely painful, but he argued that mass floggings were necessary as there were far more "hooligans" taking part in the Quit India protests than were prisons for them. Much to Amery's relief, the Indian Army, which was called out as an aid to civil power as the police forces were overwhelmed by the Quit India protests, stayed loyal to the Raj. Amery reported to the cabinet on 24 August 1942 that "the soldiers regard Congress as contemptible politicians". Amery stated that within the Indian Army the general feeling was that the prime danger facing India was a Japanese invasion, and most of the Indian soldiers felt that the timing of the Quit India movement was very wrong. As a result of the uprising, the Congress Party was banned while the Muslim League which was opposed to Quit India remained legal. In December 1942, Linlithgow reported to Amery of a "disastrous deterioration of supplies" and that a famine was imminent in the Bengal province. In January 1943, Amery reported to the cabinet that food shortages were becoming a major problem in India. Before 1942, 15% of the rice consumed in India had come from Burma, and the Japanese conquest of Burma had cut India off from the Burmese rice crop. Adding to the shortages were a series of cyclones that devastated the rice crop in Bengal province in the fall of 1942, and by December 1942 children and old people in Bengal were starving to death as it was reported to London that India was short of one million tons of rice that were necessary to feed its people. When Linlithgow decided to retire as Viceroy in 1943, Amery recommended to Churchill that he appoint either the Foreign Secretary
Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (12 June 1897 â€“ 14 January 1977) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achi ...
or the Deputy Prime Minister
Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...
as the next Viceroy. Churchill refused on the grounds that he needed both Eden and Attlee in the cabinet. On 8 June 1943, Amery nominated himself as the next Viceroy, writing in a memo to the prime minister of: "...the very special difficulties which a new Viceroy will have to handle. The whole situation in India today depends upon the Viceroy's ability from the onset to manage and impose his personality upon a Council composed mainly of Indians, men of individual ability and goodwill, but easily ratted or turned sour by hesitant or clumsy handling. They are like an Indian elephant, who with a good mahout, will face a charging tiger; if the mahout is stupid, or loses his nerve for a second, nothing can stop the beast from stampeding in terror...a stampede that may wreck the whole fabric of government in India". Amery concluded that since the "very best men" such as Eden and Attlee could not be spared to serve as Viceroy, "as a last resort, I have already offered you myself". Churchill instead chose Field Marshal Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, Archibald Wavell as the next Viceroy in the hope that Wavell would pursue a repressive policy towards Indian demands for independence. Contrary to Churchill's hopes, Wavell proved far more willing than Linlithgow to negotiate with the Indians as Wavell sought a political solution instead of the military solution that Churchill had hoped for. Amery tended to support Wavell's efforts to reach a political solution and consistently spoke in defence of Wavell in cabinet meetings. To replace Wavell who been promoted to Viceroy of India, Churchill wanted to appoint Air Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside, Sholto Douglas as the new Supreme Commander of South-East Asia Command, a choice vetoed by Roosevelt on the account of Douglas's anti-Americanism. Likewise Admiral Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, Andrew Cunningham declined the offer and at Amery's suggestion, Churchill appointed Admiral Lord Mountbatten, Louis Mountbatten as the Southeast Asia Supreme Commander. In July 1943, the Raj reported that a famine had broken out in Bengal province and that it would necessary to ship 5,000,000 tons of grain from Australia to feed the staving people of Bengal. Amery wrote in his diary that at a cabinet meeting on 4 August 1943 he made the case for the grain shipments "in as strong terms as I could", but was overruled by the cabinet. The War Secretary, James Grigg, stated that there was more than enough grain in India to feed the Bengalis and that the famine had been caused by Indian merchants hoarding grain to speculate on higher prices, leading him to conclude that this was an Indian problem that the Indians could solve on their own. On 5 August 1943, Churchill promised Amery that if the famine continued to worsen, the matter would be discussed at the next cabinet meeting. The same time, Churchill left for the First Quebec Conference with President Roosevelt, and no more cabinet meetings were held in the absence of the prime minister. During the famine, both Wavell and Amery consistently fought for food to be sent to Bengal. In the autumn of 1943, following further lobbying by Amery, the cabinet agreed that 50,000 tons of Australian wheat would go to Bengal with the first shipment arriving in November 1943. Amery opposed holding an inquiry for the 1943 Bengal famine, fearing that the political consequences could be "disastrous". In 1944, the Famine Inquiry Commission was held against his advice. The report by the inquiry ruled that Bengal famine was "avoidable" and was due to "mismanagement" by both the Raj and the Bengal government. Unlike Churchill who had a marked dislike of Gandhi and the Congress Party and favoured Jinnah and the Muslim League, Amery had a strong dislike of Jinnah, to whom he referred as "the future emperor of Pakistan", charging that Jinnah was championing the idea of partition of India because creating Pakistan was the only way he ever hope to attain power, as the Muslim League as suggested by its name represented only Muslims, and thus could not hope to win an Indian general election. Amery wrote that the concept of Pakistan was "essentially a negation" that would cause a bloodbath if the idea of partition of India was actually executed. Likewise, Amery was opposed to Churchill's offer of Dominion status for India being tied to Dominion status for the all 565 Princely state, Princely States, which he called "princestan" and thought was unrealistic as most of the princely states were extremely small, being enclaves the size of a municipal borough. In 1944, the British cabinet learned of an unusual offer from the ''Reichsfūhrer SS'', Heinrich Himmler, that he was willing to suspend the The Holocaust in Hungary, deportation of the Jews of Hungary to the Auschwitz concentration camp, Auschwitz death camp in exchange for 10,000 lorries for the Wehrmacht to be used on the Eastern Front. This was an obvious attempt to break up the "Big Three" alliance of the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom. Amery told the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann about the "monstrous German blackmailing offer to release a million Jews in return for ten thousand lorries and other equipment, failing which bargain they proposed to exterminate them". Amery expressed much sympathy writing that both he and Cripps were in favour of keeping the commitments made by the latter in 1942 while Churchill was not. In May 1944, Wavell ordered the release of Gandhi who had been imprisoned since August 1942 on the grounds that if the Mahatma were to die in prison, it would set off massive riots. Wavell reported to Amery that Gandhi and Jinnah were not planning to meet anytime soon and he expected no resolution in the "deadlock" between the Congress Party and the Muslim League. Wavell added that both Gandhi and Jinnah were "intransigents" and neither had any willingness to compromise. Amery in his reply to Wavell stated that the Allies were finally advancing in Italy and that "we might be on the outskirts of Rome in a few days". Amery further noted that many of the soldiers in the British Eighth Army that was marching north in Italy were Indian Army during World War II, Indian, and he hoped that the Indian newspapers were giving sufficient publicity to the achievements of the Indian "tiger soldiers' in Italy, which he wanted to be seen as a model of Anglo-Indian cooperation in a common cause. In July 1944, Wavell reported to Amery that Gandhi might be willing to compromise by accepting the idea of Pakistan, but only with borders that would be so unfavourable that Pakistan would not be economically viable as Pakistan's only ports under Gandhi's plan would be Karachi and Dacca (modern Dhaka). Wavell added: "One can hardly blame Jinnah for thinking twice before swallowing this whole". Wavell along with other senior civil servants of the Raj warned that to attempt to partition the Punjab would cause a bloodbath as the Sikh and Muslim communities of the Punjab would tear each other apart, and it would be better to keep India together by making concessions to the Indian Muslim minority. To further complicate matters, many Sikhs were unhappy about having to choose between Muslim majority Pakistan vs. Hindu majority India, and wanted the Punjab to be independent, a demand rejected by both Jinnah and Gandhi. Wavell reported to Amery that Gandhi was utterly incapable of understanding Jinnah's fears that the Muslim minority would be oppressed in Hindu majority India, and he was not willing to make any compromises that might persuade Jinnah to drop his demand for Pakistan. Wavell himself favoured a compromise to avoid partition by making independent India into a federation with a weak central government and strong provincial governments, which he hoped might persuade Jinnah that the Indian Muslims would not be oppressed. Amery himself advanced a similar plan thought he felt Wavell's efforts along these lines were too crude and blunt reflecting his background as a soldier and that he as a politician he was better suited for this task. Amery became increasing frustrated with what he regarded as Churchill's obstinate and unrealistic views on India. He felt that it was impossible for a liberal democratic state to repress the demands for independence from the better part of 400 million people without betraying its values, and that the best that could done in India was to make a deal with the moderate Indian nationalists for support for the British war effort in exchange for Dominion status after the war. Amery often wrote in his diary that Churchill's belief that no political solution was possible nor desirable and that the Indians could simply be repressed into being docile subjects of the Raj was as impractical as it was amoral. On 4 August 1944, Wavell reported that Gandhi had offered to end the Quit India protests and to support the British war effort in exchange for an immediate grant of Dominion status for India with no partition. Wavell rejected Gandhi's offer, but himself offered to form a transitional government with a cabinet headed by Indians that would be granted Dominion status after the war in exchange for the Congress Party supporting the war effort. In the cabinet, Amery supported Wavell's offer, saying it was the best way to end the disorders in India and bring the majority of the Indians over to supporting the war; Churchill by contrast was completely opposed and expressed much regret that he ever appointed Wavell as Viceroy. Churchill told the cabinet that Wavell should never negotiate at with Gandhi, a man whom Churchill called "a thoroughly evil force, hostile to us in every fibre, largely in the hands of native vested interest". Churchill stated that Wavell was a disgrace as he was willing to talk to Gandhi, whom Churchill stated was "a traitor who ought to be put back into prison!" Amery wrote in his diary on 4 August 1944 that Churchill had attacked his patriotism and claimed that he supported the interests of "Indian moneylenders over Englishmen" in India. Amery concluded in his diary: "Naturally, I lost patience, and I couldn't help telling him that I didn't see much difference between his outlook and Hitler's, which annoyed him no little. I am by no means certain whatever on the subject of India he is totally sane". The next day, Churchill drafted a reply to Gandhi's offer that demanded radical changes to the status of the Dalit, untouchables as a precondition, which Amery criticised as negotiating in bad faith, noting that Churchill had never been much interested in improving the conditions of the untouchables before, and his demand about the untouchables was a wedge issue intended to divide the higher caste Hindus from the untouchables. In response, Churchill told him that he planned "after the war he was going to go back on all the shameful story of the last twenty years of surrender". Churchill told Amery that he envisioned India as a British colony forever, that he would never grant independence to India under any conditions and that he planned to "carry out a great regeneration of India based on extinguishing landlords and oppressive industrialists and uplift the peasant and untouchable, probably by collectivisation on Russian lines. It might be necessary to get rid of wretched sentimentalists like Wavell and most of the present English officials in India, who were more Indian than the Indians, and send out new men". Amery's differing outlook towards India tended to push him towards the margins as he and Churchill had very different visions of the future of India. In a satire of Churchill's views, Amery wrote a mock memo entitled "The Regeneration of India: Memorandum by the Prime Minister", where pretending to be Churchill Amery wrote: "As the victorious end of this glorious struggle for human freedom draws near, the time is coming for a policy in relation to India more worthy of our true selves. We have had enough...of shameful pledges about Indian self-government, and of sickening surrenders to babu agitation. If we went even further two years ago in an open invitation to Indians to unite and kick us out of India that was only because we were in a hole. That peril is over and obviously a new situation has arisen of which we are fully entitled to take advantage". Continuing on his theme, Amery as Churchill wrote about Wavell that he was a man who: "...would not only appear to have taken our pledges seriously, but to be imbued with a miserable sneaking sympathy for what are called Indian aspirations, not to speak of an inveterate and scandalous propensity to defend Indian interests as against those of their own country, and a readiness to see British workers sweat and toil for generations in order to swell even further the distended paunches of Hindu moneylenders". Amery continued his satire by writing that the Raj should aim at the destruction of the Hindu caste system and making the untouchables the equal of the other castes, which might generate resistance, leading him to write that "it will also be necessary, following an excellent Russian precedent, to forbid any but trusted officials to leave India or to allow any visitors from outside except under the closest supervision by an official Intourist Agency." Amery as Churchill concluded that India would require a regime of martial law permanently to put an end to Indian demands for independence which would require a force of 1,600,000 British police officers and 8,000,000 Indian police officers along with the entire Indian Army and most of the British Army. Amery intended his memo to be a parody meant to show how impractical Churchill's views were as the immense number of policemen and soldiers that would be needed to enforce permanent martial law in India would seriously strain the British budget at a time when Britain was financially dependent on the United States while the suggestion of the "excellent Russian precedent" was meant to show that Churchill would have to use methods similar to Joseph Stalin's in the Soviet Union to achieve his vision of India as a permanent British colony. Amery's support for Indian independence was not based on any sense of sympathy for Indian nationalism, but rather as the best way of securing British influence in South Asia as he believed that India as a Dominion would be rather like other Dominions such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand who generally followed Britain's lead. As late as 1947 in a letter to Churchill just after Attlee announced the end of the Raj Amery expressed the viewpoint that "we can only hope, that somehow or other, the Britannic orbit will remain a reality in this parlous world even if, to assume the worst, Indian politicians are unwise enough to break the formal link".


Last years

At the 1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 general election, Amery lost his seat to Labour Party (UK), Labour's Percy Shurmer. He was offered a peerage but declined it, because it might, upon his death, have cut short his son Julian Amery, Julian's political career in the House of Commons. However, he was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour. In February 1947, after Attlee announced that India would be granted independence and partitioned into the new nations of India and Pakistan, Amery wrote a letter to the last Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, promising that he would write a lengthy letter to ''The Times'' "to steady Conservative opinion here in case Winston proved factious". In retirement, Amery published a three-volume autobiography ''My Political Life'' (1953–1955).


Legacy

Throughout his political career, Amery was an exponent of Imperial unity, as he saw the British Empire as a force for justice and progress in the world. He strongly supported the evolution of the dominions into independent nations bound to Britain by ties of kinship, trade, defence and a common pride in the Empire. He also supported the gradual evolution of the colonies, particularly India, to the same status, unlike Churchill, a free trader, who was less interested in the Empire as such and more in Britain itself as a great power . Amery felt that Britain itself was too weak to maintain its great power position. Amery was very active in imperial affairs during the 1920s and 1930s. He was in charge of colonial affairs and relations with the dominions from 1924 to 1929. In the 1930s, he was a member of the Empire Industries Association and a chief organiser of the huge rally celebrating the empire at the Royal Albert Hall in 1936 marking the centenary of
Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading New Imperialism, imperial ...
's birth. Amery maintained a very busy speaking schedule, with almost 200 engagements between 1936 and 1938, many of them devoted to imperial topics, especially Imperial Preference. Amery distrusted the administration of US President Franklin Roosevelt. He resented American pressure on Canada to oppose imperial free trade. While that pressure was unsuccessful as long as Canadian Conservative Party of Canada (historical), Conservative Prime Minister Richard Bedford Bennett was in power, after Bennett lost the 1935 election his Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal successor William Lyon Mackenzie King adopted a more pro-American stance. Amery wanted to keep the UK and the newly independent British Dominions united by trade behind a common tariff barrier and away from the United States. He viewed American intentions regarding the British Empire with increasingly grave suspicion. He hoped the Labour government elected in 1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 would resist promises of trade liberalisation made by Churchill to the United States during the Second World War. Amery's hopes were partially vindicated when the Attlee government, under intense American pressure, insisted upon the continuation of Imperial/Commonwealth Preference but conceded its more limited scope and promised against further expansion.


Personal life

Amery's elder son, John Amery (1912–1945), became a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#United Kingdom, Nazi sympathizer. During the Second World War he made :English broadcasters for Nazi Germany, propaganda broadcasts from Germany, and induced a few British prisoners of war to join the German-controlled British Free Corps. After the war, he was tried for treason, pleaded guilty, and was hanged. His father amended his entry in ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'' to read "one s[on]", with the editors' permission.www.ukwhoswho.com
The playwright Ronald Harwood, who explored the relationship between Leo and John Amery in his play ''An English Tragedy'' (2008), considered it significant to the son's story that the father had apparently concealed his partly-Jewish ancestry. Amery's younger son, Julian Amery (1919–1996), served first in the Royal Air Force and then the British Army during World War Two, and later became a Conservative politician. He served in the cabinets of
Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 â€“ 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...
and Alec Douglas-Home, Sir Alec Douglas-Home as Minister for Aviation (1962–1964) and also held junior ministerial office under Edward Heath. He married Macmillan's daughter Catherine. Amery is buried in Lustleigh#Church of St John the Baptist, the churchyard of St John the Baptist in his father's home village of
Lustleigh Lustleigh is a small village and civil parish in the Wray Valley, inside the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. It is between the towns of Bovey Tracey and Moretonhampstead. The village has often been named in various publications as be ...
, and an ornate plaque in commemoration of him is inside the church.


Footnotes


Notes


References

* Encyclopædia Britannica
''online edition''
* L. S. Amery, ''My Political Life. Volume One: England Before the Storm. 1896–1914'' (London: Hutchinson, 1953) * L. S. Amery, ''My Political Life. Volume Two: War and Peace. 1914–1929'' (London: Hutchinson, 1953) * L. S. Amery, ''My Political Life. Volume Three: The Unforgiving Years. 1929–1940'' (London: Hutchinson, 1955) * L. S. Amery, ''Days of Fresh Air, Being Reminiscences of Outdoor Life'' (London: Hutchinson Universal Book Club, 1940) * * * David Faber (schoolmaster), David Faber
''Speaking for England: Leo, Julian and John Amery: The Tragedy of a Political Family''
(Free Press, 2005) * * * * Deborah Lavin,
Amery, Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett (1873–1955)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, January 2011, accessed 2 June 2011 * * * * * * * Nigel Nicolson (ed.), ''The Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson. Volume II: The War Years, 1939–1945'' (New York: Atheneum, 1967) * * * * William Rubinstein, 'The secret of Leopold Amery', ''Historical Research'', vol. 73, no. 181 (June 2000), pp. 175–196 * * * * * *


Further reading

* *John Barnes and David Nicholson (British politician), David Nicholson (eds.), ''The Leo Amery Diaries. 1896–1929'' (London: Hutchinson, 1980) *John Barnes and David Nicholson (British politician), David Nicholson (eds.), ''The Empire at Bay. The Leo Amery Diaries. 1929–1945'' (London: Hutchinson, 1987) *Stephen Constantine (historian), Stephen Constantine, ''The Making of British Colonial Development Policy'' (London: Routledge, 1984) *David Goldsworthy, ''Colonial Issues in British Politics, 1945–1961'' (Oxford University Press, 1971) *Wm Roger Louis, ''In the name of God, go! Leo Amery and the British empire in the age of Churchill'' (W. W. Norton & Co., 1992
online free
*W. R. Louis, 'Leo Amery and the post-war world, 1945–55', ''Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History'', 30 (2002), pp. 71–90 *Philip Williamson (historian), Philip Williamson, ''National Crisis and National Government: British Politics, the Economy and Empire, 1926–1932'' (Cambridge University Press, 1992)


Publications

* Leo Amery, ''The Problem of the Army'' (1903
Link
* Leo Amery, ''Fundamental Fallacies of Free Trade'' (1906
Link
* Leo Amery, The Times' History of the war in South Africa, 1899–1900 (Vol I)'' (1900
Link
* Leo Amery, The Times' History of the war in South Africa, 1899–1900 (Vol II)'' (1902
Link
* Leo Amery, The Times' History of the war in South Africa, 1899–1900 (Vol III)'' (1905
Link
* Leo Amery, The Times' History of the war in South Africa, 1899–1902 (Vol IV)'' (1906
Link
* Leo Amery, The Times' History of the war in South Africa, 1899–1902 (Vol V)'' (1907
Link
* Leo Amery, The Times' History of the war in South Africa, 1899–1902 (Vol VI)'' (1909
Link
* Leo Amery, The Times' History of the war in South Africa, 1899–1902 (Vol VII)'' (1909
Link
* Leo Amery, ''The Great Question: Tariff Reform or Free Trade?'' (1909
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''Union and Strength'' (1912
Link
* Leo Amery, ''The Empire in the New Era'' (1928
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''Empire and Prosperity'' (1930) short work''
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''A Plan of Action'' (1932
Link
* Leo Amery, ''The Stranger of the Ulysses'' (1934
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''The Forward View'' (1935
Link
* Leo Amery, ''The Odyssey: Presidential address delivered to the Classical association'' (1936) short work''
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''The German Colonial Claim'' (1939
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''Days of Fresh Air'' (1939
Link
* Leo Amery, ''India and Freedom'' (1942
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''The Framework for the Future'' (1944
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''The Washington Loan Agreements'' (1945
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''In the Rain and the Sun'' (1946
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''Thoughts on the Constitution'' (1947
Link
* Leo Amery, ''The Elizabethan Spirit'' (1948) short work''
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''The Awakening: Our Present Crisis and the Way Out'' (1948
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''Thought and Language'' (1949) short work''
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''My Political Life, Volume I, England Before the Storm, 1896–1914'' (1953
Link
* Leo Amery, ''My Political Life, Volume II, War and Peace, 1914–1929'' (1953
Link
* Leo Amery, ''My Political Life, Volume III, The Unforgiving Years, 1929–1940'' (1955
Link
* Leo Amery, ''A Balanced Economy'' (1954
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''The Leo Amery diaries 1896–1929 (Vol I)'' (1980
Link to library source
* Leo Amery, ''The Empire at bay: the Leo Amery diaries 1929–1945 (Vol II)'' (1988
Link to library source


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amery, Leo 1873 births 1955 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Amery family, Leo British people of World War I British Secretaries of State for Dominion Affairs British Zionists Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford First Lords of the Admiralty Foreign Office personnel of World War II Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England Jewish British politicians Legion of Frontiersmen members Liberal Unionist Party MPs for English constituencies Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ministers in the Churchill caretaker government, 1945 Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945 People educated at Harrow School People from Gorakhpur Presidents of the Alpine Club (UK) Secretaries of State for India Secretaries of State for the Colonies UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 Presidents of the Classical Association