1238 Austen Chamberlain

Constituency : East  Worcestershire  1892- 1912  ( Liberal  Unionist ) , 1912-14 , Birmingham  West  1914-37  Conservative

Austen  succeeded  the  imprisoned  George  Hastings  as  Liberal  Unionist  MP  for  East Worcestershire. The  fact  that  he  was  unopposed  masks  a  protracted  wrangle  between  the Liberal  Unionists  and  their  Tory  allies. Austen.s  father  Joseph  was  keen  to  keep  the  Midlands a  Liberal  Unionist  stronghold  and  pushed  for  his  son  to  succeed  Hastings. The  Tories  wanted Austen  to  pledge  outright  opposition  to  disestablishment  of  the  church  but  Joe  argued  that this  would  alienate  nonconformist  support  for  his  party , some  branches  of  which  might  seek to  extract  contrary  pledges  before  supporting  Conservative  candidates. The  Tories  eventually backed  down  and  accepted  Austen.

Austen  was  Joe's  eldest  son  by  his  first  marriage. His  mother  died  in  childbirth.  He  was educated  at  Rugby  and  Cambridge. He  then  spent  time  in  Paris  and  Germany  meeting important  politicians  like  Clemenceau  and  Bismarck.  He  returned  to  England  looking  for  a parliamentary  seat.

Austen  affected  to  look  like  his  father  with  the  monocle. He  made  his  maiden  speech opposing  Gladstone's  Second  Home  Rule  Bill  after  which  he  was  congratulated  by  the  P. M. himself. Austen  was  made  a  junior  whip  for  the  Liberal  Unionists  and  after  1895  became Civil  Lord  of  the  Admiralty. In  1900  he  was  promoted  to  Financial  Secretary  to  the  Treasury, Balfour  made  him  Postmaster  General  when  he  took  over  in  1902.

In  1903  Austen  was  made  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  as  Balfour  tried  to  hold  the  Unionist coalition  together  in  the  wake  of  Tariff  Reform. His  father's  stroke  in  1906  made  Austen  the effective  leader  of  the  Tariff  Reform  movement  and  therefore  a  contender  for  leadership  of the  Unionists  when  Balfour  resigned  in  1911. He  was  challenged  by  Walter  Long , Bonar  Law and  Edward  Carson.  When  a  canvas  of  MPs   revealed  Long  slightly  ahead  Austen  persuaded him  that  they  should  both  withdraw  and  back  Bonar  Law  as  a  compromise  candidate  for  the sake  of  party  unity. Given  these  events  Austen  agreed  there  was  no  rationale  for  the  Liberal Unionists'  separate  existence  and  the  parties  merged  the  following  year.

When  Asquith  and  Bonar  Law  formed  a  coalition  government  in  1915 Austen  became Secretary  of  State  for  India. He  supported  the  Mesopotamian  campaign  of  1915  and  took responsibility  for  its  failure  as  it  had  been  undertaken  by  the  Indian  Army . He  resigned  in 1917. He  was  said  to  be  considering  withdrawing  his  support  for  the  government  because  he felt  that  Lloyd  George  was  undermining  the  generals  but  did  not  do  so, He  himself  joined   the  War  Cabinet  as  Minister  without  Portfolio  in  1918.

In  1919  Austen  returned  to  11  Downing  St  and  helped  repair  government  finances. In  1921 Bonar  Law  was  forced  to  step  down  through  illness  and  Austen  became  Leader  of  the Commons  and  Lord  Privy  Seal. He  became  friendlier  with  Lloyd  George  , seemingly  unaware of  increasing  Conservative  restlessness  with  the  coalition. He  called  the  Carlton  Club  meeting in  October  1922  in  a  bid  to  rally  support  for  the  government  and  resigned  immediately  when it  went  against  him. He  stayed  aloof  from  Bonar  Law's  new  government  and  rejected Baldwin's  offer  of  Lord  Privy  Seal  when  he  took  over  unless  other  Coalition  ministers  came back  on  board.

Baldwin's  conversion  to  protectionism  was  partly  motivated  by  the  need  to  detach  Austen from  Lloyd  George  and  it  had  the  desired  effect. When  Baldwin  returned  to  power  in  1924 Austen  became  Foreign  Secretary. He  won  the  Nobel  Peace  Prize  for  negotiating  the  Locarno Pact  between  France  and  Germany  in  1925  which  temporarily  reduced  tension  between  the two  countries  but  at  a  cost  of  encouraging  Germany  to  pursue  territorial  revision  in  Eastern Europe.

Austen  briefly  joined  the  National  Government  in  1931 as  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  but retired  after  the  Invergordon  Mutiny.  He  became  a  highly  respected  backbencher. He condemned  the  Hoare-Laval  Pact  of  1935  but  then  helped  save  the  government  in  a  vote  of censure  on  it. By  that  time  he  was  siding  with  Churchill  on  Britain's  need  to  rearm. He  led two  Conservative  delegations to  Baldwin  to  protest  about  government  failure  on  the  issue.

Austen's  death  in  March  1937  spared  him  the  embarrassment  of  arguing  against  his  own half-brother  Neville  as  P.M. , on  the  appeasement  issue.        

That  concludes  our  look  at  the  by-election  victors  of  the  1886-92  Parliament. We  now  look   at  the  victors  of  the  1892  election.