Constituency : Rugby 1923-4, Leith 1927-45 ( from 1931 Liberal National )
Ernest took Rugby from the Tories, helped by Labour's withdrawal.
Ernest was the son of a fisherman from Devon. He became a Baptist lay preacher. His expertise in public speaking made him valuable to the Liberal party.He served in World War One and won the Military Cross.
In 1924 Ernest was defeated , coming second in a three cornered contest. In 1927 he stood at Leith at a by-election caused by the defection of Wedgwood Benn and scraped home in a three cornered contest.
In 1929 Ernest had an easy win in a straight fight with Labour. Ernest became a follower of Simon and resigned the Liberal whip alongside him in 1930. He gave public support to Simon's call for an emergency tariff. He had another easy victory over Labour as a Liberal National in 1931. He then became a junior minister at the Department of Health. When the official Liberals left the government in 1932 he became Secretary for Mines. When Baldwin took over in 1935 he joined the Cabinet as Minister of Labour. In his five year tenure he extended unemployment insurance to agricultural workers, created the National Joint Advisory Committee and fostered a distributors' union.
In 1940 Churchill took over and made him Secretary of State for Scotland despite him being English. He also became leader of the Liberal Nationals as Simon went to the Lords. He initiated talks with Sinclair about reunion but would not rule out supporting the "National" government after the war. Churchill had a negative view of the Liberal Nationals and dropped Ernest from the Cabinet in his brief post-war administration. He was demoted to Minister of Aircraft Production.
In 1945, Ernest was swept away by Labour in Leith and thereafter devoted most of his time to the church. He toured parts of the Commonwealth.
Ernest was noted for talking very fast and very loud.
He died in 1962 aged 80.
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