Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
‘No matter how often it is told, the story remains fantastic’, wrote Margaret Cole in 1956, referring to the British political crisis of a quarter of a century before. It would be rash to make such a comment today, for in recent years sober research has answered many of the more ‘fantastic’ questions. The role of the Labour opposition, though, remains somewhat neglected; most spectacularly, no attempt has been made systematically to analyse the actions and motivations of its leader during the crisis, Arthur Henderson. A reappraisal is both necessary and possible.
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76 Sankey diary, 12 Sept. 1931, Bod. Lib., Sankey papers, MS Eng. hist. e. 285.
77 Beatrice Webb diary, 15 Sept. 1931, B.L.P.E.S., Passfield papers.
78 Noel Baker to Lord R. Cecil, 17 Sept. 1931, Churchill Coll., Noel Baker papers, NBKR 3/62.
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82 Beatrice Webb diary, 15 and 20 Sept. 1931, B.L.P.E.S., Passfield papers.
83 This was the view of Beatrice Webb: ibid. 2 Sept. 1931; doubt is cast on it by the letters from Labour M.P.s to MacDonald, P.R.O., MacDonald papers, 30/69/1315.
84 Manchester Guardian, 18 and 19 Sept. 1931; Seely to Lord Reading, 18 Sept. 1931, India Office Library, Reading papers, MS Eur. F. 118/131.
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87 Rosenberg to MacDonald, 22 Sept 1931, reporting Dunnico, 21 Sept., P.R.O., MacDonald papers, 30/69/1314.
88 Ibid. See also Daily Telegraph, 23 Sept. 1931.
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90 Rosenberg to MacDonald, 23 Sept. 1931, P.R.O., MacDonald papers, 30/69/1314.
91 Mews Chronicle, 25 Sept. 1931.
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106 Ibid. 23 Oct. 1931; Reynold's Illustrated News, 25 Oct. 1931.
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