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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2009
Success at Locarno massively enhanced Chamberlain's authority in the management of foreign affairs to the extent that it appeared he would remain unshakeably in control for the duration of Baldwin's second administration. Yet perhaps the greatest tragedy of this period in Chamberlain's career was that his most glorious triumph should have come near the beginning of his term in office rather than as a natural culmination and fitting climax at its end. Although Chamberlain had always acknowledged that Locarno was but a beginning and ‘there are still difficulties to be faced and still a long road to travel’. critics have argued that after the plaudits and glories of Locarno Chamberlain demonstrated too little appetite for the wider issues of collective security and arms limitation. Under the spell of his personal triumph perhaps he too easily allowed a note of complacency to creep into the conduct of foreign affairs. Apparently not sure what to do next, he is thus often depicted as ‘a spent force after his efforts at Locarno … satisfied with his semi-detached relationship with Europe, qualified only by a tendency to lean towards France and to grumble over German ingratitude and demands for further revision of the Versailles treaty’. Yet, while some of this criticism may be valid, it also needs to be seen in its proper context. Certainly, as Chamberlain later described it himself, Britain came to occupy a ‘semi-detached position’ in relation to Europe after Locarno. Yet even before it, he had always contended that the security of the eastern European states was not only a problem for the future, but also one that it was not for Britain to solve. While his apparent indifference to events east of the Rhine may have been demoralising in central Europe, therefore, British reluctance to take a lead in extending the Locarno system outside the sphere of vital national interest was the almost inevitable corollary of Chamberlain's policy motivation for pursuing a Rhineland Pact in the first place. The ‘spirit of Locarno’ was not to be a model for future British action but rather a beacon to guide others in assuming the initiative elsewhere.
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63 Chamberlain's stiff note warning the Russians to mend their ways or risk a rupture in relations was delivered on 23 February. CP25(27) CAB 24/184.
64 Henry Herbert Stevens (1873–1973) Canadian accountant, broker and politician. Conservative MP 1911–34 and then for Reconstruction Party 1934–40. Minister of Customs & Excise 1926; Minister of Trade & Commerce 1921 and 1930–31. First leader of Reconstruction Party 1934–38.
65 Vittorio Scialoja (1856–1933). Italian lawyer and politician. Senator 1904; Minister of Justice 1909–10; Foreign Minister 1919–20; delegate at Peace Conference 1919 and to League of Nations 1921–32.
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67 Viscount Kikujiro Ishii (1866–?) Japanese diplomat. Attache, Paris 1890–96; Consul in Korea 1896–1900; Ambassador to France 1912–15, 1920–27; Foreign Minister 1915–16. Negotiated Lansing-Ishii agreement, November 1917 recognising that Japan had a special interest in China. President of the Council and Assembly of League of Nations. 1923, 1926. Retired 1927. Created Viscount 1916.
68 Frank Billings Kellogg (1856–1937). US Senator 1917–23; US Ambassador in London 1924–25; US Secretary of State 1925–29. Awarded Nobel Peace Prize 1929 for his part in the Briand-Kellogg Pact 1928.
69 (Borlase Edward) Wyndham Childs (1876–1946) Entered Army 1900; War Office 1910–14; Ass. Adjutant-Gen GHQ France 1914–16 and then War Office 1916; Director, Personal Services War Office 1916–19; Ass. Commissioner Metropolitan Police and head of Special Branch from 1921–28. Knighted 1919.
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72 Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby (1871–1946). Liberal MP for Stirling Burghs 1908–18; Labour MP Sheffield Brightside 1922–30. Private Secretary to Prime Minister 1905–8; Under-Sec Foreign Office 1924; Under-Sec Dominions 1929; Parliamentary Secretary Transport 1929–31; Chancellor Duchy of Lancaster 1931; Labour Leader in the Lords 1931–35. A founder of Union of Democratic Control. Created Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede 1930.
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76 Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneia (1870–1930). Spanish dictator from military coup in 1923 until 1930 when retired to Paris. Spain rejoined the League in 1928.
77 Viscount Hailsham had succeeded Cave as Lord Chancellor on 28 March 1928.
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