Austen Chamberlain: Gentleman in Politics

Austen Chamberlain, wasn't he Neville's brother? Up until the 1930s the sentence would probably be reversed, and both were children of the dynamic and volatile Joseph Chamberlain, a self-made Birmingham millionaire-MP. Austen Chamberlain was one of the two British Tory leaders of the 20th Century who did not progress to become Prime Minister (in the 21st Century, so far, it has been much more common).The book makes the point that he was overshadowed mainly by his radical father, and was over-concerned to implement his father's legacy, in particular to tariff protection and Imperial Preference. His father had rebelled from the powerful Liberal party, formed a Liberal Unionist party which in the 1890s allied (uneasily) with the Conservatives. Austen was a most-conformist, dutiful type, both to his father and his society. He felt duty bound to follow the radical policies of his father, but never demonstrated much enthusiasm. This loyalty hurt his chances both with the Conservatives (who felt him too radical) and his father's followers (who felt him too conservative).Austen was party of the Anglo Irish Treaty negotiating team, which ended in outraging his Conservative colleagues, and he ended up being deposed as Conservative party leader in 1922, mainly because of his loyalty as part of the Coalition government in power at the time (he was loyal too long to the duplicitous Lloyd George, and to the outrageous Birkenhead).One of the amazing things about politics in this era is the political longevity of former party leaders - Balfour was still in contention for cabinet position 15 years after his resignation in 1905; similarly Asquith, similarly Chamberlain was promoted to Foreign Secretary in 1924. The Times said of his appointment - "[his shortcomings, that he is] aloof from his younger colleagues, rather wooden in his outlook on domestic problems, punctilious to the point of rigidity where there is any question of fulfilling even a suppose obligation ... may... be positive virtues in a Foreign Secretary". Indeed this was the most successful part of his career, resulting in the Treaty of Locarno in 1925, which brought some level of rapprochement between Germany and France, for the first time after the Versailles Treaty. In the era of the League of Nations, Locarno, though welcome was still in the nature of a private arrangement among a club of great powers. Indeed one criticism is that, while it guaranteed the Franco-German border, it was quite on borders to Germany's east and south - something which Hitler exploited.His condescending and slightly resentful attitude to his half-brother Neville is well drawn, as is his loyal, but curmudgeonly, attitude to the various Conservative party leaders is well documented. Churchill said that "Austen always plays the game, and always loses I was particularly surprised at the hints on money worries late in his life.The most memorable parts of the book for me were some quotes which demonstrates his judgment, he lamented that `Ireland was fatal influence in English politics', as good a summary as you are likely to get in a single sentence; and - having just read Dutton's biography of Sir John Simon, Chamberlain's summary of him would have saved me some time "He has no policy, is very pleased with himself and wholly unconscious of the effect he produces on others".

Useful section but too dependant on work already done by Douglas Goold

Austen Chamberlain by David Dutton is a very good biography detailing the life of a man who in life, as well as in death, was never able to escape the shadows of his relatives. It is well-written, informative and detailed. Moreover, it conveys a man who, even though he was both Chancellor and Foreign Secretary, never quite met the lofty expectations of his father, and and whose defining achievement - The Locarno Treaty - was ultimately a false dawn for Europe, and by the time of his death fatally undermined. Overall, a very good book

Balanced book on one of two 20th century Conservative leaders who failed to become British prime minister. He sided with Churchill believing that Britain should start to re-arm for the impending world conflict.