21 Facts About Leslie Hore-Belisha

Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha, PC was a British Liberal, then National Liberal Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister.

Leslie Hore-Belisha was a brilliant speaker, a warm and engaging personality, a go-getter and a persistent driver, a master of the unconventional or indirect approach, a patriot and a man of moral and physical courage, not a great intellect but an original with a flair for imaginative gestures and for public relations.

Leslie Hore-Belisha was extremely self-centred and had a fine conceit of himself.

Leslie Hore-Belisha's name is still widely associated in the UK with the introduction of flashing amber "Belisha beacons" at pedestrian crossings while he was Minister for Transport.

Leslie Hore-Belisha was the only son of the Jewish family of Jacob Isaac Belisha and his wife, Elizabeth Miriam Miers.

Leslie Hore-Belisha's father died when he was less than one year old.

Leslie Hore-Belisha continued his studies in Paris and Heidelberg, before attending St John's College, Oxford, where he was President of the Oxford Union Society.

At the 1922 general election, Leslie Hore-Belisha was an unsuccessful candidate for the Liberal Party in the Plymouth Devonport constituency.

Leslie Hore-Belisha generally allied himself with right-wing Liberals critical of their party's support for the Labour minority governments, joining with Sir John Simon in becoming a Liberal National upon the formation of the National Government in 1931.

Leslie Hore-Belisha remained in government when the official Liberals withdrew in September 1932 over the issue of free trade, and was promoted to Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Leslie Hore-Belisha showed considerable intelligence and drive in government, although his intense energy tended to alienate traditionalist elements who resented his status as an "outsider".

Leslie Hore-Belisha was appointed Minister of Transport in 1934 coming to public prominence at a time when motoring was becoming available to the masses.

Leslie Hore-Belisha became involved in a public-relations exercise to demonstrate how to use the new "uncontrolled crossings".

Leslie Hore-Belisha rewrote the Highway Code and was responsible for the introduction of two innovations that led to a dramatic drop in the number of road accidents: the driving test and the Belisha beacon, named after him by the public.

Unhappy with the Army Council's opposition to his policies, Leslie Hore-Belisha sacked Field Marshal Cyril Deverell, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, along with the Adjutant General and Master-General of the Ordnance in December 1937.

Leslie Hore-Belisha had been in an increasingly untenable position due to his disputes with the Army high command and the King and hostility from sympathisers within the public of the British Union of Fascists after Oswald Mosley claimed him to be a "Jewish warmonger".

Leslie Hore-Belisha was unpopular amongst his fellow ministers, with meetings of the War Cabinet said to be regularly tense and loud.

Leslie Hore-Belisha attempted to rebuild his career under the wartime premiership of Winston Churchill, but his re-appointment was blocked by a combination of his wounded intransigence and continued Conservative prejudice.

Leslie Hore-Belisha resigned from the National Liberals in 1942, sitting as a "National Independent" MP.

At the 1945 general election, Leslie Hore-Belisha, still standing as a National Independent, was defeated in Devonport by the Labour candidate, Michael Foot.

Leslie Hore-Belisha fought unsuccessfully in the Coventry South constituency at the 1950 general election.