31 Facts About Philip Snowden

Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden, PC was a British politician.

Philip Snowden was the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position he held in 1924 and again between 1929 and 1931.

Philip Snowden broke with Labour policy in 1931, and was expelled from the party and excoriated as a turncoat, as the party was overwhelmingly crushed that year by the National Government coalition that Snowden supported.

Philip Snowden later wrote in his autobiography: "I was brought up in this Radical atmosphere, and it was then that I imbibed the political and social principles which I have held fundamentally ever since".

Philip Snowden moved on to other posts around Scotland and then to Devon.

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Philip Snowden learned to walk again with the aid of sticks within two years.

Philip Snowden joined the Liberal Party, and followed his parents in becoming a Methodist and a teetotaller.

Philip Snowden eventually joined the executive committee of the Keighley ILP in 1899, and went on to chair the ILP from 1903 to 1906.

Philip Snowden became a prominent speaker for the party, and wrote a popular Christian socialist pamphlet with Keir Hardie in 1903, entitled The Christ that is to Be.

Philip Snowden condemned as "bloodsuckers and parasites" local textile company executives.

Philip Snowden married Ethel Annakin, a campaigner for women's suffrage, in 1905.

Philip Snowden supported his wife's ideals, and he became a noted speaker at suffragist meetings and other public meetings.

Philip Snowden unsuccessfully contested the Wakefield constituency in West Yorkshire in a by-election in March 1902, where he received 40 percent of the votes.

Philip Snowden continued his writing and lectures, and now was advocating more radical measures than the ruling Liberal government was implementing.

Philip Snowden even devised his own "Socialist budget" to rival David Lloyd George's 1909 "People's Budget".

Philip Snowden was in Australia on a worldwide lecture tour when the Britain entered World War I in August 1914; he did not return to Britain until February 1915.

Philip Snowden was not a pacifist; however, he did not support recruiting for the armed forces, and he campaigned against conscription.

Philip Snowden's stance was unpopular with the public and he lost his seat in the 1918 general election.

Philip Snowden therefore cut taxes and tariffs in order balance the national budget, and continued to commit the government to reentering the gold standard by 1925.

Philip Snowden claimed that because of the lowering of duties on foodstuffs consumed by the working class, the budget went "far to realize the cherished radical idea of a free breakfast table".

Philip Snowden profoundly believed in the morality of the balanced budget, with rigorous economy and not a penny wasted.

Philip Snowden grasped how serious unemployment was becoming, but differed with the rising belief in deficit spending as a way to combat it.

Philip Snowden was opposed to the new Keynesian economic ideas which provided a rationale for deficit spending, and criticized their expression in the Liberals' manifesto for the 1929 election, titled We can Conquer Unemployment.

Philip Snowden was again appointed Chancellor after Labour formed a government in 1929, after emerging as the largest party in the general election.

Philip Snowden was the principal opponent to any radical economic policy to tackle the Great Depression, and blocked proposals to introduce protectionist tariffs.

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The government eventually collapsed over arguments about a budget deficit when Philip Snowden accepted the Committee on National Expenditure's recommendations for budget cuts while a significant minority of ministers led by Arthur Henderson, the National Executive Committee, and the General Council of the Trades Union Congress refused to enact cuts in unemployment benefits.

Philip Snowden retained the position of Chancellor during the National Government of 1931.

Philip Snowden decided not to stand for parliament in the election of November 1931.

Philip Snowden subsequently wrote his Autobiography in which he strongly attacked MacDonald.

Philip Snowden claimed that he was returning to long-held economic views, but that these had been "temporarily inadvisable" during the crisis of 1931, when "national necessity" demanded cutting public expenditure.

Lord Philip Snowden died of a heart attack at his home, Eden Lodge, Tilford, Surrey, on 15 May 1937, aged 72.