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King George V and the Red Flag


John Simkin

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In the 1923 General Election, the Labour Party won 191 seats. Although the Conservative Party had 258 seats, Herbert Asquith announced that the Liberal Party would not keep the Tories in office. If a Labour Government were ever to be tried in Britain, he declared, "it could hardly be tried under safer conditions". On 22nd January, 1924 Stanley Baldwin resigned. At midday, Ramsay MacDonald went to Buckingham Palace to be appointed prime minister. He later recalled how George V complained about the singing of the Red Flag and the La Marseilles, at the Labour Party meeting in the Albert Hall a few days before. MacDonald apologized but claimed that there would have been a riot if he had tried to stop it. Ramsay MacDonald agreed to head a minority government, and therefore became the first member of the party to become Prime Minister.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRmacdonald.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Plabour.htm

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Ramsay MacDonald received a salary as prime minister of £5,000 a year. He received no entertainment allowance and had to pay out of own pocket for such items of household equipment as linen and china. To save coal, the family ate their meals not in their private quarters but in the official banqueting-rooms which were centrally heated at the Government's expense. He was also told that he had to wear a special uniform of black evening dress and knee breeches when he appeared before the king. The cost of this was £30 from Moss Brothers. He was told that if any of his cabinet ministers refused to wear this uniform they would not be allowed to attend official functions.

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