Bonar Law

British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century

by Andrew Taylor

Andrew Bonar Law was a Conservative politician and prime minister from 1922-1923. From an Ulster family, he was prominent in the opposition to Home Rule for Ireland. In 1922 he was the moving spirit in the stormy meeting of Conservative MPs that ended the coalition, created the 1922 Committee and reinstated him as leader. The Conservatives easily won the resulting election. Law became prime minister in October 1922 but resigned due to ill health the following May.

Genres: Politics

170 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Andrew Taylor is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. He has published widely on British politics.

Reviews

[Chris Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with others in this series of short political biographies I learned quite a bit in a short time from this book which I read a few years ago now. Bonar-Law was leader of the Conservative Party for many years and is credited with its modernisation leading to long periods in power over the following century. In doing so he addressed three issues - a growing post war realisation of the un-sustainability of the Empire as it was, the growing threat of the USSR and international communism, and the growing franchise and influence of the Labour, rather than the Liberal, Party as opposition to the Conservatives. He brought down the governments of Lloyd-George and Asquith and in coming to power himself was instrumental in the creation of the Conservative 1922 Committee of back bench MPs that has played a very prominent role in recent years in supporting or otherwise a variety of Conservative Prime Ministers. Bonar-Law was only Prime Minister for 209 days the shortest tenure ever. He was diagnosed with inoperable throat cancer about 6 months after becoming PM and died another 6 months later. His impact as Prime Minister was inevitably limited but he is thought to have had a major impact on the development of the Conservative Party in the 20th Century.
The book has plenty of detail on all this without being heavy going.

[Stephen Durrance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very many typos, missing words and the odd mistake. But a decent enough potted history of a relatively unknown British politician/PM.