Arthur Greenwood

The Right Honourable Arthur Greenwood CH, PC
Paymaster General
In office 9 July 1946 – 5 March 1947
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Frederick Lindemann
Succeeded by	Hilary Marquand
Lord Privy Seal
In office 27 July 1945 – 17 April 1947
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Max Aitken
Succeeded by	Philip Inman
Minister without Portfolio
In office 17 April 1947 – 29 September 1947
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	A. V. Alexander
Succeeded by	Geoffrey FitzClarence
In office 11 May 1940 – 22 February 1942
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill
Preceded by	Maurice Hankey
Succeeded by	William Jowitt
Leader of the Opposition
In office February 1942 – 23 May 1945
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill
Preceded by	Frederick Pethick-Lawrence
Succeeded by	Clement Attlee
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
In office 26 November 1935 – 25 May 1945
Leader	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Clement Attlee
Succeeded by	Herbert Morrison
Minister of Health
In office 7 June 1929 – 24 August 1931
Prime Minister	Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	Neville Chamberlain
Succeeded by	Neville Chamberlain
Member of Parliament for Wakefield
In office 21 April 1932 – 9 June 1954
Preceded by	George Brown Hillman
Succeeded by	Arthur Creech Jones
Member of Parliament for Nelson and Colne
In office 15 November 1922 – 27 October 1931
Preceded by	Robinson Graham
Succeeded by	Linton Thorpe
Personal details
Born	8 February 1880
Died	9 June 1954
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour

Arthur Greenwood, CH, PC (8 February 1880 – 9 June 1954) was a British politician. A prominent member of the Labour Party from the 1920s until the late 1940s, Greenwood rose to prominence within the party as secretary of its research department from 1920 and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health in the short-lived Labour government of 1924. In 1940, he was instrumental in resolving that Britain would continue fighting Nazi Germany in World War II. He was also noted for problems with alcoholism.^[1]

Greenwood was born in Hunslet, Leeds, the son of a painter and decorator. He was educated at the Yorkshire College (which later became the University of Leeds), where he took a B.Sc.

Greenwood was first elected to the House of Commons at the 1922 general election for the constituency of Nelson and Colne in Lancashire. He held the seat until being defeated at the 1931 election, but returned to Parliament the following year, winning a by-election in the Yorkshire constituency of Wakefield. Greenwood continued to represent Wakefield until his death in 1954.

In 1929, Greenwood was appointed Minister of Health and sworn into the Privy Council, a position he held until the collapse of the Labour government in August 1931. During his time at the Ministry of Health, Greenwood raised widows' pensions and enacted large-scale slum clearance.

Greenwood became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under Clement Attlee. Arguably his most famous moment came on 2 September 1939 when, acting for an absent Attlee, he was called to respond to Neville Chamberlain's ambivalent speech on whether Britain would aid Poland. Preparing to respond, he was interrupted by an angry Conservative backbencher, Leo Amery, who exclaimed "Speak for England, Arthur!"^[2]

A flustered Greenwood proceeded to denounce Chamberlain's remarks, to the applause of his colleagues. When the wartime coalition government was formed, Winston Churchill appointed him to the War Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio in 1940. He was generally seen as ineffectual, but in May 1940 he emerged as Churchill's strongest and most vocal supporter in the lengthy War Cabinet debates on whether to accept or reject a peace offer from Germany.^[3] Without the vote in favour of fighting on by Greenwood and Clement Attlee, Churchill would not have had the slim majority he needed to do so.^[4]

After that his position declined and he resigned in 1943. The same year, he was elected as Treasurer of the Labour Party, beating Herbert Morrison in a close contest.^[5]

Until the end of World War II, Greenwood also performed the function of Leader of the Opposition, though he did not receive the salary.

During the Attlee government, he served successively as Lord Privy Seal and Paymaster-General.

Greenwood was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 14 June 1954. His ashes and memorial lie in Bay 17 of the East Boundary Wall.^[6]

Family

Greenwood's son Anthony Greenwood (later Lord Greenwood) (1911–1982) was an MP from 1946 until 1970, first for Heywood and Radcliffe and later for Rossendale, and a member of Harold Wilson's governments.

References

1. Marr, Andrew: A History of Modern Britain (2009 paperback), page xvi
2. Olson, Lynne. Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill To Power and Helped Save England (Toronto, Anchor Canada, 2008)
3. Jenkins, Roy, Churchill: A Biography (London, Macmillan, 2001), page 601
4. Marr, Andrew: A History of Modern Britain (2009 paperback), page xvii
5. "Greenwood, Arthur", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
6. Golders Green Crematorium guide notes

External links

• Works by Arthur Greenwood at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Arthur Greenwood at Internet Archive
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Arthur Greenwood