RESHUFFLE OF PORTFOLIOS

Southland Times, Issue 25307, 10 June 1935, Page 7

RESHUFFLE OF PORTFOLIOS

BRITISH CABINET

NATIONAL BODY MR BALDWIN AT HEAD NEW FOREIGN MINISTER SIR S. HOARE CHOSEN (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, June 7. Mr Ramsay MacDonald, in company with the King’s private secretary, Lord Wigram, drove from the Prime Minister’s official residence, No. 10, Downing Street, to Buckingham Palace and was immediately received in audience by the king to whom he tendered his resignation from the office of Prime Minister, which he has held continuously for six years. He remained with the King for about one hour, and shortly after the audience concluded Mr Stanley Baldwin was summoned to the Palace and accepted an invitation to take over for the third time the office of Prime Minister. Later it was officially announced that the King had approved of the following Cabinet appointments: Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury—Mr Stanley Baldwin. Lord President of the Council—Mr Ramsay MacDonald. Chancellor of the Exchequer—Mr Neville Chamberlain. Lord Chancellor—Viscount Hailsham. Secretary of State for Home Affairs and Deputy-Leader of the House of Commons —Sir John Simon. _ ' . Secretary for Foreign Affairs—Sir Samuel Hoare. Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords—The Marquess of Londonderry. Secretary for War—Viscount Halifax. Secretary for Dominion Affairs—Mr J. H. Thomas. _ . Secretary for Air —Sir Philip Cun-liffe-Lister. Secretary for India—The Marquess of Zetland. Secretary for Scotland —Sir Godfrey Collins. Secretary for the Colonies—Mr Malcolm MacDonald. President of the Board of Trade—Mr Walter Runciman. First Lord of the Admiralty—Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell. Minister without portfolio for the League of Nations —Mr Anthony Eden. Minister without portfolio—Lord Eustace Percy. Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries —Mr Walter Elliot.

President of the Board of Education —Mr Oliver Stanley. Minister of Health—Sir H. Kingsley Wood.

Minister for Labour—Mr Ernest Brown.

First Commissioner of Works—Mr William Ormsby-Gore. New Postmaster-General.

Major G. C. Tryon has been appointed Postmaster-General. This office does not carry Cabinet rank. The King has approved that the dignity of a baronet of the United Kingdom be conferred upon Sir E. Hilton Young, formerly Minister of Health. Other Ministers who have retired from Cabinet Office and are not included in the new Cabinet are Lord Sankey, who was Lord Chancellor, and Sir John Gilmour, who was Home Secretary. Former members of the Government who now receive Cabinet rank are Mr Malcolm MacDonald, son of the former Prime Minister and formerly Undersecretary for Dominion Affairs, Mr Anthony Eden, formerly Lord Privy Seal, and Mr Ernest Brown, Secretary of the Mines Department in the late Government.

New members of the Government with Cabinet rank are Lord Eustace Percy, son of the seventh Duke of Northumberland, who was a member of the Joint Select Committee on India, and has taken a prominent part in debates on the Government of India Bill, and the Marquess of Zetland, who was Governor of Bengal from 1917 to 1922 and was a member of the first Indian Round-Table Conference, and also a.member of the Joint Select'Committee. It will be seen that Mr MacDonald has taken over the office formerly held by Mr Stanley Baldwin. Mr MacDonald’s Message. Other former Cabinet Ministers who have been appointed to new offices are Viscount Hailsham, formerly Secretary for War; Sir John Simon, formerly Foreign Secretary; Sir Samuel Hoare, formerly Secretary for Air; Lord Halifax, formerly President of the Board of Education; Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, formerly Colonial Secretary; Mr Oliver Stanley, the former Labour Minister; Sir H. Kingsley Wood, formerly Post-master-General. Mr Neville Chamberlain, Mr J. H. Thomas, Sir Godfrey Collins, Mr Walter Runciman, Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell, Mr Walter Elliot, and Mr W. Ormsby-Gore hold the same portfolios in the new administration as in its predecessor. Mr MacDonald, in a message to the nation, explains that he has for some time been facing the fact that he would have to seek a respite from the heavy and continuous strain which the critical conditions of the last six years at home and abroad imposed on him as Prime Minister. He had been greatly concerned lest any change in the personnel should weaken the Government’s national character—a step which would speedily undo the policy which has led the country thus far through its difficulties anti given it confidence and the prospects which it now enjoys. A Cabinet united in the practical work of fulfilling the common national task, he adds, is still required if national progress is to be maintained and problems both domestic and foreign, surmounted. He hopes that the confidence and support which the country has given to the national combination of which he has been head will be renewed to the same combination under its new Prime Minister.