Arthur Neville Chamberlain was a British politician born on March 18, 1869, and died on November 9, 1940. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and led the Conservative Party from May 1937 to October 1940. He is most known for his foreign policy of appeasement, which included signing the Munich Agreement on September 30, 1938. This agreement allowed Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, to take control of the Sudetenland, a region in Czechoslovakia with many German-speaking people. After Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, marking the start of World War II, Chamberlain declared war on Germany two days later. He led the United Kingdom for the first eight months of the war until he resigned as Prime Minister on May 10, 1940.

Before becoming a politician, Chamberlain worked in business and local government. He also briefly served as Director of National Service from 1916 to 1917. He followed his father, Joseph Chamberlain, and his half-brother, Austen Chamberlain, by becoming a Member of Parliament in the 1918 general election for the Birmingham Ladywood division at age 49. He refused a junior ministerial role and remained a non-official member of Parliament until 1922. He was promoted quickly in 1923 to Minister of Health and then Chancellor of the Exchequer. After a short Labour-led government, he returned as Minister of Health and introduced several reforms from 1924 to 1929. In 1931, he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in the National Government.

Chamberlain became Prime Minister on May 28, 1937, after Stanley Baldwin. His time as Prime Minister focused on how to respond to Germany’s growing aggression. His actions at Munich were popular with many British people at the time. He promised to protect Poland’s independence if it was attacked, which led Britain to declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland. This began the "Phoney War," but Britain did not provide much help to Poland. The failure to stop Germany’s invasion of Norway led to the Norway Debate in May 1940. Chamberlain’s leadership during the war was criticized by members of all political parties, and his government’s support weakened. He resigned as Prime Minister because the Labour and Liberal parties would not work with him. Although he remained leader of the Conservative Party, he was replaced by Winston Churchill. Until his health worsened and he resigned on September 22, 1940, Chamberlain served as Lord President of the Council, a key role in the government. His support for Churchill was important during a crisis in May 1940. Chamberlain died at age 71 on November 9, 1940, from cancer.

Historians have different opinions about Chamberlain. Some criticize him for the Munich Agreement and for not preparing Britain for war, as shown in books like Guilty Men, published in 1940. Others, including Churchill in The Gathering Storm, also criticized him. Later historians, using government documents released after 30 years, argued that going to war with Germany in 1938 might have been harmful because Britain was not ready. Despite this, Chamberlain is still ranked poorly among British Prime Ministers.

Early life and political career (1869–1918)

Arthur Neville Chamberlain was born on March 18, 1869, in a house named Southbourne in the Edgbaston district of Birmingham. He was the only son from his father’s second marriage. His father, Joseph Chamberlain, later became the mayor of Birmingham and a Cabinet minister. His mother, Florence Kenrick, was a cousin of William Kenrick, a member of Parliament. She died when Neville was very young. Joseph Chamberlain had another son, Austen Chamberlain, from his first marriage. The Chamberlain family were Unitarians, but Joseph Chamberlain stopped believing in religion by the time Neville was six years old. He never required his children to follow religious practices. Neville did not enjoy attending religious services and had no interest in organized religion. He described himself as a Unitarian with no specific faith and also called himself a "reverent agnostic."

Neville was educated at home by his older sister, Beatrice Chamberlain, and later attended Rugby School. Joseph Chamberlain then sent Neville to Mason College, now known as the University of Birmingham. Neville had little interest in his studies there, and in 1889, his father arranged for him to work as an apprentice at a firm of accountants. Within six months, he became a salaried employee. To help restore the family’s financial situation, Joseph Chamberlain sent Neville to start a sisal plantation on Andros Island in the Bahamas. Neville spent six years there, but the plantation failed, and Joseph Chamberlain lost £50,000 (equivalent to £5,684,000 in 2025).

After returning to England, Neville entered business by purchasing (with family help) Hoskins & Company, a manufacturer of metal ship berths. He served as managing director of Hoskins for 17 years, during which the company grew successfully. He also participated in community work in Birmingham. In 1906, as Governor of Birmingham General Hospital, and with no more than fifteen other important people, Chamberlain became a founding member of the national United Hospitals Committee of the British Medical Association.

At age 40, Chamberlain expected to remain unmarried, but in 1910, he fell in love with Anne Cole, a relative through marriage. They married the next year. They met through his aunt, Lilian, the Canadian-born widow of Joseph Chamberlain’s brother, Herbert, who had married Anne Cole’s uncle, Alfred Clayton Cole, a director of the Bank of England. Anne supported Chamberlain’s involvement in local politics and remained his close companion, helper, and trusted partner. She shared his interests in housing and other political and social activities after he was elected as an MP. The couple had one son and one daughter.

Chamberlain showed little interest in politics early in life, even though his father and half-brother were in Parliament. During the "Khaki election" of 1900, he gave speeches supporting Joseph Chamberlain’s Liberal Unionists. The Liberal Unionists worked with the Conservatives and later merged to form the "Unionist Party," which became the "Conservative and Unionist Party" in 1925. In 1911, Neville Chamberlain successfully ran for the Unionist Party as a candidate for Birmingham City Council, representing the All Saints’ Ward, which was within his father’s parliamentary district.

Chamberlain was made chairman of the Town Planning Committee. Under his leadership, Birmingham adopted one of the first town planning schemes in Britain. The start of World War I in 1914 delayed the implementation of his plans. In 1915, Chamberlain became Lord Mayor of Birmingham. Along with his father, Joseph, five of his uncles had also held the position of Lord Mayor of Birmingham. They were Joseph’s brother Richard Chamberlain, William and George Kenrick, Charles Beale (who had been Lord Mayor four times), and Thomas Martineau. As Lord Mayor during wartime, Chamberlain had a heavy workload and required his council members and officials to work just as hard. He reduced the Lord Mayor’s expense allowance and limited the number of civic events expected of the officeholder. In 1915, Chamberlain was appointed to the Central Control Board on liquor traffic.

In December 1916, Prime Minister David Lloyd George offered Chamberlain the position of Director of National Service, responsible for coordinating conscription and ensuring that essential war industries had enough workers. His time in this role was marked by conflict with Lloyd George. In August 1917, after receiving little support from the Prime Minister, Chamberlain resigned. From then on, their relationship was filled with mutual dislike.

Chamberlain decided to run for the House of Commons and was chosen as the Unionist candidate for Birmingham Ladywood. After the war ended, a general election was held soon after. The campaign in this area was notable because his Liberal Party opponent was Margery Corbett Ashby, one of the seventeen women who ran for Parliament in the first election where women were eligible to vote. Chamberlain responded by being one of the few male candidates to specifically target women voters. He used his wife to distribute a special leaflet titled "A Word to the Ladies" and held two afternoon meetings for women. Chamberlain was elected with nearly 70% of the vote and a majority of 6,833. He was 49 years old, which was the oldest age at which any future prime minister had first been elected to the Commons.

MP and minister (1919–1931)

Chamberlain focused heavily on his work in Parliament, often feeling unhappy when he could not attend debates. He spent a lot of time working on committees. He was the chairman of the National Unhealthy Areas Committee from 1919 to 1921 and visited poor areas in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and Cardiff. Because of this, in March 1920, Bonar Law offered Chamberlain a junior position at the Ministry of Health, on behalf of the Prime Minister. However, Chamberlain refused to work under Lloyd George and did not receive any other positions during Lloyd George’s time as Prime Minister. When Bonar Law resigned as party leader, Austen Chamberlain became the head of the Unionists in Parliament. Unionist leaders planned to work with the Lloyd George National Liberals during the 1922 election, but on October 19, Unionist members of Parliament met and decided to run as a single party. Lloyd George and Austen Chamberlain both resigned, and Bonar Law was asked to return from retirement to lead the Unionists as Prime Minister.

Many high-ranking Unionists refused to work under Bonar Law, which helped Chamberlain rise quickly. Over ten months, he moved from a backbencher to the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Bonar Law first appointed Chamberlain as Postmaster General and made him a member of the Privy Council. When Arthur Griffith-Boscawen, the Minister of Health, lost his seat in the 1922 election and was defeated in a by-election in March 1923 by James Chuter Ede, who later became the Home Secretary, Bonar Law offered the position to Chamberlain. Two months later, Bonar Law was diagnosed with serious, life-threatening throat cancer. He immediately resigned and was replaced by Stanley Baldwin, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In August 1923, Baldwin promoted Chamberlain to the role of Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Chamberlain held the position for only five months before the Conservatives lost the 1923 general election. Ramsay MacDonald became the first Labour Prime Minister, but his government did not last long, leading to another election. Chamberlain narrowly won his seat in Birmingham Ladywood by only 77 votes, defeating Oswald Mosley, who later led the British Union of Fascists. Believing he might lose again in Birmingham Ladywood, Chamberlain moved to run in Birmingham Edgbaston, the area where he was born, which was a safer choice. He held this seat for the rest of his life. The Unionists won the election, but Chamberlain chose not to return as Chancellor, preferring his earlier role as Minister of Health.

Within two weeks of becoming Minister of Health, Chamberlain shared a list of 25 laws he wanted to pass with the Cabinet. By the time he left office in 1929, 21 of these laws had become law. Chamberlain aimed to end the elected Poor Law Boards of Guardians, which managed relief programs and collected taxes in some areas. Many of these boards were controlled by Labour members and had ignored government orders by giving relief money to unemployed people who were not disabled. In 1929, Chamberlain introduced the Local Government Act 1929 to completely remove the Poor Law boards. He spoke for two and a half hours in Parliament about the bill, and when he finished, members of all political parties applauded him. The bill became law.

Although Chamberlain tried to be understanding during the 1926 General Strike, he generally had difficult relationships with the Labour Party. Future Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee said Chamberlain "always treated us like dirt," and in April 1927, Chamberlain wrote, "More and more do I feel an utter contempt for their lamentable stupidity." His poor relations with the Labour Party later contributed to his downfall as Prime Minister.

Chancellor of the Exchequer (1931–1937)

In 1929, Baldwin called a general election on 30 May, which resulted in a hung parliament where Labour held the most seats. Baldwin and his government resigned, and Labour, led by MacDonald, returned to power. In 1931, the MacDonald government faced a crisis when the May Report showed the budget was unbalanced, with a predicted shortfall of £120 million. The Labour government resigned on 24 August, and MacDonald formed a National Government supported by most Conservative members of Parliament. Chamberlain returned to the Ministry of Health.

After the 1931 general election, in which supporters of the National Government (mostly Conservatives) won a large majority, MacDonald appointed Chamberlain as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Chamberlain proposed a 10% tax on foreign goods and lower or no taxes on goods from the colonies and Dominions. Joseph Chamberlain had previously supported a similar policy called "Imperial Preference." Neville Chamberlain introduced his bill to the House of Commons on 4 February 1932 and mentioned the importance of continuing his father's proposal. At the end of his speech, Austen Chamberlain, his brother, walked from the backbenches and shook his hand. The Import Duties Act 1932 passed Parliament with strong support.

Chamberlain presented his first budget in April 1932. He continued the strict budget cuts agreed upon when the National Government was formed. Interest on war debt was a major expense. Chamberlain reduced the annual interest rate on most of Britain's war debt from 5% to 3.5%. Between 1932 and 1938, Chamberlain cut the percentage of the budget used for war debt interest in half.

Chamberlain hoped to negotiate the cancellation of Britain's war debt owed to the United States. In June 1933, Britain hosted the World Monetary and Economic Conference, but the effort failed because U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt refused to consider debt cancellation. By 1934, Chamberlain achieved a budget surplus and reversed many cuts to unemployment benefits and civil servant salaries. He told Parliament, "We have now finished the story of Bleak House and are sitting down this afternoon to enjoy the first chapter of Great Expectations."

The Unemployed Assistance Board (UAB), created by the Unemployment Act 1934, was largely Chamberlain's idea. He wanted to remove unemployment assistance from political debates and focused on improving the lives of unemployed people. He believed it was important to provide "some interest in life" for those unlikely to find work, leading the UAB to focus on the "welfare" of the unemployed, not just their basic needs.

Defence spending had been reduced in Chamberlain's early budgets. By 1935, with Germany's military growth under Hitler, Chamberlain supported rearmament. He emphasized strengthening the Royal Air Force, recognizing that the English Channel, Britain's historical protection, was not a barrier to air attacks.

In 1935, MacDonald stepped down as prime minister, and Baldwin became prime minister for the third time. In the 1935 general election, the Conservative-led National Government lost 90 seats from its 1931 majority but still held a large majority of 255 seats. During the election, Labour leader Arthur Greenwood criticized Chamberlain for spending on rearmament, calling it "scaremongering" and inappropriate for a leader of Chamberlain's position.

Chamberlain likely played a key role in the 1936 abdication crisis. He wrote in his diary that Wallis Simpson, Edward VIII's intended wife, was "an entirely unscrupulous woman" who was "exploiting" the king. He agreed with Baldwin that the king should abdicate if he married Simpson. On 6 December, Chamberlain and Baldwin urged the king to decide before Christmas, as they believed the uncertainty was affecting Christmas sales. The king abdicated on 10 December, four days after the meeting.

After the abdication, Baldwin announced he would remain as prime minister until shortly after King George VI and Queen Elizabeth's coronation. On 28 May, two weeks after the coronation, Baldwin resigned and advised the king to appoint Chamberlain as prime minister. Austen Chamberlain, Neville's brother, died two months earlier and did not live to see his brother's appointment.

Premiership (1937–1940)

When Chamberlain became prime minister, he considered calling a general election. However, since three and a half years remained in the current Parliament’s term, he decided to wait. At 68 years old, he was the second-oldest person in the 20th century (after Henry Campbell-Bannerman) to become prime minister for the first time. Many believed he would serve as a temporary leader until the next election, after which he would step down in favor of a younger leader, possibly Anthony Eden, the Foreign Secretary. From the beginning of his leadership, rumors spread about potential successors trying to gain influence.

Chamberlain had criticized the way Baldwin and MacDonald handled Cabinet appointments and changes. Although he worked closely with Walter Runciman, the President of the Board of Trade, on tariff issues, he removed Runciman from his position and offered him a less important role, which Runciman refused. Chamberlain believed Runciman, a member of the Liberal National Party, was lazy. Soon after taking office, Chamberlain asked his ministers to prepare two-year policy plans. These plans were meant to help coordinate the passage of laws through Parliament, which would end in November 1940.

At the time of his appointment, the public knew little about Chamberlain’s personality, though he had made annual budget speeches for six years. These speeches were described as relaxed and modern, showing his ability to speak clearly to the public. Chamberlain had few close friends in Parliament. An attempt by his parliamentary private secretary, Lord Dunglass (later Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home), to bring him to the Commons Smoking Room for socializing ended in awkward silence. To address these challenges, Chamberlain created the most advanced press management system used by a prime minister at that time. Officials at Number 10, led by his chief press officer George Steward, worked to convince the press that they were partners in sharing government information and should support the government’s position.

Chamberlain viewed his rise to the premiership as the final achievement in his career as a domestic reformer. He did not realize he would be remembered for his foreign policy decisions. One reason he focused on European issues was his hope to concentrate on domestic matters.

Soon after becoming prime minister, Chamberlain helped pass the Factories Act 1937, which aimed to improve working conditions in factories and limited the working hours of women and children. In 1938, Parliament passed the Coal Act 1938, allowing the nationalization of coal deposits. Another major law from that year was the Holidays with Pay Act 1938, which encouraged employers to give workers a week of paid leave, leading to the growth of holiday camps and other leisure accommodations for working people.

The Housing Act 1938 provided subsidies to help clear slums and maintain rent control. However, Chamberlain’s plans for local government reform were delayed due to the outbreak of war in 1939. Similarly, the plan to raise the school-leaving age to 15, scheduled for September 1, 1939, was not implemented.

Relations between the United Kingdom and the Irish Free State had been tense since Éamon de Valera became President of the Executive Council in 1932. The Anglo-Irish Trade War, caused by Ireland withholding money it had agreed to pay the UK, led to economic losses for both nations. De Valera’s government also sought to end remaining ties between Ireland and the UK, such as ending the King’s role as Ireland’s head of state. As chancellor, Chamberlain had opposed giving in to Irish demands, but as prime minister, he sought a settlement, believing the strained relationship was harming relations with other Dominions.

Talks between the UK and Ireland had been paused under Baldwin in 1936 but resumed in November 1937. De Valera aimed to change Ireland’s constitutional status and overturn parts of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, including the issue of partition and full control of the Treaty Ports, which remained under British control. Britain wanted to keep the Treaty Ports, especially during wartime, and recover the money Ireland owed.

The Irish were difficult negotiators, and Chamberlain criticized one of de Valera’s offers as having “no advantages for the UK.” After talks stalled, Chamberlain made a final offer in March 1938, which accepted many Irish demands, though he believed he had only given up minor points. The agreements were signed on April 25, 1938. The issue of partition was not resolved, but Ireland agreed to pay £10 million to the UK. There was no provision for British access to the Treaty Ports during wartime, but Chamberlain accepted de Valera’s promise that Britain would have access if needed. Conservative member Winston Churchill criticized the agreements in Parliament, calling the Treaty Ports “sentinel towers of the Western Approaches.” When war began, de Valera denied Britain access to the ports under Irish neutrality. Churchill later criticized the treaties in The Gathering Storm, stating that Parliament had been misled. Chamberlain believed the Treaty Ports were unusable if Ireland was hostile and considered their loss worth the effort to maintain good relations with Ireland.

Chamberlain aimed to ease tensions with Germany and make the Nazi regime a partner in a stable Europe. He believed Germany could be satisfied by restoring some of its colonies. During the Rhineland crisis in March 1936, he suggested that the UK should consider restoring colonies if a broader settlement was possible.

Chamberlain’s efforts to achieve such a settlement were hindered by Germany’s reluctance to negotiate. Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath was supposed to visit Britain in July 1937 but canceled. Lord Halifax, the Lord President of the Council, visited Germany privately in November and met with Hitler and other officials. Both Chamberlain and British Ambassador Nevile Henderson called the visit a success. However, Foreign Office officials criticized the visit for making Britain seem too eager for talks, and Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden felt he had been ignored.

Chamberlain also bypassed Eden while he was on holiday by starting direct talks with Fascist Italy, which had invaded Ethiopia. At a Cabinet meeting on September 8, 1937, Chamberlain stated that reducing tensions with Italy would help calm Europe and weaken the Rome–Berlin alliance. He also established a private communication line with Italian leader Benito Mussolini through the Italian Ambassador, Count Dino Grandi.

In February 1938, Hitler began pressuring the Austrian government to accept Anschluss, or union with Germany.

Lord President of the Council

After leaving his position, Chamberlain did not create a list of honors for people who resigned. Since Chamberlain remained the leader of the Conservative Party and many members of Parliament still supported him, Churchill did not remove his supporters from government roles. Churchill wanted Chamberlain to return to the finance department, but Chamberlain refused, believing this might cause problems with the Labour Party. Instead, Chamberlain accepted the role of Lord President of the Council, which included a seat in the small five-member War Cabinet. When Chamberlain returned to the House of Commons on 13 May 1940, members of Parliament cheered and waved their papers, showing strong support for him. However, Churchill was not warmly welcomed by the House, and some of his famous speeches, like "We shall fight on the beaches," received only limited approval.

Chamberlain’s loss of power deeply affected him. He wrote, "Few men can have known such a reversal of fortune in so short a time." He especially missed Chequers, a home where he had been very happy, but after a final visit there on 19 June, he said he would move on and forget about it. As Lord President of the Council, Chamberlain took on many important duties related to domestic issues and led the War Cabinet during Churchill’s absences. A later leader of the Labour Party, Attlee, remembered Chamberlain as fair and hardworking, describing him as a good leader and a focused person. As chairman of the Lord President’s Committee, Chamberlain had a major role in managing the wartime economy.

In May 1940, Churchill suggested bringing Lloyd George into the government. Each time, Chamberlain said he would resign immediately if Lloyd George were appointed, due to their long-standing disagreements. Churchill did not appoint Lloyd George, but he raised the idea again in June. This time, Chamberlain agreed to Lloyd George’s appointment only if Lloyd George promised to end their feud. Lloyd George refused to join Churchill’s government.

Chamberlain worked to support Churchill by helping the Conservative Party accept him as leader. He collaborated with David Margesson, the Chief Whip, to address members’ concerns about Churchill. On 4 July, after the British attack on the French fleet, Churchill was greeted with loud cheers from Conservative MPs, organized by Chamberlain and Margesson. Churchill was deeply moved by the first applause he received from his own party since May. Churchill showed his appreciation by refusing to allow Labour and Liberal attempts to remove Chamberlain from government. When Chamberlain learned that Labour planned to criticize him in a secret session of Parliament, he told Churchill he would have to defend himself by attacking Labour. Churchill intervened with Labour and the press, and the criticism stopped, as Chamberlain noted, "like turning off a tap."

In July 1940, a book titled Guilty Men was published under the name "Cato," which was a pseudonym for three journalists. The book criticized the National Government, claiming it had failed to prepare for war and called for the removal of Chamberlain and other ministers. The book sold over 200,000 copies and went through 27 editions in its first few months, despite being excluded from some major bookshops. Historian David Dutton said the book greatly affected Chamberlain’s reputation among the public and scholars.

Chamberlain had always been in good health, except for occasional gout attacks. By July 1940, he was in constant pain and sought medical help. Later that month, he was hospitalized for surgery. Doctors discovered he had terminal bowel cancer but did not tell him, instead saying no further surgery was needed. Chamberlain returned to work in mid-August and resumed his duties on 9 September. However, renewed pain and the stress of London’s nighttime bombings forced him to leave London for the last time on 19 September, returning to Highfield Park in Heckfield. Chamberlain resigned from his position on 22 September 1940. Churchill was initially reluctant to accept the resignation but agreed when both men realized Chamberlain would not return to work. Churchill asked if Chamberlain would accept the Order of the Garter, a high honor in British society, which his brother had received. Chamberlain refused, saying he preferred to be known as "Mr. Chamberlain" like his father, without any title.

In his final months, Chamberlain was upset by the harsh and unsympathetic press coverage of his retirement. He believed the media showed no understanding of the personal tragedy behind his situation. The King and Queen visited him on 14 October, and he received many letters of support from friends and supporters. He wrote to John Simon, who had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Chamberlain’s government:

Death

Neville Chamberlain passed away from bowel cancer on November 9, 1940, at the age of 71. A funeral was held at Westminster Abbey five days later on November 14. Because of wartime security rules, the event’s details were not widely shared. John Colville, Chamberlain’s former private secretary, helped with the service. Winston Churchill and Lord Halifax carried the coffin. After the funeral, Chamberlain’s ashes were placed in the Abbey next to those of Bonar Law. Three days after Chamberlain’s death, Churchill spoke about him in the House of Commons:

Some people who supported Chamberlain thought Churchill’s speech was not a strong tribute. However, Churchill said privately, “What will I do without poor Neville? I was counting on him to manage the Home Front for me.” On November 12, 1940, other politicians honored Chamberlain in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. These included Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax (Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax), Labour Party leader Clement Attlee, and Liberal Party leader and Air Minister Archibald Sinclair. David Lloyd George, the only other former prime minister in the Commons, was expected to speak but did not attend. Chamberlain was very close to his family, and his cousins, Wilfred Byng Kenrick and Wilfrid Martineau, handled his will. Both men, like Chamberlain, had served as mayors of Birmingham.

Legacy and reputation

A few days before his death, Neville Chamberlain wrote,

Guilty Men was not the only book about World War II that harmed Chamberlain's reputation. We Were Not All Wrong, published in 1941, took a similar approach to Guilty Men, claiming that some Liberal and Labour members of Parliament, along with a few Conservatives, had opposed Chamberlain's policy of appeasement. The author, Liberal MP Geoffrey Mander, had voted against conscription in 1939. Another book, Why Not Trust the Tories (1944), written by "Gracchus" (later identified as future Labour minister Aneurin Bevan), criticized Conservatives for decisions made by Baldwin and Chamberlain. Although a few Conservatives, like MP Quintin Hogg in his 1945 book The Left Was Never Right, defended Chamberlain, by the end of the war, many people believed Chamberlain was responsible for serious mistakes in diplomacy and military decisions that nearly led to Britain's defeat.

Chamberlain's reputation suffered greatly from these attacks from the left. In 1948, with the publication of The Gathering Storm, the first book in Churchill's six-volume series, The Second World War, Chamberlain faced even stronger criticism from the right. Though Churchill said privately, "this is not history, this is my case," his books had a major influence. Churchill described Chamberlain as well-intentioned but weak, unaware of the danger posed by Hitler, and unaware that, in Churchill's view, Hitler could have been removed from power by a European alliance. Churchill claimed the delay between Munich and the start of war made Britain's position worse and criticized Chamberlain for decisions made before and during the war. After Churchill's books were published, few historians questioned his judgment.

Anne Chamberlain, the former prime minister's wife, said Churchill's work included not only mistakes that could be corrected but also major omissions and assumptions that were not supported by facts.

Many of Chamberlain's family letters and personal papers were given to Birmingham University Archives in 1974. During the war, the Chamberlain family asked historian Keith Feiling to write an official biography and gave him access to Chamberlain's private diaries and papers. While Feiling had the right to access official documents as the official biographer of a recently deceased person, he may not have known about a rule that limited access, and the Cabinet Secretary refused his requests.

Although Feiling wrote what historian David Dutton called in 2001 "the most impressive and persuasive single-volume biography" of Chamberlain (published in 1946), he could not undo the damage already done to Chamberlain's reputation.

In 1961, Conservative MP Iain Macleod wrote the first major biography of Chamberlain from a revisionist perspective. The same year, A. J. P. Taylor, in his book The Origins of the Second World War, argued that Chamberlain had prepared Britain adequately for defense (though a stronger defense would have required more resources) and described the Munich Agreement as "a triumph for the best and most enlightened parts of British life."

In 1967, the "thirty-year rule" allowed government papers from Chamberlain's time to be released over the next three years. These documents helped explain Chamberlain's decisions and supported the revisionist view of him. However, some books still strongly criticized Chamberlain, like Keith Middlemas's 1972 book Diplomacy of Illusion, which described Chamberlain as a skilled politician who failed to see Germany's plans. Released papers showed that Chamberlain had not ignored advice from the Foreign Office or his Cabinet, and that he had considered forming a European alliance but rejected it, believing it would increase the risk of war. Papers also revealed that Britain's allies, the Dominions, could not be relied on for help in a European war. A report by the Chiefs of Staff, stating Britain could not stop Germany from conquering Czechoslovakia, was made public at this time.

In the 1990s, a post-revisionist school of thought emerged, using these documents to support the original claims made in Guilty Men. Oxford historian R. A. C. Parker argued that Chamberlain could have formed a close alliance with France in 1938 and used the League of Nations to contain Germany. Parker claimed that Chamberlain and his colleagues chose appeasement instead of other policies, due to Chamberlain's strong personality and debating skills. Parker also suggested that if Churchill had been in a high position in the late 1930s, he might have built alliances to stop Hitler and possibly helped remove him from power.

Dutton notes that Chamberlain's reputation, whether positive or negative, will likely always depend on how people evaluate his decisions toward Germany.

Honours

• Member of the Royal Society (FRS) – 1938
• Oxford University – Doctor of Civil Law (DCL)
• University of Cambridge – Doctor of Laws (LLD)
• Birmingham University – Doctor of Laws (LLD)
• Bristol University – Doctor of Laws (LLD)
• Leeds University – Doctor of Laws (LLD)
• University of Reading – Doctor of Literature (DLitt)

• Honorary Freedom of the City of Birmingham
• Honorary Freedom of the City of London – awarded in 1940 but passed away before accepting it; the scroll was given to his wife in 1941

• 1939: Honorary Air Commodore of No. 916 (County of Warwick) Balloon Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force