A 1931 appeal by Baldwin for support for the National Government, arguing that the Labour Party (under Arthur Henderson) had disrupted the stability of the country.
Baldwin was, in effect, second in command of the National Government. However, he was better suited to film than the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, who always looked uncomfortable in the glare of the camera.
Baldwin, indeed, had had advice and encouragement from various film producers, and from John Reith, director-general of the BBC. This advice and his own naturalness in front of the camera served him effectively in the 1935 election, when he was returned as prime minister.
Read the transcript for the film below:
Baldwin:
Every voter must remember that the future destinies of the country and of the Empire rest upon his or her decision. The country is face to face with a grave crisis, and the simple issue is this: whether the electors at a time of grave national crisis, a time of national emergency, are going to entrust the government of the country to the party which brought us to the verge of ruin and then ran away because they had not the courage to face up to the crisis. Or are they going to put their trust in the leaders of the three parties who have joined together in order to carry through a great policy of national reconstruction and international reconciliation and set our country once more on the road to better times.
On the one side are Mr Henderson’s Socialists, who, by their extravagance, wrecked the financial stability of the country, and when faced with the responsibility of taking the necessary measures to save a crash in the value of the pound, which would have brought suffering and privation to all classes in the country, deserted their post through fear of the consequences and left it to the those who were prepared to put country before party to rescue the nation from the impending disaster.
On the other side stands the national government, led by the prime minister, Mr Macdonald, who had the courage to put country before party and refused to desert the ship in the hour of need. The national government ask for a free hand to carry out the steps that are necessary to restore our trade and to establish our credit on a firm and permanent footing. With a free hand, we have power to use tariffs as a means to restore the trade balance.
We have power to enter into trade agreements with the dominions in order that we may find new markets for our manufactures in the Empire.
We have power to take effective action to rescue agriculture from its present plight. I have no doubt as to the answer which the country will give. The return of a Socialist government today would bring down upon our country the very catastrophe which was so narrowly averted last August. The only way to avert that disaster and to set our country on its feet again is to return a national government consisting of men of all parties, resolutely determined to put the national interests first.
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