St. George’s and the Empire Crusade

Abstract

The St George’s division of Westminster does not, at first sight, appear a likely setting for one of the most eagerly awaited by–elections of the inter-war years. Sedate and very prosperous, the constituency included within its boundaries many of London’s most fashionable residential districts as well as Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace. Yet here, in March 1931 — watched by the inhabitants of Mayfair and Knightsbridge — was conducted a bitter and abusive election campaign which commentators of the time believed would have an enormous impact on the course of political events. On the outcome of this by-election hung the future of Baldwin, the future of Indian constitutional advance and the future of the Empire Crusade. Today, when by-election results are generally interpreted as a verdict on the performance of the government, it may seem curious that the central issue of a by-election could have been the adequacy of the Leader of the Opposition. But that was clearly the case at St George’s: in the absence of a government candidate (the Labour Party had contested the seat in 1929 for the first time and did not put up a candidate at the by-election), the electors had to choose between Alfred Duff Cooper, the nominee of the local Conservative Association, and Sir Ernest Petter, an Independent Conservative who was backed by the rudimentary Empire Crusade and United Empire Party organisations together with the Beaverbrook and Rothermere press.