Editing Ramsay MacDonald (section)

=== Foreign affairs ===
{{further|International relations (1919–1939)|History of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom|Interwar Britain}}

MacDonald had long been a leading spokesman for internationalism in the Labour movement; at first, he verged on pacifism. He founded the Union of Democratic Control in early 1914 to promote international socialist aims, but it was overwhelmed by the war. His 1917 book, ''National Defence'', revealed his own long-term vision for peace. Although disappointed at the harsh terms of the Versailles Treaty, he supported the [[League of Nations]] – but, by 1930, he felt that the internal cohesion of the British Empire and a strong, independent British defence programme might turn out to be the wisest British government policy.<ref>Keith Robbins, "Labour Foreign Policy and International Socialism: MacDonald and the League of Nations," in Robbins, ''Politicians, Diplomacy and War'' (2003) pp. 239–272</ref>

MacDonald moved in March 1924 to end construction work on the Singapore military base, despite strong opposition from the [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|Admiralty]]. He believed the building of the base would endanger the [[Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments|disarmament conference]]; the [[First Sea Lord]] [[David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty|Lord Beatty]] considered the absence of such a base as dangerously imperilling British trade and territories East of [[Chief Commissioner's Province of Aden|Aden]] and could mean the security of the British Empire in the Far East being dependent on the goodwill of [[Empire of Japan|Japan]].{{sfn|Marquand|1977|pp=315–317}}

In June 1924, MacDonald convened a conference in London of the wartime [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] and achieved an agreement on a new plan for settling the reparations issue and [[Occupation of the Ruhr|French-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr]]. German delegates joined the meeting, and the London Settlement was signed. It was followed by an Anglo-German commercial treaty. Another major triumph for MacDonald was the conference held in London in July and August 1924 to deal with the implementation of the [[Dawes Plan]].<ref name=Marks248>{{cite journal | last1 = Marks | first1 = Sally | year = 1978 | title = The Myths of Reparations | journal = Central European History | volume = 11 | issue = 3| pages = 231–255 | doi=10.1017/s0008938900018707| s2cid = 144072556 }}</ref> MacDonald, who accepted the popular view of the economist [[John Maynard Keynes]] of [[World War I reparations|German reparations]] as impossible to pay, pressured French Premier [[Édouard Herriot]] until many concessions were made to Germany, including the evacuation of the [[Ruhr]].<ref name=Marks248/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Steiner|first=Zara|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/86068902|title=The lights that failed : European international history, 1919–1933|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0191518812|location=Oxford|oclc=86068902}}</ref>
[[File:Ramsay MacDonald Christian Rakovsky 1924.jpg|left|thumb|290x290px|Ramsay MacDonald and [[Christian Rakovsky]], Head of the Soviet diplomatic delegation. February 1924.]]
A British onlooker commented, "The London Conference was for the French 'man in the street' one long Calvary ... as he saw M. Herriot abandoning one by one the cherished possessions of French preponderance on the Reparations Commission, the right of sanctions in the event of German default, the economic occupation of the Ruhr, the French-Belgian railroad Régie, and finally, the military occupation of the Ruhr within a year."<ref>Marks, "The Myths of Reparations", p. 249</ref> MacDonald was proud of what had been achieved, which was the pinnacle of his short-lived administration's achievements.{{sfn|Marquand|1977|pp=329–351}} In September, he made a speech to the [[League of Nations]] Assembly in [[Geneva]], the main thrust of which was for general European disarmament, which was received with great acclaim.<ref>Limam: ''The First Labour Government'', 1924, p. 173</ref>

MacDonald recognised the [[Soviet Union]] and MacDonald informed [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] in February 1924 that negotiations would begin to negotiate a treaty with the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book|author=Curtis Keeble|title=Britain and the Soviet Union 1917–89|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGGxCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA117|year=1990|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|page=117|isbn=978-1349206438}}</ref> The treaty was to cover Anglo-Soviet trade and the repayment of the British bondholders, who had lent billions to the pre-revolutionary Russian government and been rejected by the Bolsheviks. There were, in fact, two proposed treaties: one would cover commercial matters, and the other would cover a fairly vague future discussion on the problem of the bondholders. If the treaties were signed, the British government would conclude a further treaty and guarantee a loan to the Bolsheviks.  The treaties were popular neither with the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] nor with the Liberals, who, in September, criticised the loan so vehemently that negotiation with them seemed impossible.<ref>Lyman, ''The First Labour Government, 1924'' pp. 195–204</ref>

However, the government's fate was determined by the "[[Campbell Case]]", the abrogation of prosecuting the left-wing newspaper the ''[[Workers' Weekly (UK)|Workers' Weekly]]'' for inciting servicemen to mutiny. The Conservatives put down a censure motion, to which the Liberals added an amendment. MacDonald's Cabinet resolved to treat both motions as [[motion of confidence|matters of confidence]]. The Liberal amendment was carried, and the King granted MacDonald a dissolution of Parliament the following day.  The issues that dominated the election campaign were the Campbell Case and the Russian treaties, which soon combined into the single issue of the Bolshevik threat.<ref>{{cite book|author=A.J.P. Taylor|title=English History, 1914–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sb0RDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA217|year=1965|pages=217–20, 225–226|publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0198217152}}</ref>