Editing Ramsay MacDonald (section)

=== Second term (1929–1931) ===
The strong majority held by the Conservatives gave Baldwin a full term during which the government had to deal with the [[1926 General Strike]]. Unemployment remained high but relatively stable at just over 10% and, apart from 1926, strikes were at a low level.<ref>"A Century of Change: Trends in UK statistics since 1900," Research Paper 99/111, 1999, House of Commons Library</ref> At the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|May 1929 election]], Labour won 288 seats to the Conservatives' 260, with 59 Liberals under Lloyd George holding the balance of power. MacDonald was increasingly out of touch with his supposedly safe Welsh seat at [[Aberavon (UK Parliament constituency)|Aberavon]]; he largely ignored the district, and had little time or energy to help with its increasingly difficult problems regarding coal disputes, strikes, unemployment and poverty. The miners expected a wealthy man who would fund party operations, but he had no money. He disagreed with the increasingly radical activism of party leaders in the district, as well as the permanent agent, and the [[Mineworkers' Federation of Great Britain|South Wales Mineworkers' Federation]]. He moved to [[Seaham (UK Parliament constituency)|Seaham Harbour]] in [[County Durham]], a safer seat, to avoid a highly embarrassing defeat.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr. W. G. Covr, M.P., May Not Stand Again at Wellingborough |work=Northampton Mercury |date=17 August 1928 |access-date=25 October 2015 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000317/19280817/003/0001| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>Chris Howard, "Ramsay MacDonald and Aberavon, 1922–29," ''Llafur: Journal of Welsh Labour History'' 7#1 (1996) pp. 68–77</ref>

[[File:MacDonald at Tomb of Unknown Soldier-edit.jpg|thumb|MacDonald at Tomb of Unknown Soldier, Washington, DC, 9 October 1929]]

Baldwin resigned and MacDonald again formed a minority government, with intermittent Liberal support. This time, MacDonald knew he had to concentrate on domestic matters. [[Arthur Henderson]] became Foreign Secretary, with Snowden again at the Exchequer. [[James Henry Thomas|JH Thomas]] became Lord Privy Seal with a mandate to tackle unemployment, assisted by the young radical [[Oswald Mosley]]. [[Margaret Bondfield]] was appointed as [[Secretary of State for Employment|Minister of Labour]], becoming the first-ever woman cabinet minister.<ref>John Shepherd, ''The Second Labour Government: A reappraisal'' (2012).</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The New Ministry |work=Hartlepool Mail |date=8 June 1929 |access-date=25 October 2015 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000378/19290608/144/0007| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

MacDonald's second government was in a stronger parliamentary position than his first, and was able to introduce a number of progressive reforms.<ref name=" babel.hathitrust.org/">{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c054891167&seq=1|title=The record of the second Labour government [1929-1931]|date=1935 |publisher=The Labour Party |via=Babel Hathi Trust}}</ref> In 1930, for instance, it was able to raise [[Unemployment benefits|unemployment pay]], pass an act to improve wages and conditions in the [[Coal mining in the United Kingdom|coal industry]] (i.e. the issues behind the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|General Strike]]) and pass the [[Housing Act 1930]] which focused on [[Slum clearance in the United Kingdom|slum clearance]]s. However, an attempt by the Education Minister [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]] to introduce an act to raise the school-leaving age to 15 was defeated by opposition from [[Roman Catholic]] Labour MPs, who feared that the costs would lead to increasing local authority control over faith schools.<ref name="MacDonald"/>

In international affairs, he also convened the [[Round Table Conferences (India)|Round Table conferences]] in London with the political leaders of India, at which he offered them [[responsible government]], but not [[independence]] or even [[Dominion]] status. In April 1930 he negotiated the [[London Naval Treaty]], limiting naval armaments, with France, Italy, Japan, and the United States.<ref name="MacDonald"/>

[[Image:Ramsay MacDonald ggbain.37952.jpg|thumb|upright|left|MacDonald {{c.|1929}}]]