Editing Paul-Henri Spaak (section)

== Post-World War I Belgian politics ==
He became a member of the Socialist [[Belgian Labour Party]] in 1920. He was elected deputy in 1932. In 1935, he entered the cabinet of [[Paul Van Zeeland]] as Minister of Transport. In February 1936 he became Minister of Foreign Affairs, serving first under Van Zeeland and then under his uncle, [[Paul-Émile Janson]]. From May 1938 to February 1939 he was Prime Minister for the first time. In 1938, he allowed [[Herman Van Breda]] to smuggle the legacy of [[Edmund Husserl]] out of [[Nazi Germany]] to Belgium through the Belgian Embassy in Berlin.
[[File:Paul-Henri Spaak, Paul van Zeeland, 1937.jpg|thumb|left|Spaak (left) with [[Paul Van Zeeland]] in 1937]]
In social policy, a number of progressive reforms were realised during Spaak's first premiership. An Act of June 1938 "increased the functions of the National Society for Cheap Houses and Dwellings and empowered it, under State guarantee, to contract a loan of 350 million francs," while a Royal Decree of July 1938 laid down the rules for applying the provisions of a Holidays with Pay Act passed in 1936 to agricultural, horticultural and forestry undertakings. An Act of 20 August 1938 amended and supplemented the 1936 Holidays with Pay Act by extending its coverage to all undertakings, whatever their number of wage earners, as well as to home workers. The Act also removed a previous requirement in which a wage earner had to work for at least a year with the same employer in order to earn an annual holiday. The old-age, invalidity, and survivors' insurance program for miners was modified by an act passed on 8 July 1938, which increased the benefits available to invalids, the elderly, and widows who already received pensions while also significantly expanding the requirements for the granting of invalidity pensions. 

An Order of 25 August 1938 prohibited the use of so-called motor spirit "for greasing, cleaning (hands) etc.," while a Royal Order of 27 August 1938 fixed normal weekly hours of actual work in the ship-repairing industry in Antwerp at 42 hours "distributed over the seven days of the week." 

A Royal Order of 27 December 1938 extended the scope of an eight-hour Act passed in June 1921 to cover technical staff employed in cinemas, and a Royal Order of 22 December 1938 amended the entries in the second column of the schedule (list of occupations) which was now brought into conformity with Convention No. 42, and added "in the case of [[pneumoconiosis]], sand-blasting processes in iron and steel foundries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/P/09614/09614%281938-1939%29.pdf|title=The I.L.O. Year-Book: 1938—39}}</ref>

When he was [[Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] from 1936 to 1940, Spaak adhered to the political independence of Belgium and carried on the long-standing Belgian policy of [[neutrality (international relations)|neutrality]], with no formal military cooperation with [[French Third Republic|France]] or the [[United Kingdom]] and no open hostility to the Germans. On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded [[Battle of Belgium|Belgium]], [[German invasion of Luxembourg|Luxembourg]], [[Battle of the Netherlands|the Netherlands]] and [[Battle of France|France]]. In disarray and with almost all of the country occupied, the [[Belgian Army]] — by the command of King [[Leopold III of Belgium|Leopold III]] — surrendered on May 18, leading to a constitutional conflict with part of the government (including Spaak), which wanted to continue military operations together with France. The rump of the Belgian government regrouped in [[Limoges]] and [[Bordeaux]] and stayed close to the French, who [[Second Armistice at Compiegne|surrendered on 22 June]]. 

Again conflict arose in the Belgian government between those who wanted to stay in France (and maybe return to Belgium) — among these Spaak and Belgian Prime Minister [[Hubert Pierlot]] — and others who wanted to leave for London and to continue the war effort further. Minister [[Marcel-Henri Jaspar]] — done with the quarrelling — left on June 24 for [[London]] and tried to form a new government and obtain recognition from the British. For this, he was thrown out of the government at once by Pierlot and Spaak. 

After the repeal of diplomatic status by the French, Spaak finally went to Britain. Travelling in difficult circumstances with Pierlot through [[Francoist Spain|Spain]] and [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Portugal]], partially even in the false bottom of a truck, they arrived in London in October 1940.<ref>Stephen George, "Paul-Henri Spaak and a paradox in Belgian foreign policy." ''Review of International Studies'' 1.3 (1975): 254–271.</ref>