Editing Alec Douglas-Home (section)

=== House of Commons ===
Membership of the new House of Commons was overwhelmingly made up of pro-coalition MPs, and there was therefore a large number of eligible members for the government posts to be filled. In Dutton's phrase, "it would have been easy for Dunglass to have languished indefinitely in [[backbench]] obscurity."<ref name=d7/> However, Skelton, appointed as Under-secretary at the [[Scottish Office]], offered Dunglass the unpaid post of unofficial parliamentary aide. This was doubly advantageous to Dunglass. Any MP appointed as official [[Parliamentary Private Secretary]] (PPS) to a government minister was privy to the inner workings of government but was expected to maintain a discreet silence in the House of Commons. Dunglass achieved the first without having to observe the second.<ref name=d7/> He made his maiden speech in February 1932 on the subject of economic policy, advocating a cautiously [[protectionist]] approach to cheap imports. He countered Labour's objection that this would raise the cost of living, arguing that a tariff "stimulates employment and gives work [and] increases the purchasing power of the people by substituting wages for unemployment benefit."<ref>Thorpe (1997), p. 53</ref>

During four years as Skelton's aide Dunglass was part of a team working on a wide range of issues, from medical services in rural Scotland to land settlements, fisheries, education, and industry.<ref>Thorpe (1997), pp. 53–54</ref> Dunglass was appointed official PPS to Anthony Muirhead, junior minister at the [[Ministry of Labour (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Labour]], in 1935, and less than a year later became PPS to the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], [[Neville Chamberlain]].<ref>Thorpe (1997), pp. 57–59</ref>