Until the Labor Party first made itself felt, members of Parliament served without regular government salary. A hardship to many, the rule of unsalaried M. P.'s was popular with tradition-loving Britons who felt that, come what might, Britain would always be governed by Gentlemen.*
In 1910, members of Parliament were granted a salary of £400 ($2,000).† In the Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin., largely a government of Gentlemen, the question of cabinet salaries was not important. To the Labor government of Ramsay MacDonald it is most important indeed. When they were in power...