Ministry of Information official photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
To quote a certain newt-fancier named Leninspart “And I’ll tell you another PM who used to be a provincial mayor”. This of course refers to the much maligned Neville Chamberlain who had been Mayor of Birmingham in a previous incarnation. What is it with former Mayors and incompetence, is there some magic formula linking them together. There is certainly a case to be made.
One of Neville’s plus points has always been that it was he who started the re-armament program going in the late 1930s. This somewhat overlooks the fact that he had previously been one of those responsible for using a peace dividend to cut back on our armed forces. In much the same way that the fall of communism led to a peace dividend so the end of the war to end all wars had led to much the same, encouraged by the League of Nations and the Treaty of London.
Neville became Mayor of Brum in 1915, lasting until 1918 when he stood for Parliament as a member of the Unionist Party for Birmingham Ladywood – a seat presently occupied by Shabana Mahmood. In 1931 he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer and in 1937 he took over from Stanley Baldwin as leader of the Conservative Party and became Prime Minister.
During Neville’s time as Mayor Lloyd George appointed him Director of National Service but they fell out bigly, this must have been when Lloyd George called him a pinhead. It has been said that Chamberlain’s most notable, and at the time popular, contribution in the 1930s had been to cut away at the defence estimates.
During 1938 came the Czechoslovak crisis. Chamberlain was upright, honest and efficient, but he had the mentality of the clerk and was completely out of his depth when faced with a dictator. Hitler broke his word, changed his mind, simulated rage, hammered the conference table, and used threats of violence to get his way. This was far too much for a man way out of his depth.
We should remember that the present President of the United States sets great store by doing deals and having negotiations. Poor old Neville had little experience of world affairs whereas the Donald spent much of his life negotiating with the Unions and the Mafia in New York while running his construction business, not exactly world affairs but probably just as deadly.
Göring’s Forschungsamt (Research Office) intercepted telephone conversations, telex messages and telegrams and this allowed Adolf to know exactly what he was up against and how to get round it. It seems this office listened to as much diplomatic traffic as it could
Chamberlain preferred to believe that Hitler was a reasonable and honest man, this was the limit of his expertise. The French encouraged Britain to help settle Germany’s claims peacefully and so get them off the hook. Chamberlain, seeing it as his chance to go down in history as a great statesman, flew to Munich in September 1938 to see Hitler. He came back to Croydon airport famously waving a piece of paper that he said promised peace in our time. We wouldn’t see any peace until 1945.
The trip gave both the words ‘appeasement’ and ‘Munich’ new connotations. It was like asking a Sunday school teacher to put out a contract on Al Capone. Instead of confronting Hitler, Chamberlain became his assistant delivering warnings to the Czechs that they should bend the knee to avoid Adolf’s wrath.
Now we come to Bodybags Burnham. His experience in government was being Minister of Health and what a lash up he made of that, the Culture Media and Sport brief and Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He then flounced off to be Mayor of Manchester and had a similar lack of success. Now he is expected to perform on the world stage and he is making a dog’s breakfast of it.
There is another famous Mayor waiting in the shadows and that is Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, or Sad Dick as I prefer to call him. Heaven help us if he ever travels the same route as Bodybags. Ower Andeh gets a free ride from the MSM because he is usLabour, presumably Sad Dick would get the same easy ride because he is muzz and usLabour.
I almost forgot to give a dishonourable mention to the fat Turk, aka Boris Johnson. He was also a Mayor, of London, who returned to become PM. He was always a lazy so and so, in fact he kind of made a profession of it along with being a buffoon. Although the press were out to get him over cake gate it could have been any number of other issues that did for him. He thought he was the new Churchill, what a wally and what a disappointment.
© well_chuffed 2026
