Bassano Ltd (Original photographer of work is unknown due to company closing in the 1960’s. NPG would have added photograper’s name if known), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
I had never heard of this one but on the face of it this was a case of a minister doing the honourable thing and resigning as a result of his civil servants screwing things up. Only it wasn’t quite as it appears, there is a twist in the tail. It has been included to shine a light on what were once considered the standards to which ministers should be held. Were those standards still going to day I fear very few ministers of the past half a century would have lasted long in office.
In 1929 Thomas Dugdale was elected as MP for Richmond in North Yorks and remained until 1959. The seat has quite a history. There was Leon Brittan, then William Hague and finally NikNak after a boundary reshuffle. Some real bounders in there. In 1945 he was created a Baronet in the New Year’s honours for political and public services. In 1951 Churchill made him Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.
His dice with disgrace came as a result of the Crichel Down affair. This concerned a piece of farmland in Dorset that had been compulsorily purchased during the war. Mary Marten was the only child and heiress of the original owner, Lord Alington, and wanted to buy the land back in the 1950s because it was no longer in use by the MoD.
The Ministry of Agriculture wanted to keep the land to use for experimental farming and agricultural development. Mary’s husband George was a former royal equerry with some powerful friends and they stirred up much trouble in the local Tory Party and also the backbenches. There was then a public inquiry that criticised the government’s decision and its civil servants. In 1954 Dugdale told the House that Mary could buy back the land and announced his resignation being the responsible minister.
This was seen at the time as a minister resigning for the actions of his civil servants and this led to the perceived code of individual ministerial responsibility. When the relevant papers were released after 30 years it turned out that Dugdale had known and approved of the heavy handed actions of his civil servants and had apportioned some of the blame to them.
It appears that Barons are allowed to sit in the Commons because they do not have a seat in the Lords. Shows how much I know because I thought being a Baron meant you could not be an MP and had to check it out.
© well_chuffed 2026
