Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Neville Chamberlain (1915-1917)

Description:Arthur Neville Chamberlain first entered politics in 1911 when he was elected as a councillor to Birmingham City Council and immediately became Chair of the Town Planning Committee. Birmingham soon adopted and brought into law one of the first town planning schemes in Britain. In 1913, Chamberlain took charge of a committee looking at housing conditions. The interim report of the committee could not be implemented immediately because of the war, but it did much to show Chamberlain's vision of improvements to housing conditions.

In 1915 he became Lord Mayor of Birmingham. Within the first two months he had won government approval to increase the electricity supply and organised the use of coal as part of the war effort; he also prevented a strike by the council workers. During this time he also assisted in the creation of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the establishment of the Birmingham Municipal Bank, the only one of its type in the country which aimed to encourage savings so as to pay for the war loan. Chamberlain was re-elected Lord Mayor in 1916, but did not complete his term due to a job offer from Downing Street.

In December 1916, Chamberlain was in London when he received a message asking him to meet the new Prime Minister, David Lloyd George. Lloyd George offered Chamberlain the new position of Director of National Service, with responsibility for co-ordinating conscription and ensuring that essential war industries were able to function with sufficient workforces. Chamberlain had been recommended for the position by, among others, his brother Austen, and he agreed to accept the post; despite several interviews, however, he was left unclear about many aspects of the job. Over the following eight months only a few thousand volunteers were placed in industry. Chamberlain clashed several times with Lloyd George, who had taken a strong disliking to him. It had also been decided that Chamberlain did not need a seat in Parliament to undertake the job, which proved to be an error. Chamberlain finally resigned in 1917.

Chamberlain stood for the first time at the next general election, when he was successfully elected as MP for Ladywood.