 | 'In October 1937, Edward (VIII) and his wife - by now the Duke and Duchess of Windsor - visited Nazi Germany. They met Hitler, dined with his deputy, Rudolf Hess, and even visited a concentration camp.' BBC News, 29 th January, 2003. |  |
| 'In October 1937, Edward (VIII) and his wife - by now the Duke and Duchess of Windsor - visited Nazi Germany. They met Hitler, dined with his deputy, Rudolf Hess, and even visited a concentration camp.' BBC News, 29 th January, 2003. | |
John MacLean, the revolutionary socialist and communist, is tried on a charge of sedition in the High Court in Edinburgh.
The House of Commons votes by 274 votes to 25 to allow women to become MPs.
Turkey signs the Armistice.
Austria-Hungary signs the Armistice.
Germany signs the Armistice. The Great War ends. The British death toll is 767,000 including 110,000 -140,000 Scots. Scotland has borne a disproportionate number (18 %) of the casualties, and 10 % of Scottish men between the ages of 16 and 50 have perished in the Great War.
Scottish Home Rule is the third priority on Labour's manifesto - above housing, pensions and education.
General election - the 'Coupon Election'. Coalition (Unionist/Liberal) government under the Rt Hon David Lloyd George. MPs elected from Scotland: 56 Coalition (30 Coalition Unionists, 25 Coalition Liberals, one Coalition National Democratic Party), eight Labour, seven non-coalition Liberals, two non-coalition Unionists, and one Independent.
Due to boundary changes and a large increase in the electorate, gains and losses are difficult to assess
Constance, Countess Markievicz is elected as MP for Dublin St Patricks - the first woman MP ever elected. As a member of the Irish Nationalists Sinn Féin (literally 'We Ourselves') she refuses to take the Oath of Allegiance to the King and is not permitted to take her seat in the House of Commons.
Iolaire disaster. 205 servicemen and crew are drowned when the ship sinks just outside Stornoway harbour. Only 59 are saved.
60,000 people gather in Glasgow to hear the Lord Provost's response to strikes and peaceful protests against high rents for appalling slum housing and for a 40 hour working week. While the deputation is consulting with the Lord Provost in the City Chambers, the police make repeated, unprovoked violent charges against the peaceful protestors in George Square, attacking the unarmed citizens with their batons. This provokes relatiation by the protestors who defend themselves with fists, broken bottles and iron railings, forcing the police to retreat.
Minutes of a War Cabinet meeting record the reaction in Westminster: 'The Secretary for Scotland (the Rt Hon Robert Munro) said that , in his opinion, it was more clear than ever that it was a misnomer to call the situation in Glasgow a strike - it was a Bolshevist rising'.
Scotland is occupied by an invading army for the last time in its history. The Imperial government at Westminster dispatches 12,000 English troops to secure Scotland. Six English tanks and 100 army lorries patrol the streets of Glasgow while Scottish troops are locked up in their barracks as it is feared that they would support the democratic will of the Scottish people rather than the decrees of the Imperial Parliament at Westminster. In a travesty of justice, the strike leaders are arrested, convicted of incitement to riot and imprisoned. These include Willie Gallacher (later Communist MP for West Fife), Davik Kirkwood (later Labour MP for Dumbarton, later Lord Kirkwood) and Emmanuel Shinwell (later Labour MP for Linlithgowshire, later Lord Shinwell).
Central Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire by-election following the death of Coalition Unionst MP Alexander Theodore Gordon. Murdoch McKenzie Wood gains the seat for the Liberals. Liberal - 9.9 %, Coalition Conservative - 16.5%, Labour (+26.4%).
German fleet is scuttled at Scalpa Flow, Orkney. 72 ships are sunk.
Bothwell by-election following the death of Coalition Unionst MP David Henderson Macdonald. John Robertson gains the seat for Labour. Labour + 19.7 %, Coalition Liberal (+ 31.2 %), Coalition Conservative - 50.9 %.
The position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health (Scotland) is created with John William Pratt MP (Coalition Unionist) appointed to the position.
The Scots National League is formed. It joins the National Party of Scotland in 1928.
Kirkcaldy burghs by-election following the resignation of Coalition Liberal MP the Rt Hon Sir James Henry Dalziel Bt, later Lord Dalziel of Kirkcaldy, who was unopposed at the 1918 general election. Thomas Kennedy gains the seat for Labour. Labour 53.4 %, Coalition Liberal 46.6 %.
While on holiday in the Highlands, Liberal Prime Minister the Rt Hon David Lloyd George MP calls an emergency meeting in Inverness to discuss the Irish crisis. This is the only time that the UK Government's Cabinet have met outside London.
The House of Commons forces the Liberal Prime Minister the Rt Hon David Lloyd George MP to hold an enquiry into the sale of honours.
Sir Ronald Crauford Munro-Ferguson, 1 st Viscount Novar is appointed Liberal Secretary for Scotland. He had been MP for Ross & Cromarty from 1884 until 1885 and MP for Leith Burghs from 1886 until 1914 when he was appointed Governor General of Australia.
General Election. Andrew Bonar Law (Unionist MP for Glasgow Central) becomes Prime Minister.
UK Labour leadership election. Ramsay MacDonald 61, J. Clynes 56. Ramsay MacDonald becomes leader of the Labour party.
BBC Scotland makes its first radio broadcast.
Tory Stanley Baldwin becomes Prome Minister upon the resignation of Andrew Bonar Law (Unionist MP for Glasgow Central). Baldwin retains the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Katherine Murray, Duchess of Atholl becomes the first female Scottish MP when she is elected Unionist MP for Kinross & Western Perthshire. Her husband, the 8 th Duke of Atholl, had been MP for West Perthshire from 1910 until 1917 while Marquis of Tullibardine.
Labour forms the governement. Ramsay MacDonald, born in Lossiemouth, becomes the first Labour Prime Minister. The cabinet includes two Tories and one Liberal. McDonald admits that Labour is 'in office but not in power.'
William Adamson MP (Labour, West Fife) is appointed Secretary for Scotland.
The Labour Government proposes a bill for Scottish Home Rule. This is talked out of Parliament and falls.
The Tories return to power while Labour declines and the Liberals slump. Staney Baldwin returns as Prime Minister.
Sir John Gilmour Bt., MP (Tory, Glasgow Pollok) is appointed Secretary for Scotland.
Plaid Cymru, 'The Party of Wales' is formed at Pwllheli. Saunders Lewis declares 'One cannot serve England and Wales'.
General Strike. The Imperial Parliament at Westminster declares a State of Emergency in Scotland and deploys troops to quell democratic demonstrations by the Scots people.
Sir John Gilmour Bt., MP (Tory; Glasgow Pollok) Secretary for Scotland, is promoted to Secretary of State for Scotland with a seat in the cabinet.
The Scots Independent is first published with William Gillies, father of Anne Lorne Gillies, as editor.
William Wedgewood Benn, later 1 st Viscount Stansgate (MP for Leith) loses the Liberal whip and resigns his seat.
The National Party of Scotland is formed as a political party to promote Scottish independence. It merges with the Scottish Party in 1934 to form the Scottish National Party.
Linlithgowshire by-election following the death of Unionist MP James Kidd. Emanuel Shinwell, later Baron Shinwell, gains the seat for Labour with a 5,178 majority over the Unionists. Labour + 0.2 %, Unionist - 19.6 %, Liberal (+ 19.4 %).
Fifth Reform Act. Women aged 21 and over are allowed to vote creating political equality between the sexes for the first time ever.
First Bannockburn Rally by members of the National Party of Scotland.
Northern Midlothian & Peebleshire by-election following the death of Unionist MP Sir George Aitken Clark Hutchison. Andrew Bathgate Clarke gains the seat for Labour with a 952 majority over Unionist Major David John Colville, later Lord Clydesmuir. Labour - 2.8 %, Unionist - 18.3 %, Liberal (+ 16.6 %), Scottish National Party (+ 4.5 %).
The Labour Party proposes (on behalf of the Scottish National Convention) a bill for Scottish Home Rule. It is talked out of Parliament to make way for a debate on "Bugs, Fleas & Vermin".
North Lanarkshire by-election following the death of Unionist MP Sir Alexander Sprot. Jennie Lee, later Baroness Lee of Ashridge gains the seat for Labour with a 6,578 majority over Unionist Mungo David Malcolm Murray, Lord Scone, later 7 th Earl of Mansfield. Labour + 11.4 %, Unionist - 20.5 %, Liberal (+ 9.1 %).
Home Rule falls to number 63 out of 63 priorities on Labour's manifesto.
Local Government (Scotland) Act reorganises local government introducing districts and joint country councils (Perthshire & Kinross-shire and Morayshire & Nairnshire) and large and small burghs. The act remained in force until 1974.
General election. Labour government under the Rt Hon James Ramsay MacDonald. MPs elected from Scotland: 36 Labour, 22 Unionists, 14 Liberals, one Prohibitionist Labour and one Independent.
Labour win Berwickshire & Haddingtonshire, Dunbartonshire, Edinburgh West, Glasgow Maryhill, Glasgow Partick, Lanark, Kilmarnock, Western Stirlingshire and Western Renfrewshire from the Unionists.
Liberals win Banffshire, Dumfriessshire, East Fife, Galloway and Kincardine & Western Aberdeenshire from the Unionists.
Unionists gain Northern Midlothian & Peebles from Labour.
The Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland are reunited as the Church of Scotland.
William Adamson (Labour MP for West Fife) is appointed Secretary of State for Scotland.
Neil Maclean (MP for Glasgow Govan) resigns the Independent Labour Party whip and sits for the Labour Party.
St Kilda is evacuated upon the request of the islanders. The population had fallen from 73 in 1920 to 37 in 1928.
W. Oliver Brown polls 4,818 votes for the National Party of Scotland at the East Renfrewshire by-election.
Sir Oswald Mosley, ex Tory and Labour MP, forms the extreme right wing 'New Party'. Four other Labour MPs, follow him into the New Party. 65 years later, another right wing New Party is founded with much greater success.
Robert Forgan (MP for West Renfrewshire) resigns the Labour whip and joins Sir Oswald Mosely's New Party.
Cecil Randolph Dudgeon MP (Galloway) resigns the Liberal whip and joins Sir Oswald Mosely's New Party.
E. J. St. L. Strachey (MP for Birmingham Aston, later MP for Dundee) resigns the Labour whip and joins Sir Oswald Mosely's New Party.
Cecil Randolph Dudgeon MP (Galloway) resigns the New Party whip and sits as an Independent.
Alfred Ernest Brown MP (Leith) resigns the Liberal whip and sits as an Independent.
Sir Robert Hutchison MP, later Lord Hutchieson (Monstrose) resigns the Liberal whip sits as an Independent.
E. J. St. L. Strachey (MP for Birmingham Aston, later MP for Dundee) resigns the New Party whip and sits as an Independent.
Princess Margaret Rose is born at Glamis Castle, the first Royal child to be born in Scotland for more than 300 years.
The Labour government falls due to a financial crisis. Ramsay MacDonald goes twice to Buckingham Palace to resign as Prime Minister but is persuaded by King George V to form a National Government backed by the Tory and Liberal leaders Stanley Baldwin and Sir Herbert Samuel. Most Labour Ministers and MPs leave the National government
Sir Archibald Sinclair MP (Liberal, Caithness & Sutherland), later 1st Viscount Thurso is appointed Secretary of State for Scotland in the National Government.
Financial crisis. The UK is forced off the gold standard.
Alfred Ernest Brown MP (Independent, Leith) joins the Liberal National Party.
Sir Robert Hutchison MP, later Lord Hutchieson (Independent, Monstrose) joins the Liberal National Party.
General election - 'Labour Rout' as the 'regular' party is reduced from 288 to 52 MPs. National government under the Rt Hon J. Ramsay MacDonald with a cabinet composed of 4 National Labour, 4 Conservative and 2 Liberal MPs. MPs elected from Scotland: 50 Unionists, eight Liberal Nationals, eight Liberals, seven Labour, one National Labour.
Unionists gain Aberdeen North, Berwickshire & Haddingtonshire, Bothwell, Coatbridge, Dumbartonshire, Dundee (one of two seats), Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh West, Glasgow Camlachie, Glasgow Maryhill, Glasgow Partrick, Glasgow Springburn, Glasgow Tradeston, Kirkcaldy, Lanark, Linlithgowshire, Motherwell, Northern Lanarkshire, Southern Midlothian & Peebleshire, Rutherglen, South Ayrshire, Stirling & Falkirk Burghs, West Fife and Western Renfrewshire (where the MP defected to the New Party) from Labour.
Unionists gain Galloway (where the MP defected to the New Party) and Kincardine & Western Aberdeenshire from Liberals.
Liberal Nationals gain Dunfermline Burghs from Labour.
Liberals gain Edinburgh East and Paisley from Labour.
Liberals gain Dundee (one of two seats) from Prohibitionist.
George Buchanan MP (Glasgow Gorbals) resigns the Labour whip to join the Independent Labour Party.
John McGovern MP (Glasgow Shettleston) resigns the Labour whip to join the Independent Labour Party.
James Maxton MP (Glasgow Bridgeton) resigns the Labour whip to join the Independent Labour Party.
David Kirkwood MP, later Baron Kirkwood (Dumbarton) resigns the Labour whip to join the Independent Labour Party.
Resignation of Sir Archibald Henry Macdonald Sinclair MP, later 1 st Viscount Thurso (Liberal, Caithness & Sutherland) as Secretary of State for Scotland and Philip Henry Kerr, 11 th Marquess of Lothian as Under Secretary of State for India over free trade policy.
Sir Godfrey Collins MP (Liberal National, Greenock) is appointed Secretary of State for Scotland in the National Government.
Sir Oswald Mosely forms the British Union of Fascists. He gains the support of many Conservatives and the newspaper tycoon Lord Rothermere who owns the Daily Mail.
The Scottish Party is formed as a political party to promote home rule for Scotland. It merges with the National Party of Scotland in 1934 to form the Scottish National Party.
David Kirkwood MP, later Baron Kirkwood (Dumbarton) resigns the Independent Labour Party whip to return to the Labour Party.
The Scottish National Party which was created by a merger of the National Party of Scotland (chaired by R.E. Muirhead) and the Scottish Party (chaired by Sir Alexander MacEwan of Inverness), holds its first annual conference. Sir Alexander MacEwan of Inverness is elected as the first chairman of the SNP and MP R.B. Cunninghame Graham is elected as President. Other office bearers elected include John McCormick, F. Marion McNeill, the Duke of Montrose,and R. E. Muirhead.
The conference declares that the object of the SNP is "self-government for Scotland on a basis which will enable Scotland, as a partner in the British Empire zith the same status as England, to develop its national life to the fullest advantage."
Joseph Hunter MP (Dumfries) resigns the Liberal whip to join the Liberal National party.
Katherine Marjory Stewart Murray, Duchess of Atholl DBE MP (Kinross & West Perthshire) has the Unionist whip removed.
Stanley Baldwin (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister after the resignation of Ramsay MacDonald (National Labour) for health reasons.
George Alexander Morrison MP (Scottish Universities) resigns the Liberal whip to join the Liberal National party.
Katherine Marjory Stewart Murray, Duchess of Atholl DBE MP (Kinross & West Perthshire) has the Unionist whip restored.
General election. National government under the Rt Hon Stanley Baldwin. MPs elected from Scotland: 35 Unionists, 20 Labour, eight Liberal Nationals, four Independent Labour Party, three Liberals, one National Labour and one Communist.
Labour gain Aberdeen North, Bothwell, Clackmannan & Eastern Stirlingshire, Coatbridge, Dunfermline, Glasgow Maryhill, Glasgow Springburn, Glasgow Tradeston, Kirkcaldy Burghs, Linlithgowshire, Motherwell, South Ayrshire, Stirling & Falkirk Burghs, and Western Stirlingshire from Unionists.
Labour gain Edinburgh East from the Liberals.
Labour gain Western Isles from Liberal Nationals.
Independent Labour Party gain Glasgow Camlachie from Unionists.
Unionists gain Banffshire and Orkney & Shetland from Liberals.
Unionists gain Perth from Liberal Nationals
Communists gain West Fife from Unionists.
UK Labour leadership election, first ballot. Clement Atlee 58, Herbert Morrison 44, A. Greenwood 33. A second ballot is held on the 3 rd December.
Sir Archibald Sinclair MP, later first Viscount Thurso (Liberal, Caithness & Sutherland) becomes Liberal leader in the House of Commons.
UK Labour leadership election, second ballot. Clement Atlee 88, Herbert Morrison 48. Clement Atlee becomes UK Labour leader.
Death of King George V, who changed the name of the royal family from Saxe Cobourg & Gotha to Windsor in 1917 to hide the family's German origins. He is succeeded by his son, Edward II (VIII of England) a fluent German speaker and suspected Nazi sympathiser. The King's German mother, Queen Mary of Teck, believes that Britain backed the wrong side in the Great War.
Combined Scottish Universities by-election following the death of Unionist MP Archibald Noel Skelton (one of three Combined Scottish Universities MPs elected by PR). Noel Skelton died on 22 nd November 1935, before the election result was declared. The Rt Hon James Ramsay Macdonald gains the seat for National Labour with a 3,597 majority over the Scottish National Party's Professor Andrew Dewar Gibb, Regius Professor of Law at Glasgow University. Labour 56.5 %, Scottish National Party 31.1 %, Labour 12.4 %.
Dunbartonshire by-election following the resignation of Unionist MP Archibald Douglas Cochrane. Thomas Cassells gains the seat for Labour with a 984 majority over the Unionists. Labour + 6.2 %, Unionist - 4.6 %, Scottish National Party - 1.6 %.
Walter Elliot MP (Conservative, Glasgow Kelvingrove) is appointed Secretary of State for Scotland in the National Government.
Greenock by-election following the death of National Liberal MP Sir Godfrey Pattison Collins. Robert Gibson gains the seat for Labour with a 2,604 majority over the National Liberals. Labour + 9.4 %, National Liberal - 6.1 %, Scottish National Party - 3.3 %.
Edward II (VIII of England) is forced to abdicate due to his suspected Nazi sympathies and that of his wife to be. The official explanation given is that he wished to marry a woman who has already been twice married.
The Duke of York becomes King George V. His Scottish born wife, Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, daughter of Calude, Bowes Lyon, 14 th Earl of Strathmore & Kingmore and direct descendant of Robert the Bruce, becomes Queen Elizabeth, and the last Empress of India.
Neville Chamberlain becomes Tory Prime Minister after the resignation of Stanley Baldwin. Chamberlain does not believe that Nazi Germay poses a threat to world peace.
King Edward II (VIII of England), now Duke of Windsor, visits Nazi Germany with his wife. They meet Adolf Hitler, dine with his deputy Rulolf Hess and visit a concentration camp.
Katherine Marjory Stewart Murray, Duchess of Atholl DBE MP (Kinross & West Perthshire) is deselected for opposing the Tory appeasement of Nazi Germany. She resigns the party whip to sit as an Independent gaining the title 'The Red Duchess'.
David John Colville MP (Conservative, Midlothian & Peebles Northern), later 1 st Lord Clydesmuir, is appointed Secretary of State for Scotland in the National Government.
Referring to the German annexaton of Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain says 'How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a faraway country betwen people of whom we know nothing.'
Tory Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain refuses to speak to French Prime Minister Eduoard Daladier but opens negotiations with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to approve Germany's annexaton of the Sudetenland province of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain comments 'This is the second time in history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street, peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.'
The First Lord of the Admiralty, Alfred Duff Cooper, resigns over Chamberlain's appeasement of Nazi Germany.
Kinross & West Perthshire by-election. William McNair Snadden, the official Tory candidate is elected with a 1,313 majority over Katherine Marjory Stewart Murray, Duchess of Atholl DBE, the sitting Tory MP, now Independent, who was deselected by the party for opposing the appeasement of Nazi Germany. Conservative - 7.3 %, Independent + 47.1 %.
George Buchanan MP (Glasgow Gorbals) resigns the Independent Labour Party whip to return to the Labour party.
Nazi Germany invades Poland.
Britain declares war on Nazi Germany.
St Andrews House in Edinburgh becomes the headquarters of the Scottish Office.
Death of the 1 st Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada. He was better know as John Buchan, the novelist and Conservative MP for Scottish Universities 1927 - 1935 .
After the British defeat in Norway, senior Tory MP Leo Amery quotes Cromwell to Prime Minister Neville Chaimberlain: 'You have sat too long for any good you have been doing. Depart I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!'.
Conservative MP the Rt Hon Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister and forms an all party coalition government.
Ernest Brown MP (National Liberal, Leith) is appointed Secretary of State for Scotland in the Coalition Government. The post is not part of the War Cabinet.
Argyll by-election following the death of Frederick Alexander Macquisten KC, Unionist MP for Argyll since 1924. Major Sir Duncan McCallum holds the seat for the Unionists with a 5,007 majority over the Scottish National Party's William Power. Conservative + 9.18 %, Scottish National Party + 37.24 %.
King George V removes Walter John Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 8 th Duke of Buccleuch, 10 th Duke of Queensberry, K.T. (Tory MP for Roxburgh & Selkirkshire 1923 - 1935) from his position of Lord Steward of the Royal Household due to suspicion that the Duke is a Fifth Columnist. Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14 th Duke of Hamilton and 11 th Duke of Brandon (Tory MP for East Renfrewshire 1930 - 1940) is appointed in his place.
Captain Archibald Henry Maule Ramsay MP (Unionist, Midlothian & Peebles, Southern) who had expressed anti-semitic opinions, is arrested along with Sir Oswald Mosley, and 32 other leading British fascists and detained under Defence Regulation 18B. Ramsay is expelled from the Conservative party but continues as an MP until June 1945. Mosley is released on 1 st December 1943 due to ill health. Ramsay is held in Brixton prison until 26 th September 1944.
Italy declares war on the UK.
Resignation of Sir Robert Boothby (Unionist MP for Eastern Aberdeenshire & Kindcardineshire) as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministery of Food after a Select Committee investigation into his financial dealings.
The SS Politician runs agound on Eriksay with a cargo of 250,00 bottles of whisky. The story is immortalised in the book Whisky Galore by Sir Compton Mackenzie and the subsequent film.
Tom Johnston (Labour MP for Stirling & Clackmannan West) is appointed Secretary of State for Scotland in the Coalition Government. The post is not part of the War Cabinet, however Johnson is left to run Scotland with little interference from London.
Deputy Fuhrer, Rudoph Hess crash lands in Scotland while on a 'peace mission' to see the 14th Duke of Hamilton. He is arrested and imprisoned until his death in 1987.
UK declares war on Japan.
Sir Murdoch Macdonald (MP for Inverness Burghs) resigns the Conservative whip to sit as an Independent.
Kenneth Martin Lindsay (MP for Kilmarnock) resigns the National Liberal whip to sit as an Independent.
Midlothian & Peebleshire Northern by-election following the resignation of Lt-Col David John Colville, later 1 st Lord Clydemuir, Unionist MP for Midlothian & Peeblesshire, Northern since 1931. The Unionists hold the seat with a 869 majority over the Commonwealth Party. Conservative - 10.99 %, Commonwealth + 48.06 %.
Kirkcaldy burghs by-election following the resignation of Thomas Kennedy, Labour MP for Kirkcaldy Burghs since 1931. Labour's Thomas Frederick Hubbard holds the seat with a 1,647 majority over the Scottish National Party's Douglas Young. Labour - 5.08 %, Scottish National Party + 41.32 %, Christian Socialist + 8.80 %.
Combined Scottish Universities by-election following the resignation of Dr George Alexander Morrison, National Liberal MP since 1934. Sir John Boyd Orr, later 1 st Lord Boyd-Orr, gains the seat as an Independent MP with a majority of 12,020 over the National Liberals. Independent 71.2 %, National Liberal 28.8 %.
Motherwell & Wishaw by-election following the death of James Walker, Labour MP for Motherwell & Wishaw since 1935. Dr Robert Douglas McIntyre becomes the SNP's first MP with a majority of 617 over Labour. Scottish National Party (+ 51.39 %), Labour - 2.13 %. Alexander Anderson wins the seat back for Labour at the general election in 26 th July 1945.
Dr Robert D. McIntyre, SNP MP for Motherwell & Wishaw, presents himself before the House of Commons without sponsors. The House votes by 273 votes to 199 against allowing him to take his seat. He is ordered to return the next day and two Labour MPs agree to act as his sponsors.
VE (Victory in Europe) Day.
The coalition government under Winston Churchill resigns pending a general election. A caretaker government under Churchill takes control in the meantime.
Albert Edward Harry Mayer Archibald Primrose, 6 th Earl of Roseberry, is appointed Liberal Secretary of State for Scotland in the Caretaker Government.
General election held. The result is not declared until the 26 th July to allow time for votes from military personnel serving overseas to arrive.
Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, 15 th Lord Lovat, resigns as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
General election results declared. Labour government under Clement Atlee, later first Earl Atlee of Walthamstow.
MPs elected in Scotland: Labour 40, Conservatives and allies 30, Communist 1.
Labour win Dundee (one of two seats), Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh North, Glasgow Kelvingrove, Lanark, North Lanarkshire, Peebleshire & Southern Midlothian, West Renfewshire and Rutherglenfrom the Conservatives.
Labour win Leith from Liberal National.
Labour win Dundee (one of two seats) from Libveral
Labour gain Kilmarnock from Independent.
Labour regain Motherwell from Scottish National Party.
Conservatives gain Caithness & Sutherland from Liberal.
Liberal National gain Ross & Cromarty from National.
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