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Arthur Balfour

The Right Honourable
The Earl of Balfour
KG OM PC FRS DL
Gws balfour 02.jpg
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office
11 July 1902 – 5 December 1905
Monarch Edward VII
Preceded by The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Succeeded by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Lord President of the Council
In office
27 April 1925 – 4 June 1929
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
Succeeded by The Lord Parmoor
In office
23 October 1919 – 19 October 1922
Prime Minister David Lloyd George
Preceded by The Earl Curzon of Kedleston
Succeeded by The 4th Marquess of Salisbury
Foreign Secretary
In office
10 December 1916 – 23 October 1919
Prime Minister David Lloyd George
Preceded by The Viscount Grey of Fallodon
Succeeded by The Earl Curzon of Kedleston
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office
25 May 1915 – 10 December 1916
Prime Minister H. H. Asquith
David Lloyd George
Preceded by Winston Churchill
Succeeded by Sir Edward Carson
Leader of the Opposition
In office
27 February 1906 – 13 November 1911
Monarch Edward VII
George V
Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Succeeded by Andrew Bonar Law
In office
5 December 1905 – 8 February 1906
Monarch Edward VII
Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Preceded by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Lord Privy Seal
In office
11 July 1902 – 17 October 1903
Preceded by The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Succeeded by The 4th Marquess of Salisbury
Leader of the Conservative Party
In office
11 July 1902 – 13 November 1911
Preceded by The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Succeeded by Andrew Bonar Law
Chief Secretary for Ireland
In office
7 March 1887 – 9 November 1891
Prime Minister The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by Sir Michael Hicks Beach
Succeeded by William Jackson
Secretary for Scotland
In office
5 August 1886 – 11 March 1887
Prime Minister The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by The Earl of Dalhousie
Succeeded by The Marquess of Lothian
Personal details
Born Arthur James Balfour
(1848-07-25)25 July 1848
Whittingehame House, East Lothian, Scotland
Died 19 March 1930(1930-03-19) (aged 81)
Fishers Hill House, Woking, Surrey, England
Resting place Whittingehame Church, Whittingehame
Nationality British/Scottish
Political party Conservative
Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge
Occupation Politician
Statesman
Religion Church of England and
Church of Scotland
Signature Cursive signature in ink

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, FRS, DL (/ˈbælfər/; 25 July 1848 – 19 March 1930) was a British Conservative politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from July 1902 to December 1905, and later Foreign Secretary.

Entering Parliament in 1874, Balfour achieved prominence as Chief Secretary for Ireland, in which position he suppressed agrarian unrest whilst taking measures against absentee landlords. He opposed Irish Home Rule, saying there could be no half-way house between Ireland remaining within the United Kingdom or becoming independent. From 1891 he led the Conservative Party in the House of Commons, serving under his uncle, Lord Salisbury, whose government won large majorities in 1895 and 1900. A brilliant debater, he was bored by the mundane tasks of party management.

In July 1902 he succeeded his uncle as Prime Minister. He oversaw reform of British defence policy and supported Fisher's naval innovations. He secured the Entente Cordiale with France, leaving Germany in the cold. He cautiously embraced the imperial preference championed by Joseph Chamberlain, but resignations from the Cabinet over tariffs left his party divided. He also suffered from public anger at the later stages of the Boer war (counter-insurgency warfare characterized as "methods of barbarism") and the importation of Chinese labour to South Africa ("Chinese slavery"). He resigned as Prime Minister in December 1905 and the following month the Conservatives suffered a landslide defeat at the 1906 election, in which he lost his own seat. After re-entering Parliament at a by-election, he continued to serve as Leader of the Opposition throughout the crisis over Lloyd George's 1909 budget, the narrow loss of two further General Elections in 1910, and the passage of the Parliament Act. He resigned as party leader later in 1911.


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