Great Lives

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Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

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Great Lives: First Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald

First Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, First Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald

Ramsay Macdonald, Labour's first Prime Minister, chosen by Shaun Ley.

Political broadcaster Shaun Ley chooses Labour's first Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. With Matthew Parris. From 2019.

Ramsay MacDonald, Labour's first Prime Minister, is chosen by Shaun Ley.

In 1931 Ramsay MacDonald went to see the king in order to resign. George V persuaded him to stay, and a story of party betrayal began. 

Broadcaster Shaun Ley and journalist Anne Perkins pick through events that have a contemporary ring as the political class of the thirties struggled to cope with fast moving events. 

MacDonald's own story and background is remarkable too - illegitimate son, born in Lossiemouth in Scotland, he is remembered as one of the early founding fathers of the Labour party, and a man who bravely spoke out against the First World War.

Presenter: Mathew Parris

Producer: Miles Warde

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2019.

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First Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald

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