Ministry of Reconstruction

On 21 August 1917, the last day of parliament’s sitting before the autumn recess, twenty-one acts received the royal assent in the House of Lords. Among them was the New Ministries Act, which created the British Ministry of Reconstruction. Its first section spoke of an office intended “to promote the work of reconstruction and development after the war”. The Minister of Reconstruction was to consider and advise on the problems arising from the war that would have to be faced after it ended: to conduct inquiries, prepare plans and report to parliament every year. The British chronology of the war records the creation of the new ministry under this date.

From committee to ministry

The idea was not new. As early as 1916 H. H. Asquith’s government had set up a Reconstruction Committee, from which many sub-committees grew. When David Lloyd George became head of the government, the committee was reorganised: the prime minister himself chaired it, with Edwin Montagu as vice-chairman. The government decided, however, that an advisory body was not enough. The war had swollen existing departments and created new ones, and each of them had its own ideas about the future. What was needed was a minister who would gather their work together, reconcile conflicting positions and have access to the War Cabinet.

That minister was Christopher Addison, a doctor and former lecturer in anatomy, Liberal member for Hoxton in London. In 1915 he became Lloyd George’s parliamentary secretary at the new Ministry of Munitions, and from December 1916 he headed it himself. On 17 July 1917, in the course of a wider government reshuffle, he handed that department over to Winston Churchill and took up reconstruction. According to some accounts, until the act was passed he was formally a minister without portfolio. Among those who worked with him was the young economist Arthur Greenwood, later a minister in Labour governments.

Disputes in parliament

The act did not pass easily. In the House of Commons an amendment excluding commercial, industrial and agricultural policy from the minister’s authority was rejected by a majority of only 24 votes. On 8 August in the House of Lords the Marquess of Salisbury said that the announcement of the bill had come as a shock to public opinion: “What? Another new Ministry! Another crowd of officials! Another gigantic building!” He admitted himself that reconstruction was a necessity, and listed its tasks: the demobilisation of the army and of munitions workers, housing for soldiers returning from the front, and peace in the world of labour, in which, as he said, deep mistrust prevailed. He warned, however, against starting great reforms in the middle of the war that were not directly connected with it. The Lords eventually narrowed the minister’s tasks to problems “arising out of the present war” and stipulated that orders transferring to him the powers of other departments required the approval of both Houses. The House of Commons accepted these amendments on 16 August.

What came next

The ministry dealt with matters ranging from demobilisation and industrial relations to housing and the place of women in the labour market. Among the products of its committees was Lord Haldane’s 1918 report on the machinery of government. Addison headed the department until 10 January 1919, and the ministry itself survived only until 1919. Many of its plans, however, found their way into post-war legislation, above all the Housing Act of 1919, which Addison himself carried through as Minister of Health and under which the state began to build cheap rented houses for workers.