PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Isaac Leslie Hore-Belisha was born in Devonport in 1893, the son of a Sephardic Jew. Educated at Clifton College and at St John's College, Oxford University. Served as a Major in the Royal Army Service Corps during the First World War. Mentioned in despatches. Worked as a journalist for Lord Beaverbrook and a lawyer before being elected as Liberal MP for Devonport in 1923. He was considered to be a 'rogue of the first order' (as Mr Michael Foot later described him) and ambitious and is reported to have hit a fellow MP on one occasion. He supported the government of J Ramsey MacDonald by helping to found a new National Liberal Party, of which he became chairman. As a result of this support, he was appointed Financial Secretary of the Treasury. Mr Isaac Foot, who had helped Hore-Belisha win the nomination for the Devonport seat, never forgave him for what he perceived as treachery. His most noteworthy appointment came in 1934 when he was made Minister of Transport. He was responsible for introducing driving tests and the Highway Code but he most remembered for reducing the number of road accidents by introducing pedestrian crossings marked by lighted beacons, which became known as Belisha Beacons. In 1937 Leslie Hore-Belisha was appointed Secretary of State for War. Although this was a controversial appointment at the time, he won the support of the armed forces by improving pay, promotion prospects and pensions for all ranks. He also introduced showers and recreation rooms into modernised barrack buildings. He was no doubt applauded for allowing married men over the age of twenty-one to live with their families. Perhaps his most significant action during this period was the introduction in 1938 of military conscription, before the Second World War had even started. Unfortunately, being a Jew, he fell out of favour during the War. Indeed, attempts were made to have him sacked from the government as early as 1938 for that reason. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain planned to appoint him to the position of Minister of Information but even that suggestion was considered to be 'inappropriate' and eventually in January 1940 he was sacked from his position of Secretary of State for War. Hore-Belisha re-emerged in 1945 when Mr Winston Churchill appointed him as the Minister of National Insurance but the Conservative Party lost the general election in 1945. Mr Michael Foot, son of Mr Isaac Foot, won the Devonport seat. Leslie Hore-Belisha died in 1957.
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