Leopold Amery was a journalist and a British Conservative Party politician with a particular interest in the British Empire. He was born in Gorakpur, India in 1873 and was educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. He became a correspondent for the Times and during the time he worked for The Times (1899-
Amery was subsequently asked to become editor of the Observer and the Times but he turned down both offers to become a politician. He stood as a candidate in the 1908 election for Wolverhampton East but narrowly lost but in 1911 he was more successful, being elected as the MP for Birmingham South as a Liberal Unionist. He continued to represent this constituency until the 1945 election.
Amery served as an Intelligence Officer in the Balkans for two years before joining Lloyd George’s Cabinet Secretariat in 1916. He helped draft the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and after the war was First lord of the Admiralty in Bonar law’s government. He became Colonial Secretary in 1924, retaining the post until 1929. He supported Imperial Preference, helped to establish the Empire Marketing Board and was responsible for organising the Imperial Conference of 1926. During World War two he was Secretary of State for India and Burma and sought independence for the sub-
Leopold Amery