Page "David Margesson, 1st Viscount Margesson" Paragraph 5

In the summer of 1932 the Ottawa Agreement was negotiated between the Dominion Governments and Free Trade seemed a dead cause within government.

In September the Liberals resigned their ministerial offices, though did not withdraw complete support for the government until the following November.

However the National Government did not break up as the remaining National Labour and Liberal National elements remained in government.

The government also came under fire from the Diehard wing of the Conservative Party over plans to implement Indian Home Rule.

This policy was widely felt to be a hangover from the previous Labour government and one that few Conservative governments would have implemented.

Many believed that the plan was only being pursued because of a desire to prove the government's non-partisan credentials and Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin's determination to implement the policy.

For some, the question of the success of the policy became a question of the survival of the National Government.

Opponents to Indian Home Rule found several spokespersons, most notably Winston Churchill, and they harried the Government at every stage, culminating in a rebellion of nearly one hundred Conservative MPs voting against the third reading of the Bill — the single highest number of Conservatives to vote against a three line whip in the twentieth century.

Despite this, the Bill passed overwhelmingly.