Publisher's Synopsis
Born in Hull into a family of Liberal Methodists, Kingsley Wood was a solicitor and poor man's lawyer committed to individual rights, one-nation politics and applied Christianity. First a local Conservative politician, then a national one, he would now be described as the man who got things done. Wood helped national insurance and the Ministry of Health into being and oversaw the "homes for heroes" housing programme after World War I. He campaigned for allotments, earlier shop closing, the right to jury trial and the rule of law. He was instrumental in the downfall of the first Labour government in 1924. Winston Churchill appointed him Chancellor of the Exchequer in May 1940, the office he still held at his death in September 1943.
