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John Campbell in Haldane: The Forgotten Statesman Who Shaped Britain and Canada makes a convincing argument that Richard Haldane, a philosopher-statesman, was one of the great figures of British and Canadian history. Born and educated in Scotland, Haldane was a brilliant lawyer and was first elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal member of parliament in 1885. He held cabinet office as a reforming War Secretary (1905-1912) – Douglas Haig considered him to be the finest war secretary Britain had ever had – and as Lord Chancellor (1912-1915 and 1924). The ambitious and indefatigable Haldane created or influenced the establishment of a long list of institutions or bodies, including the Imperial General Staff, Territorial Army, British Expeditionary Force, Royal Air Force, MI5, MI6, Medical Research Council, Imperial College, London School of Economics, and a host of other universities across England, Wales, and Ireland. As Lord Chancellor, in the Asquith and the first MacDonald governments, his judicial judgements shaped Canadian federalism (for good or ill).

Haldane greatly admired Germany, being fluent in the language and enjoying German culture, literature, and philosophy, and thought that a peaceful accommodation could be made between Britain and Germany. This admiration of Germany, contributed to Haldane being the target of a vicious and thoroughly reprehensible newspaper campaign in the opening months of the First World War. He was denounced as pro-German and accused of colluding with Berlin. Prime Minister Asquith, despite Haldane having been the best man at his wedding, dropped him from the cabinet on the formation of the coalition government in 1915. Winston Churchill was among those that notably did not defend Haldane, writing to him that, “I am so short of credit at the moment that I can only make an encouraging signal but you must take the will for the deed.”

Haldane: The Forgotten Statesman Who Shaped Britain and Canada is a fine work of scholarship that is extensively researched, complete with nearly 100 pages of Notes and Bibliography. It, however, has a somewhat awkward structure that might make for difficult reading for a reader unfamiliar with Haldane’s life. Rather than a chronological biography, the volume is arranged by themes and different aspects of Haldane’s life. 

Also ranking among Haldane’s many accomplishments in his long career was a besting of Winston Churchill on at least one occasion. Churchill had run across Haldane one day in the lobby of the House and tapped him on his great stomach and asked, “What’s in there, Haldane?” “If it is a boy,” said Haldane, “I shall call him John. If it is a girl, I shall call her Mary. But if it is only wind, I shall call it Winston.”