Rise of Neville Chamberlain controversial biography of Chamberlain by Conservative Party chairman Iain Macleod defended Chamberlain's ministerial record. Macleod pointed out that Chamberlain had been a "most valiant" champion of rearmament as Chancellor as early as 1934, but that little was done. According to "Time" magazine, Macleod saw Chamberlain as a "humanitarian industrialist, <nowiki>[a]</nowiki> progressive Lord Mayor of Birmingham and a dedicated Minister of Health who was damned as a 'Tory socialist'<nowiki>[.]</nowiki> Chamberlain had worked tirelessly in the '20s and '30s for the 'noble and fascinating ideal' of fashioning a better life for Britain's workingman." The 1960s and 1970s saw a further reassessment of
Neville Chamberlain July 1940, which blamed Chamberlain and his associates for the Munich accord and for allegedly failing to prepare the country for war. Most historians in the generation following Chamberlain's death held similar views, which were led by Churchill in "The Gathering Storm". However, some recent historians have taken a more favourable perspective of Chamberlain and his policies, citing government papers released under the Thirty Year Rule and arguing that going to war with Germany in 1938 would have been disastrous as the UK was unprepared. Nonetheless, Chamberlain is still unfavourably ranked amongst British Prime Ministers. Chamberlain was born on 18