Joseph Chamberlain Amongst the dignitaries present were former Prime Minister Arthur Balfour, Bonar Law, Chamberlain's sons Austen and Neville (then Lord Mayor of Birmingham), and other members of the Chamberlain, Hutton and Martineau families. Winston Churchill called Chamberlain "a splendid piebald: first black, then white, or, in political terms, first fiery red, then true blue". This is the conventional view of Chamberlain's politics, that he became gradually more conservative, beginning to the left of the Liberal party and ending to the right of the Conservatives. An alternative view is that he was always a radical in home affairs and an imperialist in
Lord Mayor of London The ceremony is known as the "Silent Ceremony" because, aside from a short declaration by the incoming Lord Mayor, no speeches are made. At Guildhall, the outgoing Lord Mayor transfers the mayoral insignia — the seal, the purse, the sword and the mace — to the incoming Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayor to be elected in November 2017 was known in April of that year. The day after being sworn into office, the Lord Mayor leads a procession from the City of London to the Royal Courts of Justice in the City of Westminster, where the Lord Mayor swears allegiance