Rise of Neville Chamberlain Birmingham, embittered by his experience in London. He wrote that the experience "reminds me of the Bahamas when the plants didn't grow". He had retained his seat on the City Council and busied himself with his civic duties, as well as his business interests and family life. In February 1918, having declined a third term as Lord Mayor, he was appointed Deputy Mayor. Chamberlain had formed a close friendship with his cousin, Norman Chamberlain, who had also served on the City Council and who shared the future Prime Minister's social ideals. In December 1917, Norman Chamberlain was reported missing in
Rise of Neville Chamberlain pleasing and appropriate that Chamberlain could now promote his father's policies, and Sir Austen Chamberlain wrote to his brother in November 1931, "Father's great work will be completed in his children." The tariff issue bitterly divided the Cabinet, and threatened to end the National Government. The Cabinet accepted a proposal by Lord Hailsham, Secretary of State for War, that they agree publicly to disagree, a rare suspension of the doctrine of Cabinet collective responsibility. Chamberlain prepared his tariff bill, which exempted the Dominions pending the Ottawa Conference, set for later that year. On 4 February 1932, he laid it before