Arthur Greenwood

Arthur Greenwood (8 February 1880 – 9 June 1954) was a British politician who was Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1945. He had been Minister of Health in Ramsay MacDonald's government from June 1929 to August 1931. As his party's deputy leader in opposition, he was an outspoken critic of the government's appeasement policy. Following the Norway Debate in May 1940, he and Labour leader Clement Attlee urged Neville Chamberlain to resign as Prime Minister. On their recommendation, Labour agreed to serve under his successor Winston Churchill who invited Attlee and Greenwood to join his select war cabinet, in which Greenwood became Churchill's main supporter. Greenwood had roving responsibilities as a minister without portfolio.

In February 1942, Greenwood resigned from the war cabinet to take over the important House of Commons post of Leader of the Opposition. Although there was effectively no opposition to Churchill's government during the war, it is necessary for the role to be filled in order that Commons business can be undertaken, so Greenwood held it on an acting basis.