Old and New Ministers at the Palace. Mr Neville Chamberlain and Hon E.F. Wood Chamberlain, [Arthur] Neville British Conservative politician; lord mayor of Birmingham 1915-1916; British health secretary 1923, 1924-1929; British chancellor of the exchequer 1923-1924, 1931-1937; British prime minister 1937-1940; signed Munich Pact 1938; recognized Francisco Franco's regime in Spain 1939; initiated peacetime conscription 1939; declared war on Germany after German invasion of Poland 1939; resigned as prime minister after losing vote of confidence in House of Commons; notorious for appeasement policy toward totalitarian regimes in order to avoid war, especially for appeasement of Adolf Hitler _1869-1940 Wood, Edward Frederick Lindley (Baron Irwin, Earl of Halifax) English diplomat and politician; governor-general of India 1926-1929; British foreign secretary 1938-1940; declined office of prime minister 1940; British ambassador to US 1941-1946 _1881-1959