Philip Kerr, known as Philip Kerr until 1930, was a British politician, diplomat and newspaper editor. He was private secretary to Prime Minister David Lloyd George between 1916 and 1921. He played a major role in the drafting of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, and was responsible for including the War Guilt Clause which he later felt was a mistake.
Background
Kerr was born in London, UK, the eldest son of Major-General Lord Ralph Kerr, third son of John Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian. His mother was Lady Anne Fitzalan-Howard, daughter of Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk, by the Honourable Augusta Mary Mina Catherine Lyons, daughter of Vice-Admiral Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons. He was a nephew of Edmund FitzAlan-Howard, 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent, and a great-nephew of Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons.
Education
He was educated at The Oratory School, Birmingham, Cardinal Newman's foundation, from 1892 to 1900 and New College, Oxford. Kerr took a First in Modern History in 1904 and in the same year tried unsuccessfully for an All Souls fellowship.
Career
He served in the South African government from 1905–10 after which he returned to the United Kingdom to found and edit the Round Table Journal. In 1916, he was appointed David Lloyd George's private secretary and was active in the Paris Peace Conference. For these services he was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in March 1920.
He was a member of what was called "Milner's Kindergarten". This was more a group of colonial officers who deemed themselves reformist than an actual political faction. They believed the colonies should have more say in the Commonwealth. In the terms of the era they were liberal, but in modern terms they might be deemed right wing as most of them only had interest in elevating the status of white colonials, rejected independence, and had a paternalistic view of non-whites. Philip Kerr became more liberal on these issues than them, admiring Mohandas Gandhi and trying, if not entirely succeeding, to be more progressive than them on racial issues.
He came from an aristocratic family who were staunch members of the Roman Catholic Church. He himself considered becoming a priest or monastic at times, but in adulthood he became disillusioned with the faith. His close friendship to Nancy Astor led to their both converting to the Church of Christ, Scientist together. The reaction of his family to this eventually led to his support of anti-Catholicism. A confirmed bachelor having never been romantically linked with any female, he left no heirs and the marquessate was inherited by his first cousin, Peter Kerr.
Lord Lothian was best known in the United States for having aided Washington Post owner Eugene Meyer scoop the world on reporting Britain's King Edward VIII's relationship with Wallis Simpson, eventually leading to Edward's abdication of the crown.
He was a Director of United Newspapers 1921–22, served for four months in 1931 as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and was Under-Secretary of State for India 1931–32.
Speaking on 24 June 1933, at Gresham's School, he said "There probably never was a time of more uncertainty in the world than today. Every kind of political and economic philosophy is seeking approbation, and there is every kind of uncertainty about social and personal habits."
He was later British Ambassador to the United States of America, from 1939 to 1940. He felt initial sympathy for Germany over the Treaty of Versailles and so at first he favoured appeasement, stating that in 1936, just after Germany reclaimed the Rhineland that it was nothing more than the Germans walking into their own back yard, however he later abandoned the idea after the Munich crisis. Devoted to the very end to the religion to which he had converted, he died having refused medical treatment as a Christian Scientist.
Lord Lothian bequeathed Blickling Hall to the National Trust.
Religion
The Kerr family were staunch members of the Roman Catholic Church. Kerr himself considered becoming a priest or monastic at times, but in adulthood he became disillusioned with the faith. His close friendship with Nancy Astor led to their both converting to the Church of Christ, Scientist together. Devoted to the very end to the religion to which he had converted, he died in Washington, D.C. in December 1940, aged 58, having refused medical treatment as a Christian Scientist. He never married and left no heirs, so the marquessate was inherited by his first cousin, Peter Kerr. He bequeathed Blickling Hall to the National Trust.
Politics
Lothian played a central role in enlisting American support for economic aid to the British war effort. Upon his arrival in New York on 23 November 1940, he told the assembled journalists: "Well, boys, Britain's broke; it's your money we want". The near-bankruptcy of the United Kingdom had been a closely guarded secret, and Lothian went well beyond Prime Minister Winston Churchill's instructions in divulging it. The remarks caused a sudden drop in confidence in sterling and were exploited by German propaganda. Lothian's statement helped force President Franklin Roosevelt's hand in responding to British appeals by proposing the Lend-Lease Program to aid Britain. He initiated the joint Anglo-American military organisation of the Combined Chiefs of Staff.