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Most of us, who are interested in politics, would be able to answer that evergreen pub quiz question: “Who was the UK’s first Labour Prime Minister?”

Ramsay MacDonald, I hear you cry.

But when pushed to say more about the truly ground-breaking Labour government of 1924, most of us would probably be reduced to mumbling “um er”.

Peter Clark’s book “The Men Of 1924” is an exceptionally informative and readable account of that stunning change in British politics.

To borrow from the book’s dust jacket, the “administration witnessed a radical departure from government by the ruling class. A majority of the new cabinet had left full time education by the time they were fifteen. Two were illegitimate, one was a foundling, three were from Irish immigrant families, another three had worked in coal mines before they were teenagers.”

For the first time, Britain’s government could be said to contain (albeit all male) representatives from across the classes of society.

The book starts with an account of how the first Labour government came about. Then there is a chapter on Ramsay Macdonald, followed by biographies of the “big four” under him in the government. Then the book tells us about the “Old Labour” people in the cabinet followed by the “New Labour” ones. It then ends with a description of how the government ended.

Some things in the book which stood out for me were:

John Clynes. From a migrant Irish family, he grew up in slums and started working barefoot in a mill at the age of ten. He self-educated himself in his (little) spare time in the Oldham Co-op library. He studied the dictionary by candle-light in the evenings. He got involved in politics and became a brilliant speaker, who strongly promoted the trade unionist cause. During the 1924 government he was Deputy Leader of the Labour party (having previously been leader) and Lord Privy Seal.

Philip Snowden became Chancellor of the Exchequer and was, I recently found out, the hero of Harold Wilson.

I also learnt from the book (and I admit I was ignorant of this) that there were several Labour members of the First World War coalition government and they helped to bring in several measures which were socialist in nature and essential in a wartime period.

All in all, it is a brilliant book, giving us an insight into an often forgotten, but truly historic, government in our history.

“The Men Of 1924” is written by Peter Clark and published by Haus Publishing.

* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.