Alfred Ernest Brown (27 August 1881 – 16 February 1962) was a British politician who served as leader of the Liberal Nationals from 1940 until 1945. He was a member of Parliament and also held many other political offices throughout the Second World War. Biography Born in Torquay, Devon, Brown was the son of a fisherman and prominent Baptist and it was through following his father that he came to preach, gaining much experience as a public speaker. He soon came to the attention of the local Liberals and became a prominent public speaker at political meetings. Brown served in the First World War: in 1914 he joined the Sportsman's Battalion and in 1916 was commissioned as an officer in the Somerset Light Infantry. He was mentioned in dispatches and was awarded the Military Cross. After three unsuccessful attempts in other constituencies, he was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Rugby in the 1923 general election but lost his seat in the 1924 general election. In 1927 he returned to Parliament in a by-election at Leith. During this time he became a devoted follower of Sir John Simon as the latter became increasingly at odds with the leader of the Liberals, David Lloyd George, and the party's support, from 1929, for the minority Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald. In 1931 he followed Simon in resigning the Liberal party whip and then subsequently in setting up the Liberal Nationals. In cabinet In the National Government of Ramsay MacDonald, Brown became Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health in November 1931. The following year the official Liberal Cabinet ministers resigned from the government and Brown was promoted to become Secretary for Mines. In 1935 when MacDonald was succeeded as Prime Minister by Stanley Baldwin, Brown entered the Cabinet as Minister of Labour. This proved controversial as many believed that the Minister of Transport Leslie Hore-Belisha, had a stronger claim to be the next Liberal National to enter the Cabinet, though as unemployment was one of the government's biggest problems, many others felt that Brown's appointment to the job was not one to envy. He held the post for the next five years under both Baldwin and his successor, Neville Chamberlain. One of his most prominent achievements was the Unemployment Insurance (Agriculture) Act, 1936 which extended social security to nearly all workers in agriculture, forestry and horticulture. In another sphere