in Conservative MPs, could lead to a poor appointment and would maintain an imbalance, the Liberals having one more Cabinet minister than the Liberal Nationals did despite the latter having two more MPs. National Labour Lord Privy Seal Lord Snowden was increasingly siding with the Liberals on all key divisions, thus providing a surrogate. The appointment of the Conservative Lord Irwin upset the Liberals, who had no promise that the next Cabinet vacancy would be filled by a Liberal. In the summer of 1932, the Ottawa Agreement was negotiated between the dominions, and free trade seemed a dead cause within government. In September, the Liberals resigned their ministerial offices but did not withdraw complete support for the government until the following November. However the National Government did not break up, as the remaining National Labour and Liberal National elements remained in government. In 1933, Margesson was appointed to the Privy Council. In 1935, the Government came under fire from the Diehard Conservative wing of the Conservative Party over plans to implement the Government of India Act 1935, which would grant India more autonomy. The policy was widely felt to be a hangover from the previous Labour government and one that few Conservative governments would have implemented. Many believed that the plan would not have been pursued except for both a desire to prove the government's nonpartisan credentials and Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin's determination to implement the policy. For some, the question of the success of the policy became a question of the survival of the National Government. Opponents to Indian Home Rule found several spokespersons, most notably Winston Churchill, and they harried the government at every stage, with nearly one hundred Conservative MPs voting against the third reading of the Bill, the highest number of Conservatives to vote against a three-line whip in the twentieth century. Still, the Bill passed easily. Margesson was retained as Chief Whip when Baldwin became Prime Minister in June 1935 but had to face further rifts in the party over foreign policy and other matters. The government's majority was cut to 250 in the November 1935 general election. In December, the leaking of the proposed Hoare-Laval Plan to grant two-thirds of Abyssinia to Italy outraged some Conservative MPs. Margesson's reading of the mood led to the Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare being dropped from the government to soothe feelings and keep the government in power. The