Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

In 1878, Arthur Balfour served as Private Secretary to his uncle, Lord Salisbury, and accompanied him, then serving as Foreign Secretary, to the Congress of Berlin.

For a time, Arthur Balfour was politically associated with Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff and John Gorst, known as the "Fourth Party", and gained notoriety for Lord Randolph Churchill's free criticism of Sir Stafford Northcote, Lord Cross and other prominent members of the "old gang".

In 1885, Lord Salisbury appointed Arthur Balfour President of the Local Government Board; and the following year he became Secretary for Scotland, with a seat in the cabinet.

Arthur Balfour earned the nickname 'Bloody Balfour', for his ruthless enforcement of the Crimes Act.

In 1891, Arthur Balfour became First Lord of the Treasury, the last one in British history not to have served concurrently as Prime Minister as well, and Leader of the House of Commons.

On July 11, 1902, Lord Salisbury resigned, and Arthur Balfour succeeded him as Prime Minister.
Prime Minster Balfour and his Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne, presided over the Entente cordiale of 1904.
In December, 1905, he resigned as Prime Minister.

In May, 1915, Arthur Balfour succeeded Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty.

In December, 1916, Arthur Balfour became Foreign Secretary in Lloyd George's administration.

As Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the letter to Lord Rothschild promising the Jews a "national home" in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Following the Versailles Conference in 1919, Arthur Balfour resigned as Foreign Secretary, but continued in the government, and the Cabinet after normal peacetime political arrangements resumed, as Lord President of the Council.

By late 1929, Arthur Balfour was immobilised by his phlebitis, and moved from Whittingehame to Fisher's Hill, his brother Gerald's home near Woking.