The YMCA
Skelton was re-elected for Perth in 1924 and again in 1929. He quickly struck up friendships with the Conservative MPs like Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Robert Boothby, John Buchan and Oliver Stanley, and became the intellectual leader of a Parliamentary grouping dubbed the 'YMCA' by cynical older Parliamentarians. The group lobbied to make sure that Stanley Baldwin, the prime minister, resisted the influence of reactionary elements in the Conservative Party and instead implemented progressive legislation. Baldwin was sympathetic, and it was soundings with the YMCA which prevented Baldwin backing a controversial Political Levy Bill which would have had disastrous consequences for UK trade union relations.
Skelton also maintained the group's journalistic presence, writing several articles for the Spectator, the Quarterly Review and the English Review.
Read more about this topic: Noel Skelton