While there he expressed his desire to become a Conservative MP, but at the same time, he held progressive views that were at odds with the party and the prevailing social norms at Charterhouse.

When Ronald was a child, Mary would take him with her on her trips to some of the poorer areas of Pershore, giving him a first-hand look at their dire living conditions.

After he left Charterhouse, since Mary could not afford to send her son to university, Ronald went to work at Conservative Party Central Office in London.

After Lionel Beaumont-Thomas decided to retire on health grounds in 1933, Cartland was chosen to replace him in Herbert Austin's former constituency of King's Norton, Birmingham.

[citation needed] Cartland's maiden speech to the Commons, in May 1936, attacked the National Government of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin for its less-than-enthusiastic attitude in aiding 'distressed areas', the parts of the UK that were suffering from extreme economic difficulties, with unemployment rates as high as 40%.

[4] On his return, he warned his fellow MPs of Adolf Hitler's expansionist plans for Austria and other countries of Central Europe and that sooner or later, Britain would be at war with Germany.

That caused outrage in the House and prompted Cartland to stand up and make his famous speech, which also included what turned out to be prophetic words for himself: "We are in the situation that within a month we may be going to fight, and we may be going to die.

The unit was assigned to defend the town of Cassel, a hilltop site near one of the main roads leading to the Channel port of Dunkirk, France.

Labour MP Chris Bryant wrote about Cartland and his young, gay Conservative colleagues who opposed Chamberlain's appeasement in his non-fiction work The Glamour Boys, subtitled "the secret story of the rebels who fought for Britain to defeat Hitler".