Rufus Isaacs was born at 3 Bury Street, in the parish of St Mary Axe, London, the son of a Jewish fruit importer at Spitalfields.

In 1887 he married Alice Edith Cohen, who suffered from a chronic physical disability and died of cancer in 1930, after over 40 years of marriage.

Having earlier contested unsuccessfully North Kensington in 1900, Isaacs entered the House of Commons as the Liberal Party member of Parliament (MP) for Reading at the by-election on 6 August 1904, a seat he held for nine years until 1913.

As attorney general, he led the prosecutions of Edward Mylius for criminal libel against King George V (and was appointed KCVO shortly after), of poisoner Frederick Seddon (the only murder trial Isaacs ever took part in), and of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst.

[7] An article published in Le Matin on 14 February 1913 alleged corruption in the award of a government contract to the Marconi Company and insider trading in Marconi's shares, implicating a number of sitting government ministers, including Lloyd George, the chancellor of the Exchequer; Isaacs, then attorney general; Herbert Samuel, postmaster general; and the treasurer of the Liberal Party, Lord Murray.

[9][10] Isaacs and Samuels sued Le Matin for libel, and as a result, the journal apologised and printed a complete retraction in its 18 February 1913 issue.

[8][11][12] The factual matters were at least partly resolved by a parliamentary select committee investigation, which issued three reports: all found that Isaacs and others had purchased shares in the American Marconi company, but while the fellow-Liberal members of the committee cleared the ministers of all blame, the opposition members reported that Isaacs and others had acted with "grave impropriety".

Although reluctant to abandon his political career Isaacs felt he had little choice: to refuse would be to suggest that the Marconi scandal had tainted him.

Returning to England for six months in 1918, he frequently attended the War Cabinet and was sent to France as Lloyd George's confidential emissary.

Reading preferred a conciliatory policy: he was determined to implement the provisions of the Government of India Act 1919 and opposed racial discrimination.

On 5 November 1929 he attacked Irwin in the House of Lords for using the term "Dominion Status" with regard to India, prior to the report of the Simon Commission.

[18] On his return from India, Reading, who had no pension and was a heavy spender, sat on several corporate boards, and later became president of Imperial Chemical Industries.

In MacDonald's National Government in August 1931, Reading briefly served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Lords, but stood down after the first major reshuffle in November due to ill-health.

[citation needed] The Lord Reading Law Society, founded in 1948 to promote the interests of Jewish members of the Quebec Bar, was named for him.

[23] Isaacs championed the taxation of land values and reforms in the legal standing of unions, education, licensing, and military organization.