1a political landscape

Question 1

Decline of the Liberals

How did the liberal party develop in interwar British politics?

Answer 1

 In the 1910 General Elections, the Liberal Party retained power and formed a government.
 In 1915, the Liberal Party had strong representation on the coalition wartime government.
 During the First World War, the Liberal Party begins to split which leads those who support Lloyd George forming a coalition government with the Conservatives after the 1918 General Election.
 The Liberal Party loses the 1922, 1924, 1929 and 1931 General Elections by large margins - 1922 Labour gains more seats then the Liberals and become the main opposition to Conservatives
 During this time, the Liberal Party supported the minority Labour governments of 1924 and 1929-31.

Question 2

Why did the Liberal party fall as a political force in the interwar period?

Answer 2

1. Collapse of party unity.
2. Impact of the Representation of the People Act.
3. Impact of the 1918 General Election.
4. Failure of Lloyd George after 1922.

Question 3

How did the First World War impact upon Liberal unity?

Answer 3

 The First World War saw the government implement the Defence of the Realm Act [1914] which gave the government extended powers, such as economic controls, conscription and rationing to avoid defeat.
 These illiberal measures were opposed by many in the Liberal Party.
 However, DORA was supported by leading and popular Liberal, David Lloyd George. Lloyd George in 1916 managed to oust traditional Liberal, Herbert Asquith as Prime Minister. This was as much to do with Asquith’s wartime leadership as well as policies.
 Asquith’s ousting outraged many traditional Liberals who saw Lloyd George as a traitor and continued to support Asquith.
 This split was crystallised in the Maurice Debate which was sparked by a public letter by General Maurice who accused Lloyd George of lying to Parliament about the number of troops on the Western Front. Asquith attacked Lloyd George when the issue was debated in Parliament and demanded an inquiry.
 Asquith led an attempt to oust Lloyd George with the support of the majority of Liberal MP’s, but this failed.

Question 4

To what extent did the Representation of the People Act 1918 damage the Liberals?

Answer 4

Significant damage
 ROPA extended the electorate by 13 million people, including young, working class men - the working class made up the majority (80%) of the electorate - and (some) women
 The Representation of the People Act led to a growing number of working class voters which the Liberals failed to win over.
 Effectiveness of the Labour Party in adapting to the new areas of the electorate took votes away from the Liberals.
 Between 1910 (before ROPA) and 1923 (after ROPA) the Labour party went from having 7.1% of the vote to having 30.5%, meanwhile the Liberals share of the vote declined – from 43.9% to 29.6% - evidence that the new influx of voter led to a rise in the Labour Party’s power – and a decline of the Liberals.

Limited damage
 The working class vote did not increase to the extent where it could have led to such a decline in Liberal seats.
 Liberals failed to challenge the development of the first past the post system and this only really damaged the Liberals in the 1930s – by then the decline was too far gone.

Question 5

Was the 1918 ‘Coupon Election’ a turning point in Liberal fortunes?

Answer 5

• Because the divisions within the Liberal Party did not heal in time, the 1918 General Election was contested by two Liberal Parties – one which supported Lloyd George and the other who supported Asquith.
• Lloyd George made a coalition with the Conservatives – who were desperate for office after an absence of 18 years and allied themselves with the popular Lloyd George, who did not have enough Parliamentary Liberals to support him.
• Any candidate who stood for election on behalf of the Lloyd George/Conservative coalition was issues with a ‘Coupon’ – a letter confirming they stood for the coalition.
• The coalition won by a landslide with the Conservatives as the dominant partner with 335 seats and Lloyd George Liberals with 133 seats. Only 28 Asquith Liberals won seats with Asquith losing his.

The impact of the ‘Coupon Election’ was far reaching on the Liberals –
 Asquith’s leadership never recovered.
 The Lloyd George Liberals were dependent on the Conservatives and had a weak position in Parliament.
 The split between the party deepened - Lloyd George was ejected from the Leamington party conference in 1920 by Asquith and his supporters
 Lloyd George tried to make the coalition permanent with the formation of an anti-Labour ‘Centre Party’. This attempt failed and divided Liberals even further.

Question 6

How did Lloyd George’s conduct damage the Liberal party in 1922?

Answer 6

 Lloyd George had made his name as a champion of limiting the rights of the privileged and the ‘man who won the war’.
 In June 1922, a scandal emerged where he was selling knighthoods and peerages amassing a huge political fortune - a knighthood could be bought for £10 000 -[which he refused to share with the Liberals unless they followed his ideas].
 The scandal did much damage to his credibility and he was portrayed as corrupt.
 At the same time, he was seen as a warmonger, threatening Turkey if it sought to revise the terms of the peace treaty in the Chanak Incident.
 These events led to the Conservatives withdrawing from the coalition and forcing Lloyd George to resign.
 The subsequent election saw the Conservatives win a handsome majority with Lloyd George’s National Liberals in third place, overtaken by Labour

Question 7

How did the Liberals try to bounce back from the 1922 General Election?

Answer 7

 Lloyd George’s personal unpopularity, divisions between the Liberals and the rise of the Labour Party were significant reasons why the Liberals lost the 1922 General Election.
 In the 1922, 1923 and 1924 elections the Liberals lacked the proper funds to run successful campaigns or field as many candidates as the Conservative and Labour partys (this was party due to Lloyd George withholding funds from the Liberal party unless they gave him their full support)
 Although it supported a minority Labour government in 1924, their share of the vote fell by 12% in the 1924 General Election, This was down to the Liberals losing the confidence of their traditional voter base as many turned to the Conservatives.
 After Asquith’s resignation, Lloyd George was able to reunite the Liberals in 1926.
 Lloyd George tried to create a viable set of policies to solve the growing problem of unemployment and investment in industry presented in their ‘The Yellow Book’. They never gained the support of the electorate and the Liberals became increasingly marginalised and their share of the vote continued to fall throughout the 1920s.
 FPTP further limited their ability to gain seats; as it favoured a two party race, and after 1922 the two dominant parties were the Conservatives and Labour – In 1924 election the Liberals gained 17.6% of the vote, but were only awarded 40 seats, Labour gained 33.0% of the vote, but were awarded 151 seats.

Question 8

Rise of Labour

How did the Labour party develop in interwar British politics?

Answer 8

 In the 1918 General Election, the Labour Party had 57 seats. This increased to 142 seats in the 1922 General Election.
 In December 1923, the Labour Party won 191 seats and formed a minority government with the support of 158 Liberals.
 Conservatives won the 1924 general election with a large majority after the Labour Party are tainted with accusations of Soviet sympathies.
 Labour won 287 in the 1929 general election and forms a minority government which lasted until 1931.
 The 1931 General Election saw a meltdown of the Labour vote – winning 46 seats – losing many of its leading politicians.

Question 9

Why was the Labour party able to develop in interwar British politics?

Answer 9

1. Preserved party unity.
2. Developed grassroots organisation.
3. Developments in the voting system.
4. Independence from the Liberal Party.

Question 10

How did the Labour party preserve party unity?

Answer 10

	Because of how the Labour Party were formed through the TUC, this gave them a strong sense of class consciousness among the industrial workforce. This meant that the Labour Party could make a serious claim of representing the working classes giving it a political identity and receiving loyalty from the working man.
	There were strong divisions within the Labour Party about supporting the war effort. This division was healed in 1917 when Labour ministers resigned from the wartime coalition. However, despite this division, they remained unified on issues that affected the working people, such as prices and pensions.
	The effective leadership of Arthur Henderson between 1914 and 1917 was down to his ability to reflect a consensus view of the Labour movement. He was also, the first Labour leader to gain representation at cabinet level.

Question 11

How did the organisation of the Labour party develop during the interwar period?

Answer 11

 Thanks to union backing, who provided funds and membership, the Labour Party was able to develop a national political machine.
 In 1917, the Labour Party began to develop local party branches and by 1924 only 19 constituencies did not have a Labour Party local branch. This gave Labour a national identity and allowed them field a similar number of candidates to the Conservatives in the elections of the 1920s.
 However, because of the trade unions control of party finances, there was a distortion of funding for campaigns in winnable areas, such as constituencies with mining communities.

Question 12

How did changes to the voting system impact upon the Labour party?

Answer 12

	The impact of the Representation of the People Act of 1918 on the Labour Party remains controversial. Without doubt, this act transformed the electorate by tripling it and including more working class voters as well as women. To what extent, these new voters swayed towards the Labour Party remains unclear.
	The 1918 General Election was strongly influenced by patriotism. Those Labour politicians who took a popular, anti-German line won handsomely, while those who took a more pacifist line were heavily defeated.
	Internal organisation allowed for more Labour candidates to stand for election. This not only boosted Labour’s chances of winning seats but also gave a stronger impression that Labour was a national political party.

Question 13

How did the Labour party break away from Liberal influence during the interwar years?

Answer 13

 Before 1914, there were close links between the Liberal and the Labour Parties. Both were left-wing parties but the Liberals were the senior members in this unofficial partnership.
 After 1914, the Labour Party began to develop a separate identity from the Liberals by promoting free-trade, internationalism and social reform. Then it drew up its new constitution in 1918 which tied itself to nationalisation of key industries.
 This led to a more ruthless approach in elections in aiming to establish an independent identity. This was demonstrated in the 1923 General Election where it capitalised on the splits within the Liberals and was able to sweep up much former Liberal support.
 The 1924 Labour minority government was then able to establish a reputation of economic caution and competence in foreign affairs rebutting Liberal plotting of discrediting Labour politicians.

Question 14

Conservative dominance 1918-1931

How were the conservatives dominant in interwar British politics?

Answer 14

 David Lloyd George’s Coalition Government of 1918 to 1922 was dominated by Conservative MPs. The government was made up of 335 Conservatives alongside 133 Lloyd George Liberals and 10 Coalition Labour MPs.
 The Conservatives withdraw from the coalition in 1922 and win the following election.
 In December 1923, the Conservatives lose their overall majority in the election but remain the largest party in Parliament with 258 seats compared with 191 Labour and 158 Liberals.
 Conservatives win the 1924 general election with a large majority.
 Conservatives lose the 1929 general election, although no party has an overall majority.
 Conservatives agree to participate in the National Government in 1931 and become the dominant party in this coalition government until 1945.

Question 15

Why were the conservatives dominant in interwar British politics?

Answer 15

1. The electoral system of 1918.
2. Weaknesses of opposition parties.
3. Effective party organisation.
4. Effective leadership and image.

Question 16

How did changes in the electoral system help the conservatives?

Answer 16

	Plural voting remained until 1948 which distorted the impact of traditional Conservative voters. Plural voting enabled businessmen who lived in one constituency and owned property in another to vote in both constituencies. People could also vote in their home constituencies AND in their university constituency. Both businessmen and under/graduates tended to vote Conservative. 
	In 1918, constituency boundaries were redrawn to reflect population movements. This change gave middle class suburbs – those people who owned their property - greater representation.
	This unevenness was exacerbated by the first past the post electoral system. In 1918 it was calculated that it took 15, 943 to return a Conservative MP, 29, 898 for a Labour MP and 26, 116 for a Liberal MP.
	In 1921, the Irish Free State gained independence. Independence from the UK resulted in the loss of 80 Nationalist MP’s, who had supported the Liberals. In contrast the Conservatives continued to receive support from 10 Northern Irish MP’s

Question 17

How did the division within the Opposition parties help the conservatives?

Answer 17

 The Liberals, who the main opposition to the Conservatives before 1918, were plagued by division. Much of this was due to Lloyd George, the Liberal leader.
 By 1931, many of the right wing Liberals spilt from the official Liberal Party and became National Liberals forming a close alliance with the Conservative Party.
 The Labour Party found it difficult in the interwar years to establish themselves outside their industrial working class heartlands.
 In 1931, the Labour government was deeply divided over how to handle the economic crisis and were decimated in the general election of that year.

Question 18

How effective were the conservatives organised?

Answer 18

 Because the Conservatives were seen as the ‘party of property’, funding was not a problem. Therefore, the party were able to field more candidates, distribute party materials more widely and to exploit new technologies, such as the cinema, to get across its message.
 The Conservatives developed a true national party structure with organised local branches and a network of professional agents.
 Internal organisation was also developed with the Conservative Research Department being created in 1929 which was responsible for research, drafting speeches and preparing party documents, such as election manifestoes.

Question 19

How effective was their image?

Answer 19

	The rebranding of the Conservative Party began in the 1870s moving away from the party of wealth and privilege to ‘one nation Tories’ - which promoted empire, patriotism and national defence. This move was designed to attract the uncommitted working class voter – which it did.
	The dominant figure in the Conservative Party in the interwar years was Stanley Baldwin, who was leader between 1923 and 1937. He continued this rebranding, presenting himself as a straight-talking man of the people, although he could be seen as dull - ‘safety first’ campaign.
	Although he owned a fortune in the steel industry, Baldwin was known to run his factories fairly and promote good working relationships between employers and workers. 
	Therefore, Baldwin gained a reputation for economic competence and this helped not only bolster support from traditional voters but also attracted wealthy, middle class Liberals.
	This had been a challenge as Baldwin was a key figure in destroying the Lloyd George Coalition in 1922. In 1922 he supported free trade, taking away the policy that had United the liberals, and before returning to Protectionism in 1924.