20s Politics Flashcards

1
Q

Who was the leader of the Liberal Party 1916-22?

A

David Lloyd George

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2
Q

What were some strengths of the Liberal Party?

A
  • PM who won the war
  • Extended national insurance and unemployment benefit
  • Maintained a post-war coalition for almost 4 years
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3
Q

What were the acts that the Liberals passed?

A
  • Addison Housing Act 1919
  • Fisher Education Act 1918
  • 1922 Geddes Axe
  • 1918 Representation of the People Act
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4
Q

What was the Addison Housing Act, and when?

A

1919

Gave powers to local councils, resulting in over 100,000 houses being planned to be built

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5
Q

What as the Fisher Education Act, and when?

A
1918
Extended education leaving age to 14
Provided nursery school to toddlers
Scrapped fees for elementary school
Provided free, compulsory health checks for secondary pupils
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6
Q

What was the Geddes Axe, and when?

A

1922
Cuts in army, navy, education, housing. public health in order to make government savings of £75 million
Actually made matters worse

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7
Q

What were some weaknesses of the Liberal Party?

A
  • Allegations of corruption and sexual sleaze
  • 1921 - Over 80 million days lost to strikes
  • 1919 - Industrial ‘triple alliance’ was resurrected (miners, railwaymen, and transport workers) - demanded 30% pay rise, Lloyd George was arguably buying time, and rejected recommendations to fix this issue, given by the Sankey Commission
  • 1922 - Knighthood Scandal
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8
Q

What was the Knighthood Scandal, and when?

A

1922

  • Sold 1,500 knighthoods to fund his party
  • Didn’t get background checks, thus sold honours to someone with fraud convictions
  • Ruined Lloyd George’s reputation
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9
Q

What was the Representation of the People Act, and when? (1st one)

A

1918

Gave more people the right to vote - all men over 21, and women over 30

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10
Q

What was the Labour Party originally?

A

Established in 1900

Political pressure group

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11
Q

Who was the PM of Labour, and when were they in power? (1st time)

A

Ramsay MacDonald

1924 - 9 months

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12
Q

What were the reasons for the rise of Labour? (1st time)

A
  • Representation of the People Acts - 3x the size of the British electorate
  • 1917 - Began developing local party branches - gave Labour national identity
  • Strong sense of class consciousness - proud to be working-class
  • Received loyalty from the working man
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13
Q

What were the reasons for the fall of Labour? (1st time)

A
  • Labour was only a minority government, thus relied on Liberals and depended on their support - couldn’t do anything that could be considered extreme
  • Conservatives and media suggested there might be Soviet Sympathisers among the cabinet
  • Led to Labour trying to seem more moderate - not liked by working-class
  • MacDonald, after a vote of confidence, resigned
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14
Q

Who was the PM of the Conservatives? (1924-29)

A

Stanley Baldwin

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15
Q

Why did the Conservatives perform so well?

A
  • Baldwin was seen as a straight talking man of the people
  • Baldwin wanted to be seen as a more moderate politician - gained support also from working people
  • Plural Voting (remained until 1948) - Voting in more than 1 Constituency was allowed
  • Liberals - plagued by division
  • Labour - Found it difficult during interwar period to establish themselves outside of working-class support
  • 1921 - Irish Free State gained independence from UK - Liberals lost 80 nationalist MPs
  • Funding was never an issue
  • Baldwin was the 1st politician to use radio to deliver speeches
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16
Q

When did Labour come back into power? Who?

A

1929-31

Ramsay MacDonald

17
Q

What Acts did Labour pass? (2nd time)

A
  • 1930 Housing Act
  • 1930 Coal Mines Act
  • Amended the Unemployment Insurance Act
18
Q

What was the 1930 Housing Act?

A

Cleared 3/4 of a million slum housing, and replaced them with modern houses by 1939

19
Q

What was the 1930 Coal Mines Act?

A

Ensure better pay for workers and more efficient pits

20
Q

What did MacDonald do when amending the Unemployment Insurance Act?

A

Created public work schemes to ease unemployment

Planned to be funded with over £20 million of government money

21
Q

What problems did Labour face? (2nd time)

A
  • Gold Standard Crisis 1929-32
22
Q

What was the Gold Standard Crisis, and when?

A

1929-32

  • Due to Wall Street Crash, £ was being rapidly converted to gold, to keep the country somewhat stable
  • This was then depleting the gold reserves
  • May Committee (appointed by MacDonald) recommended severe cuts in expenditure
  • Ramsay agreed, yet majority of government didn’t
  • Resulted in Ramsay resigning
  • Sep 1931 - Government abandoned gold standard, thus £ was devalued against the $
  • Began a slow recovery
  • Ended by mid 1932