a changing political landscape

Question 1

outline how britains political landscape changed after ww1

Answer 1

the liberal party went into a decline whilst the labour party grew from its tuc roots

Question 2

what factors enabled the growth of the labour party

Answer 2

associations with trade unions meant that working class identified with similar values

1911 wages for MPs act meant that politics was no longer a route for those already wealthy

representation of the peoples’ act

Question 3

how did the representation of the people’s act increase the British electorate

Answer 3

tripled from 7.7m to 21.4m leading to a dramatic expansion in labour party

Question 4

summarise the decline of the liberal party

Answer 4

During the First World War, the Liberal Party begins to split which leads those who support Lloyd George to form 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 than 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 5

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

Answer 5

The Representation of the People Act led to a growing number of working class voters which the Liberals failed to win over.

Question 6

Why were the Conservatives dominant in interwar British politics?

Answer 6

The electoral system of 1918.

Weaknesses of opposition parties.

Effective party organisation.

Effective leadership and image.

Question 7

How did changes in the electoral system help the Conservatives?

Answer 7

Plural voting remained until 1948 
constituency boundaries were redrawn This change gave middle class suburbs – greater representation.

Question 8

Why was the National Government formed in 1931?

Answer 8

The outcome of the 1929 General Election.

Weaknesses of the minority Labour government of 1929-31.

Economic problems caused by the Great Depression.

Role of Ramsay MacDonald.

Question 9

What was the outcome of the 1929 General Election?

Answer 9

What was the outcome of the 1929 General Election?

‘Safety First’ election campaign, the Conservatives did not do enough to retain office as a single party government.

The results of the General Election were unusual in that the Conservatives won the largest share of the vote with 38.2% but this was not translated into an overall majority of seats as they won 260 of the 605 seats contested while Labour won 287 seats.

Therefore, the Labour Party, led by Ramsay MacDonald returned to power, in a minority government supported by 59 Liberal MPs.

Question 10

what facors led to the formation of the national gov

Answer 10

proposals were to cut unemployment benefit by 10% in the end this split the Labour Party
an economic blizzard blew away his government.

Question 11

What challenges did the leaders of the National Government face between 1931 and 1945?

Answer 11

Economic threats – each leader had to deal with the aftermath of the Great Depression.

Opposition – each leader had to deal with the opposition the House of Commons provided. This was mainly through the Labour Party.

Rise of extreme politics – each leader faced the potential rise in extreme politics, particularly from the right and Oswald Mosley.

Foreign policy threats – each leader had to deal with the growing threats from abroad from, the issue of rearmament, through to appeasement and war.

Question 12

outline the meaning of post-war consensus

Answer 12

The post-war consensus is a name given by historians to an era in British political history that lasted from the end of World War II in 1945 to the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

Question 13

The post-war consensus can be characterised as a belief in:

Answer 13

Keynesian economics

A mixed economy

Nationalisation of major industries

The National Health Service

Commitment to full employment

A welfare state in Britain; social security and national insurance

Question 14

Why did WW2 set the stage for consensus?

Answer 14

The war changed the role of government, as the state was forced to take more control– Emergency Powers Act of 1940

The led to the Beveridge report in 1942 – in the report Beveridge envisioned a welfare state that could care for a person from cradle to grave.
- Labour’s promise to fulfil the report was a huge contributing factor in them winning the election.

There was a shift from a mainly free-market economy to a more mixed one, where the government used rationing, the Essential Work Order, conscription and censorship

Question 15

by 1945, how many citizens were taking part in war-related work.

Answer 15

by 1945, 1/3 of citizens were taking in war-related work.

Question 16

Why did Labour win by a landslide in the 1945 General Election?
(3 reasons)

Answer 16

leadership- During WW2 Atlee had managed the home front, showing that himself and the Labour party were capable leaders.

Policies - Labour promised to implement the policies of the extremely popular Beveridge Report, Churchill rejected the report and did not have a clear strategy for post-war recovery.

Public Mood - Public wanted a change after the harsh war years, they associated the Tories with the high unemployment of the 20s and 30s and failed appeasement

Question 17

Why did labour lose the 1950 and 1951 election?

Answer 17

Growing dissatisfaction over continued rationing.

Austerity (after 1947) wasn’t being perceived as bringing economic recovery quickly enough.

Question 18

what was the impact of Britains return to the gold standard in 1925 for industry

Answer 18

disastrous for traditional industries. The high exchange rates made British exports more expensive and less competitive, industries such as coal, steel, shipping and textiles had an even harder time selling abroad.

Question 19

by how much did keynes estimate that the pound was overvalued by?

Answer 19

Keynes famously argued the pound was overvalued by 10% compared to the dollar –this, made American exports far more advantageous than British ones, further damaging Britain’s export market.

Question 20

what did unemployment rise to during the depression

Answer 20

Unemployment rose to 2.5 million (25% of the workforce) in 1933, but it was higher in the north of Britain

The depression also lowered productivity for the whole country, and so demand for products such as coal and steel fell

Question 21

outline the common view that the depression disproportionately affected different parts of britain

Answer 21

The areas that were hit the hardest were those that centred on the traditional industries, such as coal in the north and in south Wales, textiles in Yorkshire and shipbuilding in Scotland and the Tyne – in the town of Jarrow in the north-east of England every man was made redundant after the coal mine, steel works and Palmer’s shipyard closed - Jarrow March in 1936

However, while these areas suffered from high unemployment, areas such as London and the south east remained prosperous as consumer industries enjoyed boomed.

Question 22

What was the pound devalued in 1931?

fall in exports; unemployment

Answer 22

The Great Depression led to a fall in exports by 50% and unemployment rising to 2.5 million in 1933.

The government cut spending and maintained high interest rates to preserve the value of the pound, which was still attached to the Gold Standard.

Question 23

What was the impact of the pound being removed from the Gold Standard in 1931?

Answer 23

The removal of the pound from the Gold Standard allowed for a quicker recovery from the depression compared with other countries.

Question 24

by how much did unemployment fall between 1932-37 as a result of withdrawing the pound from the gold standard

outline the term cheap money and what it involved

Answer 24

Unemployment fell from 17% to 8.5% between 1932 and 1937.

Interest rates were cut from 6% to 2% leading to greater borrowing. This policy was called ‘Cheap Money’.