balfours government Flashcards
what years was balfour pm
1902-1905
the boer war
- 1902- boer war was not unpopular- khaki election, conservatives won easily as they said they were going to continue in the war.
- when the war dragged on it becomes unpopular- harmed his image
- failure was to not end the war when it starting hurting his government
- not necessarily responsible for it
chinese slavery
- shortage of labour in the gold mines in South Africa so used imported slaves
- about 50,000
- lived in compounds with few amenities- caused outrage
- opposition emerged- middle class, moralists, BUT more angry about the use of it as it was replacing unionised white labour with cheaper foreign labour.
when was taff vale
1901
summarise taff vale
- taff vale workers went on strike over being forced to work
- taff vale company then sued the trade union for loss of profits (£23,000)
- frustrated workers as this appeared that they were liable to be sued for one of their human rights- now afraid to strike
- house of lords taff vale judgement of 1901 gave a ruling that a trade union could be sued by employers for loss of earnings
- national union had to pay £23,000 in damages for loss of earnings
- threatened ability of workers to go on strike- went against the spirit of the act of 1871 which made trade unions legal
- could destroy tade unions as a force- so now have to get more politically involved- so needed parties sympathetic towards them in parliament e.g. labour/liberals, empowering the opponents.
why was taff vale a mistake?
- mistake isnt because of the decision- he had no control over the decision itself, but it was a mistake because he allowed it to stand, so unions became political against him.
summarise the education act
*the education act 1902
* reorganised education
* allowed state provision for secondary schools and was brought about by the 1901 legal judgement called the Cockerton judgement- LDN school board had been exceeding the powers of the Education Act by providing secondary education
*BUT- non-conformists objected to having to pay rates for their children to be taught in rate assisted anglican schools- fears regarding an official state religion
summarise the licencing act
- legal decision (sharp v wakefield) that the number of pubs within britain should be reduced
- number of owners of breweries and pubs had their licenses took away
- had lost their livelihood and their income, and so claimed compensation
- non-conformists objected to paying compensation for a trade which they thought of as immoral
- temperance movement opposed balfour- however these people naturally supported the liberals anyway, so didn’t lose him very many votes, but instead gathers support for the liberals
judgement on the reason for his downfall
not necessarily a policy failure, more of a political failure in that regard
balfours inaction on issues such as taff vale led to the downfall- policies arguably not his own mistakes.
summation of the reasons for balfours government failure
- not ending the boer war when it hurt his image
- taff vale
- tariff reform
- chinese slavery
- education act 1902
- licensing act 1904
overall a result of his inaction which led to the alienation of different groups in society away from the conservative base and towards the liberal. did not tap into the progressive zeitgeist of the time. presented an image of a gov bogged down in crises, as opposed to the unified liberals.
three main arguments
- failure of balfour as a pm- his inaction
- failure of people within his own party- chamberlain (mismanaging of tariff reform crisis led to division)
- changes in the political and economic geography- more towards liberals
why was there an election
- accidental election (miscalculated move) - balfour resigned in dec 1905 in order to force the liberals into government
- hoped that the liberals would appear divided, would be a minority government without enough power to get things done so will naturally split
- henry campbell-bannermans party was more ideologically unified than ever- so don’t split
results of the 1906 election
- unionists= 157 seats
- liberals= 400 seats
- labour= 52 seats
- irish nationalists= 83 seats
