BRITAIN Breadth 2 PART 1 Flashcards
When did the Whigs unite with the Liberals and the Peelites to form the Liberal Party?
1859
Who was responsible for the creation of a basic welfare state?
Liberals in the years before 1914
When did Lloyd George resign as PM?
1922
When was the Labour Party created?
1906
When did Labour become the second biggest party in government?
1922
When did George III come to the throne?
1760
How did George III’s ascension affect politics?
He upset established conventions because he was keen to play an active role in government
When was Pitt’s first government?
1783-94
How many MPs were in Grey’s ministry in 1830?
3
What was the composition of Pitt’s first cabinet?
3 members of HoC; 3 members of HoL
In the 1780s, who were the most influential opposition group in the HoC?
Rockingham Whigs
Who led the Rockingham Whigs?
Edmund Burke
When did Burke present a reform plan to the HoC?
1780
What did Burke attack in his reform plan?
High expenditure that went on maintaining the royal court
What contributed to the collapse of the Yorkshire Association and other similar bodies?
Fall of North’s government in 1782; end of American war in 1783
What was Pitt’s main aim as PM?
To bring the national finances under control
When did Pitt die?
1806
What contributed after 1910 to the declining influence of the the Crown over the HoC?
Fading mental powers of George III
What legislation was especially important in reducing the influence of successive monarchs over parliament?
Reform Act 1832
Who won the general election of 1832?
Whigs and their allies
Why did William IV dismiss Lord Melbourne as PM?
He was worried about the Whigs’ proposals for reforms to the Irish church
When did William IV dismiss Lord Melbourne as PM?
1834
Who did William IV invite to form a government in Lord Melbourne’s place?
Peel
When did Lord Melbourne return to office?
1835
Why did Lord Melbourne return to office?
Peel’s Conservatives only had 175 seats and asked for immediate dissolution of Parliament; in the Jan 1835 election they only added 100 seats
When did Victoria come to the throne?
1837
Whose advice did Victoria rely heavily on?
Whig PM Lord Melbourne
When did Lord Melbourne resign, following a defeat in the HoC?
1839
Who did Victoria invite to form a government after Lord Melbourne resigned?
Peel
When was the only time that Victoria acted against the wishes of her PMs?
Bedchamber Crisis
Bedchamber Crisis
Customary for incoming PM to appoint his allies to posts within royal household; Victoria refused to change her ladies; Peel refused to become PM under such restrictions and Lord Melbourne returned to office
When was the Bedchamber Crisis?
1839
What happened as soon as George V succeeded to the throne?
Immediately involved in a major constitutional crisis over the HoL
When was a bill to grant Home Rule for Ireland passed through both the HoC and the HoL?
1914
Who briefly considered applying a royal veto to the measures for Irish Home Rule?
George V
When was George V widely praised for his tactful and helpful attitude?
His appointment of Ramsay MacDonald
How did the Reform Act 1832 work in the favour of the aristocracy in some ways?
Increased number of seats in counties; enfranchised tenants of agricultural land
How many seats are estimated to have remained under direct aristocratic control after the Reform act 1832?
60
How many MPs elected in 1841 came from the middle classes?
1/5
How many MPs elected in 1841 were related to peers/country gentry?
70%
What was a significant factor in reducing aristocratic influence in the HoC?
Creation of the single-member constituency in 1885
From when was there a gradual decline in the wealth of the nobility and gentry alike?
1880
What did the last 20 years of the 19th century see?
Fall in agricultural prices, as farmers struggled to compete with imports of cheap American corn
What also hit landed interest pretty hard?
Introduction of death duties in 1894
How many MPs elected in 1906 came from aristocratic/gentry families?
10%
When had aristocratic influence over elections and the HoC all but disappeared?
1928
When was Baldwin in power?
1924
Who made up Lord Salisbury’s cabinet?
10 peers and 9 MPs
How did membership of the HoL grow between 1780-1910?
350 to 623
How many bishops made up the HoL?
26
When did the HoL challenge the HoC’s supremacy over financial affairs?
1909
When did Liberal defeat usher in a decade of Conservative rule?
1895
What were the HoL especially opposed to?
Gladstone’s long campaign to grant Home Rule in Ireland
What was the Liberal majority in the 1906 election?
125 over all parties
When did the HoL mount a campaign aimed at wrecking social reform legislation?
1906-08
What brought the conflict between the HoL and the HoC to a head?
Lloyd George and the 1909 Budget
What position did Lloyd George hold from 1908?
Chancellor of the Exchequer
When were pensions introduced?
1908
Which measures of the 1909 Budget did the HoL view as a class-based assault on the landed aristocracy?
A tax on the unearned increase in land values; a further tax on undeveloped land; a super tax on incomes above £8,000 a year
How did the HoL react to the 1909 Budget?
Rejected it by 350 votes to 75
What did the HoC decide 2 days after the HoL rejected the 1909 Budget?
Their action breached the constitution
As a result of the 1909 Budget, when was an election called?
January 1910
What did the January 1910 election result in?
A virtual stalemate
How did the Liberals remain in office after the January 1910 election?
Depended on the support of 71 Irish MPs and 41 seats won by the Labour Party
When was the Parliament Bill announced into the HoC?
April 1910
When did King Edward VII die suddenly?
6 May 1910
Who asked for a second election in 1910?
Asquith
What did Asquith also ask for from George V?
The king to agree to the creation of sufficient liberal peers to ensure the passage of the Parliament Bill
What results did the December 1910 election produce?
An almost identical outcome
When did the Parliament Bill pass?
August 1911
What did the Parliament Bill pass by?
131 votes to 114
Parliament Act 1911
HoL could not reject or amend any money bill; life of parliament reduced to 5 years
When did Pitt fall from power?
1801
What did the Whigs split over in the early 1790s?
French Revolution
When was there a period of almost unbroken Tory rule?
1782-1830
What are some of the hallmarks of the Tories’ political philosophy up until 1830?
Maintenance of law and order; defence of property; strong armed forces; moderate economic policies
When did Tory government become more moderate?
1820s
How did the Tory government become more moderate under Peel?
Relaxation on restrictions of trade union activities; reduction of number of crimes carrying death penalty; reform of appalling prison conditions
What did their long period in opposition allow the Whigs to do?
Develop their ideology
How were the Whigs able to return to power in 1830?
Took advantage of Tory divisions over religious issues by supporting both the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in 1828 and the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1828
Why did Peel know that he couldn’t give any support to parliamentary reform 1831-2?
He was attacked by many for abandoning his long-standing opposition to Catholic relief and knew that he couldn’t betray his party further
When was the Tory party soundly defeated?
December 1832
When did the Whig government pass a number of reforms designed to please the new middle-class electorate?
1833-34
who succeeded Wellington as Tory leader?
Peel
What did Peel realise needed to happen in order to strengthen the Tory party?
It had to be able to accommodate the changes made since 1828
When did Peel work hard to reform the Tory party’s beliefs?
1832-41
Tamworth Manifesto
Showed that Peel intended to return to the policies of mild reform that had characterised the Liberal Toryism of the 1820s
When was the Tamworth Manifesto?
During the election campaign of 1834-35
How did the Tories fare in the 1835 election?
They increased their representation to 279 seats
When did the ‘Tories’ become the ‘Conservatives’?
1835
Why did the ‘Tories’ become the ‘Conservatives’?
‘Conservative’ was a more subtle term, which was not associated with repression and hostility to reform
When was the Lichfield House compact?
February 1835
Lichfield House compact
Whigs reached an agreement with radical and Irish MPs, agreeing to work together to bring down Peel’s government
What did the Whigs promise in return for the Irish MPs’ help with bringing down Peel’s government?
They would work to remedy a number of Irish problems
When did the term ‘Liberal Party’ come into use?
1835
When was the term ‘Liberal Party’ officially adopted?
1839
When did the Lichfield House compact begin to fall apart?
Late 1830s
What state were the Whigs in during the general election of 1841?
Disunited Whig coalition faced the electors
Who was successful in the 1841 election?
Conservatives- majority of 76 seats overall
When did the Conservatives split again?
1845, over issues connected with Ireland and Protestant ascendancy
What did Peel’s party collapse over?
Repeal of the Corn Laws 1846
When were the Corn Laws implemented?
1815
Corn Laws
Limited importation of foreign corn in order to protect domestic farmers from competition
Why were the Corn Laws repealed?
Irish famine 1845
When did Peel’s government resign?
1846
What did Peel and his supporters become in the 1850s?
Liberal Party
When is modern Conservatism dated from?
1846
After Peel’s Conservatives collapsed, when did the party next form a majority government?
1874 with Disraeli
When was there a Whig-Peelite government?
1852-55
When did the Whigs and their allies reunite to bring down the government?
1858
When do most historians credit the creation of the Liberal Party to?
1859
What encouraged the development of the Liberal Party in the 1860s?
Financial reforms carried out by Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer
When did Gladstone become leader of the Liberals and form his first government?
1868
After the Repeal of the Corn Laws, what did many support a rebranding of the Conservatives as?
Protection Party- limited electoral appeal
Why did Disraeli go to great lengths to secure the passage of the Second Reform Act?
Hoped to sponsor a major piece of legislation in order to show that the Conservatives could be taken seriously as a governing party
Who won the 1868 election?
Gladstone’s Liberal Party, with a healthy majority of 116 seats
When were many Liberals becoming disillusioned with Gladstone’s government?
1872
What did Disraeli decide in 1872?
To appeal to working-class voters and thus create a truly national party
Why were people becoming disillusioned with Gladstone’s government?
It was more concerned with institutional and political issues than social reforms; his insistence on tackling Irish problems didn’t appeal to voters in other parts of the UK
When did Disraeli set out the principles of ‘Tory Democracy’?
His speech to NUCCA members in 1872
NUCCA
National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Association
Who won the election of 1874?
Conservatives- first majority for nearly 30 years
When was Tory Democracy put into action?
1874-76
How was Tory Democracy put into action?
Towns and cities were empowered to tackle issues such as slum clearance and public health
What weakened Tory Democracy?
Many cities took on their new powers with enthusiasm, such as Birmingham, but others failed to do so
When did Disraeli lose the election?
1880
After Disraeli, when was there a period of almost unbroken Tory rule?
1885-1906
When were Gladstone’s four ministries?
1868-74; 1880-85; 1886; 1892-94
Education Act 1870
Allowed for schools to be established where provision by the CoE and voluntary associations was insufficient, leading to creation of board schools across country
What was one feature of Gladstone’s Liberalism?
Investigation and rationalisation of the institutions of the country
What effect did Gladstone’s Education Act 1870 have?
Almost universal literacy by the end of the century
What was Gladstone a firm believer in?
Retrenchment; laissez-faire attitude
When was the vote given to the Irish peasantry?
Third Reform Act 1884
When did the Liberals and the Irish combine to force out Salisbury’s government?
1886
When did Gladstone split his party?
His concern with Irish Home Rule split it in 1886
Who led the Conservatives in the 20 years after Disraeli’s death?
Lord Salisbury
How many elections did Salisbury win?
3
What was Salisbury’s success due to?
Divisions among his Liberal opponents; preserved party’s unity
Which single measure that Salisbury was responsible for did more than anything else to ensure Tory electoral dominance for the rest of the century?
Redistribution Act 1885
Who withdrew from the Liberal Party in 1886?
Whigs, led by Hartington; radicals, led by Joseph Chamberlain
Who did the Whigs and the radicals give their support to post-1886?
Salisbury’s Conservatives
Who won the election in July 1886?
Ushered in a period of Conservative ascendancy that was to last almost unbroken for 20 years
Who was Salisbury’s successor?
Arthur Balfour
What did Chamberlain propose in 1903 that opened up deep divisions in the Conservative Party?
Introduction of protective tariffs
How did the Tories fare in the 1906 election?
Reduced to 157 seats, their lowest total ever
What reunited the Liberal Party?
1903 proposal for introduction of protective tariffs
What terminally weakened the Liberal Party?
Crises of 1910-14; fight for the Parliament Act; threat of civil war in Ireland, actively encouraged by Conservatives; suffragette violence; militancy of trade unions; WW1
When did Gladstone resign as party leader?
1894
What threatened the already unstable Liberal Party post-Gladstone?
Second Boer War of 1899-1902
Which Liberals supported the Conservatives’ conduct of the Second Boer War?
Asquith and Grey
What challenged the Gladstonian beliefs of laissez-faire?
Boer War; investigations into poverty in Britain in early 1900s
How many potential recruits for Boer War were rejected because of their poor physical condition?
1/3
When were labour exchanges introduced?
1909
National Insurance Act 1911
Applied only to a minority of workers but provided health and unemployment insurance to assist people through difficult times
What are some of the reforms the Liberal gov introduced post-Boer War?
Free school meals; medical inspections; free scholarships; pensions
How did WW1 weaken the Liberals?
Devastating effect on Liberal principles of peace, reform and retrenchment
When did the Liberal Party split post-WW1?
1916
Who became PM in 1916?
Lloyd George
When did Asquith form a wartime coalition government with the Conservatives?
1915
What intensified the 1916 Liberal split?
Post-war election of December 1918
How many Labour members were elected in the 1918 election?
57
When did Lloyd George’s coalition break up?
1922
