BRITAIN Breadth 2 PART 2 Flashcards
What confirmed that the Liberals had been overtaken by Labour as the main opposition of the Conservatives?
Elections of 1923/1924
When was the Carlton Club formed?
1832
What did the Carlton Club function as?
Social club for Tory MPs rather than as a central hub for organising the party in parliament and the country
Who expanded the Carlton Club’s role to forge links between the national party and constituencies in the country?
Peel
Who was appointed to reorganise the Conservative Party nationally during its re-brand?
F.R. Bonham
Why did party organisation become more important after the 1832 RPA?
Constituencies were required to create an electoral register containing the names of everyone who possessed property qualifications needed to vote
When was the Reform Club founded?
1836
Which party was the Reform Club associated with?
Whigs
When did the importance of party organisation become very clear?
By late 1830s
How many general elections were there between 1832-41?
4
Which was the first election fought by two clearly defined political parties?
1841
When was the first election in which the role of the monarch was insignificant?
1841
Who won the 1841 election?
Well-organised Conservative Party with an overall majority of 76
What took party organisation to a new level?
Birmingham Caucus
Who was one of the chief organisers of the Birmingham Caucus system?
Joseph Chamberlain
What proved the success of the Birmingham Caucus system?
Birmingham was represented by 3 Liberal MPs for many years
When was the National Liberal Federation (NLF) formed?
1877
What helped persuade Asquith to consider female suffrage at the Speaker’s Conference in 1916?
NLF’s pressure
When was the NUCCA founded?
1867
Who did Disraeli entrust with party reorganisation after his loss in the 1968 election?
J.E. Gorst
Why was Gorst significant?
Established the Central Office; recognised importance of new urban electorate; supported creation of Conservative clubs as social centres, especially for working men
What did the Central Office do?
Oversaw the selection of candidates for election
Which party first won over women to its cause?
Conservatives
When did Disraeli die?
1881
Which organisation was formed in memory of Disraeli?
Primrose League
When was the Primrose League formed?
1884
How did the membership of the Primrose League change?
Grew from 957 members in 1884 to 2 million in 1910
How many Primrose League members were women?
1/2
When did the Primrose League flourish?
Until WW1
What decreased the importance of the Primrose League?
Granting of female suffrage; opening of Conservative membership to men and women
Where did Conservative and Liberal working men’s associations succeed post-1867?
Factory towns in Yorkshire and Lancashire
Which working men’s associations were most popular post-1867?
Conservative clubs
When had many middle-class Liberals switched to the Conservatives?
During Gladstone’s long tenure of the premiership
Why did many middle-class Liberals switch to the Conservatives?
Alarmed by growing radicalism of party and Gladstone’s attempts to tackle the Irish question
Why did the Conservative Party fare better than the Liberals?
More effective organisation
What helped to secure the Liberal Party’s landslide victory in the 1906 election?
Operated very successful party machine post-1900; forged links with the LRC
Post-1900, when were there growing divisions within the Liberals?
1910
How did the Liberals split in 1916?
Between supporters of Asquith and Lloyd George
When did many Liberal supporters switch their allegiance to the growing Labour Party?
After 1918
When did the Liberals have the same substantial national network of associations as the Conservatives?
By the 1880s
When was the Independent Labour Party formed?
1893
When did real progress in promoting working-class interests come?
1867-85
How did Britain respond politically to the socialist ideas that were influencing European politics in the 1880s?
3 socialist organisations were formed
What were the socialist organisations formed in 1884?
Social Democratic Federation (SDF); Socialist League; Fabian society
Why were the 1884 socialist organisations important?
Shifted political climate slightly away from laissez-faire individualism and towards a more collective attitude towards society
When did trade union membership reach a million?
1874
What did the economic downturn of the 1870s and 1880s lead to the growth of?
‘New Unionism’
What highlighted the changing nature of trade union activity?
Strike by female workers at the Bryant and May match factory in London in 1888
Who founded the Independent Labour Party?
Trade union delegates; representatives from the Fabians and the SDF
What did the ILP propose at its founding?
Free education; legal minimum wage; free access to medical treatment; comprehensive welfare provision
How many ILP candidates stood in the 1895 election?
28
How many votes did the ILP secure in the 1895 election?
44,000
What made it easy to denounce the ILP as unpatriotic?
Party’s open hostility to Boer War in 1899
When was the LRC founded?
February 1900
Why was the affiliation between Labour and the trade unions beneficial for everyone involved?
Unions promoted their own interests through party; Labour gained widespread electoral support from trade union members
When did the trade unions turn an issue into a mass political movement with the help of the LRC?
1901- Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants was forced to pay the Taff Vale Railway Company £23,000 in damages
When did the Liberals agree an electoral pact with the LRC?
1903
What was the electoral pact the Liberals agreed with the LRC?
Liberals wouldn’t put forward candidates in an agreed number of seats, giving LRC candidates a free run against Conservatives
How many seats and votes did the LRC win in the 1906 election?
29; 254,000
When did the LRC change its name to the Labour Party?
Shortly after 1906 election
Why was the renaming of the LRC an inspired choice?
Suggested party was aimed at promoting the interests of a class rather than a set of political beliefs
When did the Labour Party make slow progress, partly due to its broad support of New Liberalism’s agenda?
1906-18
When did Labour establish itself as a major political force?
1918-24
When had the Labour Party gained some experience in government?
Members were given 3 minor positions in Asquith’s coalition government of 1915
How many seats did Labour take in the 1918 election?
57
How many votes did Labour take in the 1918 election?
2 million
When did Labour become the largest single party in opposition to the Conservatives in the HoC?
1922
How many seats did Labour win in the 1922 election?
142
What issues was the 1923 election fought on?
Free trade and protection
What was the major achievement of the first Labour government?
Housing Act- promoted construction of 500,000 houses to be rented out at controlled rents
How did Labour use the Liberals to form its first government?
Labour had 191 seats- combined with 158 Liberals
Why was the 1924 Labour government unable to carry out wide-ranging reforms?
Dependent on Liberal support
How long did the first Labour administration last for?
Less than a year
When did the first Labour government get in?
January 1924
What were the results of the 1924 election?
Conservatives triumphed with 412 seats to Labour’s 151
How many seats did the Liberals lose in the 1924 election?
118
When did Labour secure the greatest number of seats in the election?
1929
How many seats did Labour secure in the 1929 election, which was still not enough for a majority?
287
How many MPs in 1780 were the sons or brothers of peers?
1/5
When did Pitt create many new peers?
1780-90s
How many MPs in 1780 had gained their fortunes as merchants, bankers and industrialists?
Around 110
Why did the extension of the franchise and the redistribution of seats throughout the 19th century not lead to a change in the social composition of the HoC?
Increasing number of county seats entrenched power of country gentry; redistribution worked against interests of merchants/bankers who had purchased and controlled seats before 1832
When did the social make-up of the HoC hardly change at all?
1832-67
When were 2 miners, supported by the Liberals and the Trade Unions, elected?
1874
When did real change come to the composition of the HoC?
After 1900, with the growth of Labour
How many Labour MPs elected in the 1918 election were from a working-class background?
56/63
When had women begun to play an important role in local politics?
Following the passage of the Local Government Act 1894
What gave women the right to stand as MPs?
Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918
How many candidates in the 1918 election were women?
17/1623
Who was the only successful female candidate in the 1918 election?
Countess Markievicz
Who was the first woman to actually sit in the HoC?
Viscountess Nancy Astor
When did the first female MP take her seat?
1919
When was the abolition of the property qualification for MPs?
1858
When had the property qualification been introduced in England?
1711
When was the issue of the property qualification brought to a head?
With the case of Edward Glover
When did trade unions begin to subsidise a number of MPs?
1870s
When was the payment of MPs introduced?
1911
How much did the Chartists want MPs to be paid?
£500 a year
When was Gladstone converted to the idea of payment of MPs?
1880s
When did the Liberal Party formally adopt the payment of MPs as a cause?
Newcastle programme of 1891
When did the issue of the payment of MPs take on wider significance?
After 1867 franchise reform
Who sponsored Keir Hardie?
Miners’ Federation
When was Keir Hardie elected?
For West Ham South in 1892
When did the Labour Party provide up to £200 a year to support its MPs?
From 1904
How many MPs did Labour have in 1924?
191
Who proposed the 1911 payment of MPs?
Lloyd George
How much was it agreed that MPs would be paid from 1911?
£400 a year
What was a major setback in the journey to secure payment for MPs?
Osbourne judgement of 1909
Who was Osbourne of the Osbourne judgement?
Liberal supporter who objected to the political levy collected by his union, the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants
Who was the first Labour PM?
Ramsay MacDonald
What does LRC stand for?
Labour Representative Committee
