Changing Party Fortunes, 1918-1931 (T1) Flashcards
What did the Liberal Government believe in?
- Free Trade
- Limited role for government
What were the Liberal’s a party of?
Social reform
What had the Liberal’s implemented from 1906 onwards?
State pensions, unemployment relief and the beginnings of state-provided healthcare.
What problems did the Liberal party face?
The appeal of the Liberal party to the middle classes and artisan working class began to decline.
Which party became the perceived party of social reform?
The Labour Party
What caused a divide in the Liberal party in the sense of the state?
- Many opposed the growth in the power of the state, particularly on the issue of conscription.
What caused a divide in the Liberal party with DLG?
- After their 1915 coalition with the Conservatives, DLG becomes PM and many Liberal MPs believed DLG became too close to the Conservatives.
How did the Liberal party split?
- DLG campaigned against many members of the Liberal party, this split the party’s vote and they never recovered.
Where had the Labour Party evolved from?
Evolved from the Labour Representation Committee of the Trades Union Congress.
What was the TUC?
Set up in 1900 as the main organising body of trade union movement.
Who were the Labour Party closely tied with?
Closely tied to the unions.
What did this close tie with the unions mean?
Saw it as a useful tool in advancing working men’s pay and conditions through getting union-backed MPs into Parliament.
How big was the Labour Party in 1906?
Had nearly 1 million affiliated members, and returned 29 MPs to Parliament.
What happened in 1911 which benefited the Labour Party?
It became much easier for working-class politicians to be elected to Parliament when the Liberal government allowed wages for MPs.
How did this create a shift in politics?
Meant politics was no longer solely an activity for people who were independently wealthy.
How much did the British electorate grow in size due to ROPA (1918)?
Grew from 7.7 million to 21.4 million.
How did the Conservatives present themselves after WW1?
Presented themselves as a party of the middle classes and those members of the working classes who aspired to ‘better’ themselves.
What groups voted for the Conservatives?
Large proportion came from newly enfranchised property-owning women.
What were important events when it came to the decline of the Liberal party?
The two elections in 1918 and 1922.
What had happened to the Liberal party by 1918?
Lloyd George had effectively split the party.
What happened in the 1918 election?
The Liberal-Conservative coalition won a landslide victory.
What was the downside to this victory for the Liberals?
The Conservatives had three times as many votes than the Liberals, clearly the favourite party.
What happened to the opposition Liberals after the 1918 election?
They experienced a collapse in their vote, partly caused by the popularity of Lloyd George’s coalition and the growth of the Labour Party.
What was the immediate cause of the Liberal’s decline?
The actions of Lloyd-George
What made Lloyd George likeable?
- Credited as the ‘man who won the war’
- Of humble origins from North Wales
- He was an enemy of privilege and no friend to the House of Lords.
What happened in June 1922?
Discovered that Lloyd George had been involved in a scandal selling knighthoods and peerages.
How many knighthoods did Lloyd George sell while in power?
1,500 between 1916-1922
What else further denied Lloyd George’s credibility?
His decision to go to war with Turkey, which his Conservative coalition partners disagreed with.
How many MPs did Lloyd George’s Liberals end up with in the end?
Reduced to 53 MPs
What were the two causes of the Liberals decline?
- Lloyd George’s personal unpopularity
- Growth in popularity of Labour Party
When was the first Labour Government?
1924
Who led the first Labour government?
Led by Ramsey MacDonald, it was a minority government
What was the Labour Party committed to in its first government?
Parliamentary democracy and went to great lengths to demonstrate how moderate it was.
What was the Labour Party compared to by the Conservatives?
Compared it to the regressive regime in Soviet Russia and suggested there were Soviet sympathisers among the cabinet.
What was the main problem MacDonald and his Labour Party faced?
Strained relations with the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party.
What was MacDonald forced to do?
- Forced to make harsh economic choices that affected the poorest voters.
- Had to manage industrial action.
What were MacDonald’s struggles as Prime Minister?
He had to compromise, but the party was critical of him for not being radical.
Why couldn’t MacDonald become more radical?
- He was the head of a minority government, dependent on Liberal support.
- Any radical moves could result in their withdrawal of support and collapse of government.
What measure was passed in 1924?
The Housing (Financial Provisions) Act 1924
What did the Housing Act 1924 do?
Increased the amount of money available to local authorities to build homes for low-income workers.
When did MacDonald’s government collapse?
In the autumn of 1924.
How did MacDonald’s government collapse?
Following a motion of no confidence which MacDonald narrowly won.
How did this motion of no confidence come about?
Following the decision of Attorney General Sir Patrick Hastings to drop charges of incitement to mutiny against a socialist newspaper.
How did the Labour Party lose more credibility in the General Election of 1924?
The Daily Mail claimed that a letter from Grigori Zinoviev (A communist) to the British Communist Party had been intercepted.
- Hoped it would persuade people to not vote for any left wing party.
What was the outcome of the General Election of 1924?
The Conservative Party under Stanley Baldwin won and was able to form a majority.
What was the Liberal Party’s result in the General Election of 1924?
12% decline in its share of the vote and a loss of 118 seats.
How did the Conservative Party gain more voters?
- First-time Labour voters who were disappointed with RM switched to Conservatives.
- Liberal voters who had lost faith in the ability of the party to revive itself.
What was the new Conservative government formed by Stanley Baldwin like?
- Presented itself as an alternative to the Labour Party and the ‘threat’ of socialism in Britain.
How did Baldwin want to be seen as?
As a moderate politician who could appeal to all social classes.
What did Baldwin discourage?
Discouraged the Conservative Party from attacking Labour as secret agents go the USSR.
