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Britain 1900-1951 > Conservatives 1900-1914 > Flashcards

Conservatives 1900-1914 Flashcards

1
Q

What were the results of the 1900 General Election?

A
  • The conservative party won the general election with 402 seats
  • Liberal won 184 seats
  • Irish Party won 82
  • The newly created Labour Party won 2, one of which was occupied by James Keir Hardie, its future leader
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2
Q

What did the Conservatives believe in?

A
  • Believed in some social reform - in part to secure the votes of w/c and lower middle class votes
  • Strong belief in empire and its links to trade and the economy - hence the Boer War
  • Anti home rule for Ireland - caused a split in the Liberal party, with the Liberal unionists joining the Conservative party
  • Largely believed in free trade - but some members of the party believed in protectionism
  • Dominated by Anglicans (Church of England)
  • Foreign policies - ‘Big Englanders’ ->believe in empire, keeping the empire
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3
Q

What caused the Boer war?

A
  • Arose from a dispute between the British and the Dutch Boer settlers as to who controlled southern Africa
  • Chamberlain plotted with the British high commissioner in the Cape to make such unreasonable demands on the Boers that they would have no choice but to fight
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4
Q

How many British deaths were there due to the Boer war?

A
  • 20,000 British deaths = 16,000 from disease, many recruits not fit to fight - working class poor, malnourished. Raised question about poverty in Great Britain
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5
Q

What did the Boer was make clear?

A

That the rest of the world disliked Britain

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6
Q

What were the government blamed for during the Boer war?

A
  • Government were blamed for the extreme measures which the British forces employed to break Boer resistance - ‘concentration’ camps where the cramped and unhygienic conditions frequently led to the spread of fatal diseases
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7
Q

What did ‘pro-Boers’ question?

A
  • ‘pro-Boers’ questioned the morality of Britain’s position as the aggressor who had started the war
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8
Q

What was discovered in Boer areas?

A
  • Gold and diamonds were discovered in Boer areas
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9
Q

What happened in June 1900 to do with the Taff Vale case?

A
  • The employees of the Taff Vale Railway Company in South Wales went on strike with the full backing of their union, the Associated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS)
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10
Q

How did the Taff Vale Railway company try to break the strike? - Taff Vale Case

A

By bringing in non-union labour and by taking the ASRS to court for illegal picketing, which worked and sent strikers back to work

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11
Q

What happened in court to do with the Taff Vale Case?

A
  • The company again took the union to court, this time claiming damages for the financial losses caused by the strike
  • The first court hearing went in favour of the company but on appeal by the ASRS, a higher court reversed this decision
  • It presented its case to the HofL, the Lords overruled the appeal court decision and found for the company
  • The ruling was accompanied by the awarding of damages and costs against the ASRS amounting to £42,000
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12
Q

What did the Taff Vale case mean for the unions?

A
  • The unions’ right to strike and to picket had been effectively destroyed by the Lords’ decision
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13
Q

What was the Taff Vale Case seen as?

A

An attack on working class people

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14
Q

What is Chinese Slavery?

A
  • Africa again came to haunt the Conservatives
  • Balfour’s government was accused of having large numbers of Chinese Labourers
  • Government’s claim that this was a matter for British officials in Africa to deal with on the spot, which was felt to be an inadequate response
  • Opponents suggested Balfour’s government was simply passing the buck and that its moral authority was compromised
  • Employed ‘indentured labour’
  • Appeared that the government allowed this - but not a government action
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15
Q

Who was the Prime Minister in 1902?

A

Balfour

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16
Q

Who is Balfour?

A
  • Capable politician well respected in his party
  • Could always see both sides of the argument - liked to govern by consensus. This made him look weak and indecisive at times
  • Poor manager of men
  • Aloof- appeared unsympathetic
  • Strongly against Home Rule
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17
Q

What actions were taken under Balfour’s government? x10

A
  • Reorganisation of the military
  • Irish Land purchase Act (Wyndham)
  • Education Act 1902
  • Licensing Act 1904
  • Unemployment workmen’s Compensation Act 1905
  • The Boer War
  • Taff vale Case
  • Chinese Slavery
  • Tariff reform
  • Poor leadership
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18
Q

What was the Irish Land Purchase Act?

A
  • Enlightened
  • Tenants (roman catholic) helped to buy land in Ireland
  • Wyndham suggested more administrative independence for Ireland
    >Conservatives and Unionists opposed this, they were anti-home rule for Ireland. Divide in the Conservatives
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19
Q

What were the problems with Tariff reform?

A
  • Most of the cabinet were free traders
  • Some of the Conservative Party were supporters of tariff reform
  • Potential for the Conservative Party to divide over the issue
  • Unified the Liberals even further
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20
Q

What was tariff reform?

A
  • A tariff is a tax on imported goods
  • Tariffs raise price of imported goods therefore home produced goods are getting cheaper
  • '’Protectionism’’ is the opposite of free trade
  • Joseph Chamberlain resigned position in government to pursue a campaign for tariff reform
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21
Q

How was the military reorganised?

A
  • Got rid of the post of the Commander in Chief
  • Committee of imperial defence
  • Organised Navy into fleets - started the Dread Naught Programme
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22
Q

Why was the licencing act of 1904 introduced?

A
  • Nonconformists were the most vociferous in attacking the government’s Licencing Act
  • It was introduced to regulate the sale and consumption of liquor
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23
Q

What was the aim of the 1904 Licencing Act?

A
  • To protect children and to prevent the adulteration of alcoholic drinks
  • To reduce poverty
  • Reduce number of premises = reduce drinking
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24
Q

What was the response of the nonconformists to the 1904 Licencing Act?

A
  • Nonconformists chose to condemn the clauses in the Act which provided generous compensation to the Brewers and the landlords who stood to lose their licences under the new liquor regulations
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25
Q

What was the response of the prominent movements to the 1904 Licencing Act?

A

All the prominent movements dealing with social distress, such as the Salvation Army, testified that drink was a major factor in deepening the poverty from which so many families suffered

26
Q

What happened to those that were denied a licence? - Licencing Act 1904

A

Those that were denied a licence were compensated

27
Q

Who opposed the 1904 Licencing Act?

A
  • Opposed by Liberals - objected to the compensation element and act didn’t go far enough
28
Q

What did the Education Act of 1902 do?

A
  • It raised the school leaving age to 12
  • It granted subsidies to church schools from local rates
  • It abolished the locally elected school boards, and passed the authority over schools to the county or borough councils
29
Q

Why wasn’t Balfour credited for the 1902 education act?

A
  • However, the credit Balfour expected was largely lost because of the furious row that broke out among religious rivals over the nature of the schooling to be provided
  • There had been a stand-off between the Anglican Church and the Non-conformists ever since educational reforms had been attempted in earlier decades
30
Q

Who were most schools set up by?

A

Most of the schools in England and Wales had been set up and run by the Anglican Church

31
Q

What were the positives of the 1902 Education Act?

A
  • When the 19th Century reformers sought to extend State education to all, they used existing Anglican schools that followed that schools teaching the Anglican faith now received state funding
  • Improved extended education for all
32
Q

What were the negatives of the 1902 Education Act?

A
  • Non-conformists were offended and complained bitterly of heresy being taught on the rates
  • Anglicans were unhappy at the thought that as state education extended they would lose their traditional hold over it
  • Majority of Liberal supporters were non-conformists who objected to denominational.
  • (Church) schools objected to the rates being paid to church of England and R.C schools
33
Q

What was the impact of the 1902 education act?

A
  • Unites Liberal Party
  • Draws supporters back to the party
  • Gave Liberals a rallying point
  • Liberals start to win byelections
34
Q

What were Chamberlain’s motives?

A
  • Believed that the poverty and destitution was so great at blighting the nation that unless these were remedied the grievances of the dispossessed would lead to widespread social violence
  • Money had to be found and distributed to raise people from the squalor, through taxation
  • Chamberlain feared that taxing one group in society would encourage revolutionary socialism and class war
  • His proposed answer was imperial preference
35
Q

What was the effect of Tariff Reform on the Conservatives?

A

Most seriously weakened them

36
Q

What is imperial preference?

A

An alternative term for tariff reform, a system for protecting home-produced food and manufactured goods by placing restrictive duties on imports unless they came from the British dominions and colonies
- Basically free trade between Empire States

37
Q

What were the political consequences of Tariff Reform?

A
  • Many conservative supporters of Free trade - Divide in the party?
  • Campaign happened outside government
  • Free trade/protectionism - united the liberals and gave them a rallying point
  • Alienated many w/c voters
  • Staple diet of the England w/c was bread
  • USA and Canada supplied wheat - Tariffs increase the price of bread
38
Q

What was Tariff Reform?

A
  • Tariff on imported manufactured and agricultural goods = 10%
  • Alienated other ‘trading partners’ - led to reciprocation (they put a tariff on British goods)
  • Balfour’s government adopted imperial preference as its official economic programme in 1903
  • Member states would receive preferential treatment; their goods would enter free of duty
  • Idea was to develop the British Empire as a worldwide protectionist trading bloc
39
Q

What did Chamberlain want out of Tariff reform?

A
  • Chamberlain wanted the establishment of an imperial economic federation, based on the principle of free trade between its member states and protection against non-members
  • He wanted to tackle poverty in Britain, stimulate industry to create jobs and use tariffs to pay for welfare reform - unite the empire
  • He was also once a Liberal which makes him a ‘conservative/political radical’ - he had many liberal ideas
40
Q

How did the 1906 election cause a Liberal Landslide?

A
  • Arthur Balfour resigned the Conservative govt in a tactical move to put the Liberals in to office at a time when he thought they were too divided to form a govt
  • The plan back-fired in that the Liberals under Henry Campbell Bannerman managed to form a govt and then soon called a general election in which the issue of free trade and cheap food dominated
41
Q

What were the results of the 1906 election?

A

Conservative Party & Liberal Unionists - 156 MPs
Liberal Party - 399 MPs
Labour Party - 29 MPs
Irish Nationalists 82 MPs

42
Q

Who was responsible for the fall of the Conservatives in 1906?

A

Balfour’s leadership

43
Q

How did Balfour’s leadership lead to the fall of the conservatives in 1906? x8

A
  • Balfour knew that any tax on food was a vote loser
  • He should’ve reined Chamberlain in. Took control of the issue
  • Should have had the debate about Tariff Reform in the party first - before the country
  • Balfour was in favour of retaliatory taxes but he wasn’t clear or decisive - This helped divide the cons
  • Free traders didn’t trust Balfour on trade
  • ‘Whole Hag’ supporters didn’t trust Balfour on trade
  • Even when legislation was positive/constructive it wasn’t well managed politically e.g. 1902 education act
  • On the day that Balfour scraped the last corn law, Chamberlain was promoting Tariff Reform
44
Q

Why did Balfour resign?

A
  • He resigned in 1905 - no election called straight away
  • He hoped that the ‘divided Liberals’ (no longer divided) would take office and fail and the conservatives would be invited back into power
  • Liberal’s called election - united ->Tariff reform - Big loaf, Little loaf
  • Taff Vale, Chinese Slavery
  • Divided Conservatives - Angry with Balfour
45
Q

What was the Old Age Pensions act?

A
  • Working class males - average life expectancy around 55
  • Taxation would have to rise to pay for it
  • Poverty line = 21shillings and Pension = 5shillings
  • Conservatives opposed
  • Lloyd George gets all the credit
46
Q

Why did the Conservatives oppose the Old Age Pensions act?

A

They felt it encouraged people to rely on the state rather than their day savings

47
Q

What was the people’s budget?

A
  • To meet necessary revenue, Lloyd George planned to increase taxes on the propertied classes. This was the purpose of his 1909 budget
  • Led to a conflict between the HofL and the HofC 1910-1911
  • The conservatives opposed it
48
Q

Why did the Conservatives oppose the people’s budget?

A
  • The Conservatives decided to resist the budget on the grounds that it was an unprecedented attack upon the rights of property - argued that this entitled them to ignore the long standing convention that the Lords did not interfere with finance bills
49
Q

Given the Liberals had a huge majority in the House of Commons, why were pieces of their legislation being rejected by parliament?

A

The bill had to go through the House of Lords, but because those with titles - mainly conservatives - were in here, they rejected the bills they didn’t like

50
Q

How were the Liberal party going to pay for the welfare reforms they were introducing?

A

Lloyd George planned to increase taxes on the propertied classes. This then became the people’s budget

51
Q

What did DLG propose in his 1909 budget?

A
  • The standard rate of income tax to be raised from 9d to 1s3d up to £3000 a year
  • A new ‘supertax’ of 6d on incomes over £5000 a year
  • Death duties to be paid on estates valued over £5000
  • A 20% levy on the unearned increase in land values
  • Increased taxation on the sale of alcohol, tobacco and motorcars
52
Q

Why was it thought to be a controversial budget?

A
  • It marked a clear departure in terms of approach to taxation
  • Taxes were deliberately raised to pay for state-run schemes
  • There was a redistribution of wealth for the first time
  • War budget - lots of the profit went towards new battleships - not welfare reform
53
Q

Why might DLG’s budget be classed as provocative?

A

It particularly targeted against those on high incomes a lot of whom were conservative

54
Q

What course of action did the Conservatives in the House of Lords take in regards to DLG’s budget?

A
  • They used their majority to delay the budget, they agreed to pass the budget if after 2 elections Asquith’s government were still in power
  • Rejected the 1909 budget
55
Q

What was wrong with the actions the Conservative Lords took towards DLG’s budget?

A

By protecting the political and financial interests of the conservative party the Lords were acting in a blatantly partisan manner - supporting the interests of the cons rather than the national interest

56
Q

Were the Lords within their rights to take the action that they did? How did the defend their tactics? - DLG’s budget

A

They resisted the budget on the grounds that it was an unprecedented attack upon the rights of property. They argued that this entitled them to ignore the 200 year convention that the Lords did not interfere with financial bills. Legally they could

57
Q

Boer war evaluation?

A
  • The war was an embarrassment and raised concern about national efficiency
  • The conservatives didn’t pass reform to improve this
  • It mainly effected working class who had little voting influence
  • But the Boer war, combined with all the other factors, was a significant event in the Conservatives losing the 1906 election.
58
Q

Chinese Slavery evaluation?

A

> Can the leadership of the government be questioned?

  • The trade unions feared the government would allow indentured labour in Britain and wages would go down
  • It raised the big concern that the working class needed political representation that would come in the form of the Liberals
  • Linked to the Taff Vale Case.
59
Q

Education act evaluation?

A
  • Positive because there was national funding for schools, which improved extended education for all.
  • Negative because of “Rome on the Rates”.
  • Liberals started to win by-elections.
60
Q

What did the Liberals do to win the 1906 election?

A
  • A strong campaign against Tariff Reform - 9 million pamphlets.
  • 2 million pamphlets about reconstruction in South Africa.
  • 6 million criticising the Conservative record in office.
  • 2 million on social reform.
  • They weren’t the Conservatives, they were the main alternative.

Britain 1900-1951 (5 decks)

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