Defeat Of The Unionists Flashcards
When did the Liberals win the General Election?
January 1906
How many seats did the Liberals win?
400
When did Chamberlain resign from government to pursue tariffs?
September 1903
When did Churchill defect to the Liberals over the issue of tariffs?
May 1903
When did Balfour resign as PM? Who became PM as a result?
Balfour resigned in December 1905, leaving Henry Campbell-Bannerman as PM with a minority Liberal government.
Why did Balfour resign?
Balfour had realised that the Unionists remained divided, with no real prospect of resolving their differences, whilst the Liberals had a clear and united opposition to tariff reform, he believed defeat in the next general election to be inevitable.
What issues were there within the Liberal Party in November 1905?
Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Lord Rosebery publicly disagreed over the issue of Irish Home Rule.
What was Balfour’s strategy to expose divisions within the Liberal Party?
He assumed that the Liberals were more divided than the Conservatives, and that forcing them to take office by resigning would expose these divisions and divert attention from the Conservatives in time for the next general election.
Why did Balfour’s strategy fail miserably?
The Liberals were not as divided as Balfour expected, Campbell-Bannerman had no difficulty in forming a government and was in a position of strength.
Explain the scandal of Chinese workers in South Africa and its impact on the General Election.
A new scandal concerning the terrible working conditions of 60,000 Chinese immigrants that the government had imported to South Africa was used by Campbell-Bannerman to capitalise on the Conservatives unpopularity. The Liberals used the situation to remind the voters of Boer ‘concentration camps’ , this enabled the Liberals to portray the Unionists as exploiters of the workers.
Describe the demonstration against ‘Chinese Slavery’ in 1904.
In May 1904, there was a demonstration against ‘Chinese Slavery’, as the press dubbed it, held in Hyde park with around 80,000 attendees.
How many seats did the Unionists get?
A mere 157
