Izzy Notes

Question 1

What was the rate of unemployment in 1921?

Answer 1

11.3%

Question 2

What was the Unemployment Insurance Act?

Answer 2

Dole system - 39 weeks of unemployment benefit

Question 3

What was the 1919 Housing and Town Planning Act?

Answer 3

subsidies to build 500,000 new houses. Falls through due to the weakness of the government

Question 4

How many houses were built overall through Housing Acts?

Answer 4

1.1 million

Question 5

What did the Cunliffe Committee report in 1918?

Answer 5

Return to the gold standard

Question 6

By how much was public expenditure cut in 1920?

Answer 6

75%

Question 7

How much was the Geddes Axe initially?

Answer 7

£87million, reduced down to £52 million

Question 8

Who agitated for the retraction of the state?

Answer 8

In 1921 the Anti-Waste League was formed by Lord Rothermere to campaign against what they considered wasteful government expenditure, and three of its candidates won by-elections from government supporters between February and June 1921

Question 9

What did Baldwin succeed in negotiating by 1923?

Answer 9

£34 million p.a. debt repayment to the US. 40% of government spending.

Question 10

When was the Gold Standard returned to?

Answer 10

1925, at $4.86

Question 11

What techniques was the UK market slow to adopt?

Answer 11

Fordism, consumer credit, eliminating surplus capital, structured management.

Question 12

What emerged in the UK?

Answer 12

North/South divide

Question 13

What do McKibbin and Jarvis argue about the nature of conservative appeal?

Answer 13

Conservatives learnt to appeal to urban, industrial workers by arguing that Labour was a sectional, special-interest party – governing in the interests of miners, the poor and the unemployed – and thereby against the interests of the ordinary ‘public’

Question 14

How did franchise change?

Answer 14

7.7m to 21.4m

Question 15

What do Thackary and Jarvis contend?

Answer 15

Working class broken down from a homogenous mass

Question 16

What are the key principles behind Conservatism?

Answer 16

Rights of property, importance of authority and order, cross-class integration, religion (C of E), private enterprise, commitment to Britain’s Great Power status (importance of Empire).

Question 17

How many votes did the Liberals get in 1918?

Answer 17

13.3%

Question 18

Where did the Liberals retain support?

Answer 18

Liberals retained support in areas of Yorkshire, East Midlands, London, and Rochdale.

Question 19

What is significant about the formation of a national government in terms of Baldwin’s image?

Answer 19

By encouraging the king to invite MacDonald to form another party, he gives the impression of being ‘above’ politics. Jackson: Baldwin successfully projected himself as a non-partisan, inclusive figure who spoke for the nation as a whole. Apolitical father of the nation.

Question 20

What does Cowling argue about Baldwin

Answer 20

Baldwin had political genius. The Liberal decline was not inevitable, and was in fact as a result of tactics of Baldwin (plus internal divisions).

Question 21

What does Mandler argue about Baldwin?

Answer 21

Little Man - national character. Pipe, garden, family.

Question 22

What did WW1 do for the trade unions?

Answer 22

WW1 dramatically enhanced the legitimacy of collectivism and Trade Unions, but this was no immediately translated into electoral success for Labour. Had poor organisation outside its industrial heartland in the 1920s. Limited appeal in the 1923 election.

Question 23

What was crucial to Labours victory in 1923?

Answer 23

The defence of free trade

Question 24

What were the key policies of the Labour government of 1924?

Answer 24

Wheatley Housing Act (1924) sought to rectify damage to building trade during the war, making rent more affordable.

Increase benefits slightly

Question 25

What does Owen argue about the first Labour government?

Answer 25

dispute over court dress important - to a great extent damaged by inability to accord to the conventions of parliament

Question 26

By how much did unemployment increase under the Labour government?

Answer 26

From 1.1 million to 2.5 million

Question 27

Philip Snowden in 1922

Answer 27

The Labour party is the very opposite of a class party

Question 28

What did the Labour party think from the 1920s onwards?

Answer 28

That history was on its side

Question 29

What was notable about MacDonald from 1930s rhetoric?

Answer 29

clearly lacked clear policies.

Question 30

What is Beers’ position on MacDonald?

Answer 30

MacDonald was lazy and hopeless in preparing for the political broadcasts of 1924, but Snowden was seen as excellent