Party Fortunes 1918-1931 Flashcards
Who formed the independent Labour Party and when?
Formed in 1893 by James Kier Hardie in West Yorkshire
Which groups joined together to form the Labour Party?
Trade Union Congress (TUC)
The Social Democratic Federation (SDF)
Fabian Society
Who became the first Labour Prime Minister in which year?
1924, Ramsey McDonald became the first Labour PM
How long did the first Labour Government last?
10 Months
Why did the first government last for 10 months?
Labour and the Liberals formed a coalition government and could not decide on a policy
When and Why did Labour form their second Government?
1929, as they won the majority of votes
Why was the second Labour government weak?
They had a reliance on Labour/Liberals to pass legislation
Who became PM in 1945?
Clement Atlee
What made the 1945 election results different to other years?
Won a landslide victory, winning 50% of vote
Key Points of the 1923 Labour Manifesto?
Benefits system
Development of industry
Town planning
Living wage
Disarmament
Education
Who did the Representation of the People act attract?
Working class
Farmers
Families
The poor
Unemployed
Women
Left wing interesting in Marxism
Who did the Representation of the People act not attract?
Wealthy
Right wing
Business owners
Parliament Act of 1911
All working class men could stand for election
Representation of the People Act 1918
All working class men could vote
Women over 30 who owned land (over £5) could vote
How many seats did Labour gain because of the Representation of the People Act?
15 seats
What political ideology did Liberals support?
Laizzez-Faire politics
Liberal Party 1900
New liberals entered party: Asquith, David Lloyd George and Churchill
Needed to attract working class votes
Popular among newly enfranchised
Liberal Party 1906
Liberals won general election with 243 majority
Liberal Party 1906-1914
Introduced Old Age pensions Act 1908
1911 National Insurance Act
Liberal Party 1914
Prime Minister and leader of Liberal party: Asquith
Weak leader (only had support of Irish Nationalist MPS)
Liberal Party 1914
Outbreak of war
Asquith’s Government led war effort.
Liberal attitude meant he was not willing to enforce any government legislation to do with war
Coalition Government created
Liberal Party 1916
DLG began to criticise Asquith and argued there should be much tighter control over government running the country
DLG wanted economic controls, conscription and rationing.
3 Man war council.
Asquith resigned and DLG became PM
Liberal Party 1918
Party split into two: DLG supporters and “Squiffies”
General Maurice accused DLG of distorting troop numbers making it seem stronger than it was
Vote of no confidence voted DLG out
What happened December 1918?
Coupon Election
Coupon Election
Those who supported the election were issues a letter of support from DLG
Asquith referred to the letters as coupons, 159 liberal candidates received a coupon, when a coupon liberal stood for candidate no conservative was challenged
Liberal Party 1931
Spilt again:
Liberals under leaders Herbet Samuel
Liberal Nationals under John Simon
Independent liberals under DLG
How did the outbreak of war lead to the collapse of the Liberal Party?
3 Major issues which dominated politics: Militancy against workers, suffragettes, issue of home rule in Ireland
Government handled them very badly and developed a full blown crisis between England and Ireland
How did Failure to create a clear identity lead to the collapse of the Liberal party?
Labour stood for social reform, Conservatives represented upper and middle classes. Liberals failed to make a clear identity and show what they stood for
How did the Lack of finances to fund the party lead to its collapse?
Without money the liberals could not maintain the party or fund candidates in general elections.
DLG provided the party through the sale of his knighthood.
How did not having an effective leader lead to the collapse of the Liberal party?
1923- Asquith was 70 years old and out of touch with electorate. DLG lost popularity due to his cooperation with the coalition
How did not having support from the Irish Nationalist MPS lead to the collapse of the Labour party?
1921, Irish free state gained independence from UK, liberals supported Irish home rule therefore gained support from Irish nationalists. but this this meant Irish nationalists had their own government in Dublin. Liberals lost support of 80 Irish MPS.
How did First past the post lead to the collpase of the labour party?
Even thought liberals gained the second largest vote within a constituency this was not reflected in house of commons.
Proportional representation would give fairer distribution of seats and would’ve helped the liberals.
Why did Conservatives gain support from the Working class?
80% of electorate were urban working class.
1867 Parliamentary reform act allowed skilled working men to vote
Empire, National Defence, and patriotism appealed to working class
1925 Stanley Baldwin refused to support private members bill
1925 Widows and Orphans Act
Why did the Conservatives appeal to the middle class?
Collapse of Liberal party meant votes going to the split party were “wasted votes”.
Why did the conservatives appeal to the upper classes?
Original demographic
Wanted Capitalist power structure
Allowing the keeping of money and land
What factors did the Conservatives benefit from?
-World War ideology
-First past the post
-Plural Vote 1948
How did the Wall Street Crash lead to the collapse of the Labour Party?
Britain’s exports collapsed by 50%, and collapse in trade was catastrophic for: coal, dock work, cotton, iron and steel, and ship building industries
How did unemployment lead to the collapse of the Labour Party?
Shops and Markets where miners, dock and mill workers spent their wages were affected. Unemployment was high before the WSC, it was at 1 million, December 1930 it was at 2.5 million. By 1932 it was 3 million which is 25% of working population which is unemployed.
How did welfare reforms lead to the collapse of the Labour Party?
MacDonalds government came into power with the expectation they would introduce welfare reforms.
Rise in unemployment meant this has become increasingly difficult to do so. The issue of how money should be found to help the increasing number of unemployed workers was partially difficult.
How did the value of the £ falling lead to the collapse of labour?
Summer of 1931- rumours that the forth coming budget would be unbalanced and the government had plans to spend more money than they actually had caused £ to fall.
