Party Fortunes 1918-1931

Question 1

Who formed the independent Labour Party and when?

Answer 1

Formed in 1893 by James Kier Hardie in West Yorkshire

Question 2

Which groups joined together to form the Labour Party?

Answer 2

Trade Union Congress (TUC)
The Social Democratic Federation (SDF)
Fabian Society

Question 3

Who became the first Labour Prime Minister in which year?

Answer 3

1924, Ramsey McDonald became the first Labour PM

Question 4

How long did the first Labour Government last?

Answer 4

10 Months

Question 5

Why did the first government last for 10 months?

Answer 5

Labour and the Liberals formed a coalition government and could not decide on a policy

Question 6

When and Why did Labour form their second Government?

Answer 6

1929, as they won the majority of votes

Question 7

Why was the second Labour government weak?

Answer 7

They had a reliance on Labour/Liberals to pass legislation

Question 8

Who became PM in 1945?

Answer 8

Clement Atlee

Question 9

What made the 1945 election results different to other years?

Answer 9

Won a landslide victory, winning 50% of vote

Question 10

Key Points of the 1923 Labour Manifesto?

Answer 10

Benefits system
Development of industry
Town planning
Living wage
Disarmament
Education

Question 11

Who did the Representation of the People act attract?

Answer 11

Working class
Farmers
Families
The poor
Unemployed
Women
Left wing interesting in Marxism

Question 12

Who did the Representation of the People act not attract?

Answer 12

Wealthy
Right wing
Business owners

Question 13

Parliament Act of 1911

Answer 13

All working class men could stand for election

Question 14

Representation of the People Act 1918

Answer 14

All working class men could vote
Women over 30 who owned land (over £5) could vote

Question 15

How many seats did Labour gain because of the Representation of the People Act?

Answer 15

15 seats

Question 16

What political ideology did Liberals support?

Answer 16

Laizzez-Faire politics

Question 17

Liberal Party 1900

Answer 17

New liberals entered party: Asquith, David Lloyd George and Churchill
Needed to attract working class votes
Popular among newly enfranchised

Question 18

Liberal Party 1906

Answer 18

Liberals won general election with 243 majority

Question 19

Liberal Party 1906-1914

Answer 19

Introduced Old Age pensions Act 1908
1911 National Insurance Act

Question 20

Liberal Party 1914

Answer 20

Prime Minister and leader of Liberal party: Asquith
Weak leader (only had support of Irish Nationalist MPS)

Question 21

Liberal Party 1914
Outbreak of war

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Liberal Party 1916

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Liberal Party 1918

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What happened December 1918?

Answer 24

Coupon Election

Question 25

Coupon Election

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Liberal Party 1931

Answer 26

Spilt again:
Liberals under leaders Herbet Samuel
Liberal Nationals under John Simon
Independent liberals under DLG

Question 27

How did the outbreak of war lead to the collapse of the Liberal Party?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

How did Failure to create a clear identity lead to the collapse of the Liberal party?

Answer 28

Labour stood for social reform, Conservatives represented upper and middle classes. Liberals failed to make a clear identity and show what they stood for

Question 29

How did the Lack of finances to fund the party lead to its collapse?

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

How did not having an effective leader lead to the collapse of the Liberal party?

Answer 30

1923- Asquith was 70 years old and out of touch with electorate. DLG lost popularity due to his cooperation with the coalition

Question 31

How did not having support from the Irish Nationalist MPS lead to the collapse of the Labour party?

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

How did First past the post lead to the collpase of the labour party?

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

Why did Conservatives gain support from the Working class?

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Why did the Conservatives appeal to the middle class?

Answer 34

Collapse of Liberal party meant votes going to the split party were “wasted votes”.

Question 35

Why did the conservatives appeal to the upper classes?

Answer 35

Original demographic
Wanted Capitalist power structure
Allowing the keeping of money and land

Question 36

What factors did the Conservatives benefit from?

Answer 36

-World War ideology
-First past the post
-Plural Vote 1948

Question 37

How did the Wall Street Crash lead to the collapse of the Labour Party?

Answer 37

Britain’s exports collapsed by 50%, and collapse in trade was catastrophic for: coal, dock work, cotton, iron and steel, and ship building industries

Question 38

How did unemployment lead to the collapse of the Labour Party?

Answer 38

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.

Question 39

How did welfare reforms lead to the collapse of the Labour Party?

Answer 39

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.

Question 40

How did the value of the £ falling lead to the collapse of labour?

Answer 40

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.