Theme 1.1 - Political Landscape Flashcards
What were the reasons for the liberals Decline?
- rise of labour (trade union and
therefore more for the workers)
-Maurice Debate 1918 (Henry Asquith led an
attack on Lloyd George accusing him of lying
about the number of troops on the western
front which come from a letter written by
general Maurice)
-Coupon Election (coalition between Libs and
tories as they had not won since 1900 and
needed the help of the man who won the war
Lloyd need support because Libs were divided
due to Asquith having support)
-1918 ROPA (paved the way for the rise of
labour at the expense of the liberals women
made up 43% working class made up 80%)
-1928 Reform
- rumours of corruption (Cash for Honours: a
knighthood could be sold for £10,000 to
anyone he refused to use the cash for the
party until members supported him) - Chanak Incident ( people didn’t want another
war it led to the tories rejecting a coalition
turkey wanted British troops out of occupied
positions) - first past the post system (number of votes
didn’t equal the number of seats=had to get
a certain number of seats in parliament)
what was the Coupon Election?
This was part of the Liberal Split between Asquit and Lloyd-George. Asquith was a classic liberal and Lloyd-George was a new liberal. They disagreed over certain points like conscription during the war. After the war, Britain needed a new government so there was to be a General Election. Bonar-Law and the Conservatives knew that they could not win on their own so needed to form a coalition with Lloyd-George because of his popularity with the public as ‘the man who won the war’. In order for the coalition to be voted in, Lloyd-George and Bonar-Law disributed coupon’s that meant that a coupon conservative could not challenge a coupon liberal and vice versa. This meant a sweeping victory for the coalition in the 1918 general election and Lloyd-George was knows as the ‘prime-minister without a party.’
what was Red Clydeside?
Red Clydeside was a 40 hour working week strike in Glasgow in January 1919. The red flag was raised from the town hall. 70,000 workers striked and a few days later on ‘bloody Friday’ a riot began in George Square. The government sent in 12,000 troops armed with machine guns. They responded like this due to the simalarities with the left-wing coup and Bolshevik revolution in Russia. The strikes were over the cost of living.
what was the Sankey commission?
The Sankey commission was made by the government to investigate and make recommendations on the mining issues. It recommended that miners should have wage rises and a shorter working ay of seven rather than eight hours. When the mines were removed from government control in 1921, the price of coa was halved and the industry began operating at a loss. The strike failed because transort workers cancelled supoort for the miners. Strikes were less common after 1921 because miners could not rely on their ‘allies’ and industrial relations improved.
What was the Chanak Crisis?
In 1922, the treaty of Sevres with Turkey broke down alliances between Greece and Turkey. France and Italy withdrew troops from Greece leaving Britain to fight off Turkey on their own. The Daily Mail wrote ‘Get out of Chanak’ but Lloyd-George was determined to stay. This angered Conservatives because they previosuly supoorted the Turks. Lloyd-George seemed to be causing war at a war-weariness time in Britain.
what was the Irish Question?
The Irish Question had both positive and negative impacts on Lloyd-George. The Irish Question had defeated many prime ministers, Lloyd-George faced the problem head on and at least gave it an answer. However, due to the Anglo-Irish treaty Ireland erupted into Civil War in 1922 and the violence spread to Britain. This drained conservative support and was a major cause of his downfall.
what was the Geddes Axe?
Spending cuts were introduced in the early 1920s which undercut Lloyd-George’s promises of a ‘land fir for heroes’.
what happened at the Carlton Club?
At the Carlton Club in October 1922, Conservative MPs voted 187 to 87 to abandon the coalition. Lloyd-George immediately resigned.
what did Protectionism (1923) cause?
After Lloyd-George’s resignation in October 1922, the King called on Bonar Law to form a government. He fell ill so Stanley Baldwin became Prime Minister in May 1923. He wanted to bring in protectionism to hold onto British jobs so called a general election. They didn’t win and it was a hung parliament, the Conservatives were split so the Kind called on MacDonald to take charge of the first Labour government.
what was the Zinoviev Letter?
This was a letter from a leading communist calling for Britain to join a revolution. The letter was the final straw for Labour as a government. It was strongly linked to Labour but later found out to be a forgery.
what was the General Strike?
In May 1926, the trade unions congress (TUC) called for a General Strike.This was to support the miners who were in dispute with the mine owners who wanted them to work for longer hours for less money. Approximately 3 million workers responded; dockers, railwaymen, bus drivers, steel workers, printers and utility workers came out on strike. The fundamental issue was the return to private ownership, in 1921 owners cut wages to combat falling prices. The retrun to the Gold Standard in 1925 made British exports more expensive. Baldwin’s government ordered the Samuel Commission. However it did not favour nationalisation and supported wage cuts. The TUC called off the strike after 9 days and the government ‘won’ because they were well prepared.
what was the Samuel Report?
Baldwin ordered the Samuel Reporton 31st July 1925. It judged that wages should be agreed on a national basis and that the working day should not be lengthened. However it argued that wage cuts were necessary in the short term, around 10% would be sufficient.
what is Keynesian Politics?
Keynesians advocated government borrowing in order to spend its way out of the crisis by financing public works to create jobs and protecting pensions, wages and benefits.
what did the May Report do?
The May Report predicted a budget defecit of £120 million. It proposed cuts in public sector pay and a 20% cut in unemployment benefit. This brought a furious reaction from the Labour party who would rather introduce higher taxiation of the rich than balance the budget with spending cuts. In August 1931, Henderson and the cabinet agreed to £56 million of cuts but this was still £22 million less than Snowdon proposed. MacDonald begged them to raise their cuts by a further £20 million. The cabinet was split 11 in favour of the cuts and 9 against. So the cabinet agreed that the government would resign.
what was the Dawn of Affluence?
A period of affluence in the 1930s, mainly in Southern parts of Britain. Over one million houses were provided with low rent by local authorities. A further 2.5 milliion houses were provided for private sale. Mass production saw a rise in consumer goods. By 1938 there were nearly 9 milion radios and sales of cars rose massively. Family sizes were getting smaler, the average woman would know have 2.2 children as opposed to 4.6 in the 1880s.
