UK knowledge test

Question 1

FIVE REASONS could be seen as reasons for the decline of the Liberal Party across the Interwar period?

Answer 1

• The splits between Lloyd Georgites and Asquithites in the WWI government in 1916
• The Cash for Peers scandal 1922
• The Chanak Crisis 1922
• Lloyd George’s Policy of Retrenchment (the Geddes Axe 1921)
• The Rise of the Labour Party

Question 2

What is not a reason why the Conservative Party dominated the interwar period?

Answer 2

The Conservatives increasing public spending to high levels

Question 3

Who was the leader of both Labour governments in the interwar years?

Answer 3

Ramsay MacDonald

Question 4

True or False: The Liberal Party went into decline in the 1920s, they were eclipsed by Labour who took on the mantle of social reform.

Answer 4

True

Question 5

What issue split the Conservative party in the early 1920s?

Answer 5

Free trade or protectionism (tariffs)

Question 6

The Labour governments led by Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931 are both examples of…

Answer 6

Minority Governments

Question 7

What issue caused a split in the Labour Party in August 1931 and the eventual formation of the National Government?

Answer 7

A split in Labour over a proposal to cut unemployment benefits by 10%

Question 8

What is NOT a truly accurate challenge the National Government had to deal with in the 1930s?

Answer 8

A resurgent Liberal Party that could theoretically win a general election outright

Question 9

Which three ways did the National Government prove they were willing to make tricky decisions in 1931 onwards?

Answer 9

• Introducing the means test (Unemployment Act) on benefits
• Cutting public sector workers’ pay by 10%
• Cutting unemployment assistance by 10%

Question 10

Which policy is Neville Chamberlain most commonly associated with?

Answer 10

Appeasement

Question 11

What mix of politicians served in Churchill’s wartime national government?

Answer 11

Conservatives, Labour politicians and a couple of Liberals

Question 12

Which of these could NOT be considered a reason the Labour Party won the 1945 General Election?

Answer 12

The Labour Party promised to go back on the Gold Standard.

Question 13

What did Clement Attlee promise to build in Britain across his years in power 1945-1951?

Answer 13

A New Jerusalem

Question 14

FOUR reasons why the Labour Party lost the 1951 election…

Answer 14

• Loss of key Labour politicians to illness - Ernest Bevin & Sir Stafford Cripps
• Austerity and Rationing of Food
• High taxation
• The decision to introduce prescription charges on the NHS. This led to Nye Bevan and Harold Wilson resigning and split the Party.

Question 15

What key term is being described here… “The broad agreement on issues between all the main political parties in the post-war period.”

Answer 15

The post-war consensus

Question 16

What happened to the economy in Britain between 1918-1920?

Answer 16

There was short-lived economic boom (a key part of this was a speculative boom)