changing political landscape

How much war debt did Britain amass by the end of the war?

3.2 Billion Pounds

In 1918, what did the liberal party believe?

They believed in free trade and were a party of social reform

From 1906, what did the liberal party implement?

• state pensions

• unemployment relief

• The beginnings of state-provided healthcare

Before WW1, what issues faced the liberal party?

• Irish Home Rule

• woman’s suffrage

• militant trade union movement

How did the war divide the liberals?

• Some believed that conscription and DORA were too much state power

• wartime coalition with conservatives

• Llyod George campaigned against many members of the liberal party

Where did the Labour Party evolve from?

The labour Representation committee of the trades union congress

What did Labour’s origins mean for the party?

They were closely tied to unions, so they were used as a tool to advance working-class pay and conditions

Labours statistics in 1906?

1 million affiliated members

labours statistics in 1910?

40 mps after the 1910 election

What did Labour’s popularity indicate about the political landscape of Britain?

Politics was no longer for the wealthy

When was the Representation of the People Act passed?

1918

what did the representation of the people act do?

gave all men the vote and gave women with property the vote

representation of the people act statistics

Tripled the electorate, went from 7 million to 21million

What were the conservative party associated with during the 19th century?

the landed gentry

After WW1, how did the conservative party present themself?

a party of the middle class and the working class who wished to ‘better themselves’ through property ownership

what did the ROPA act 1928 do?

Women over 21 were given the vote

Who were the conservatives in a coalition from 1915 to 1918?

David lloyd george

After ROPA 1918, where did many conservative votes come from?

property owning women

who were the main parties of the 1918 general election?

the liberal-conservative coalition and labour/the remaining liberals

what was the outcome of the 1918 election?

The conservative-liberal coalition won by a landslide, and the conservatives got 3x the votes of the liberals

How was David Lloyd George seen in 1918?

as a national hero and the man who won the war

What was David Lloyd George’s upbringing

He came from North Wales and made himself out to be an enemy of privilege.

What was the Cash for Honours scandal of june 1922?

David Lloyd George sold titles and peerages in a discreet and unnoticed fashion

When was the cash for honours scandal under David Lloyd George?

june 1922

During the cash for honours scandal of 1922, how many titles were sold?

• 1,500 knighthoods

• 100 peerages

how did the cash for honours scandal come to light?

When the 1922 honours list came out, there were many names on it with criminal convictions

What was the Chanak incident that occurred under David Lloyd George?

he threatened to go to war with turkey immediatly after ww1 ended

what happened in the Carlton Club before the 1922 election?

Conservatives held a meeting and decided to abandon the coalition with Lloyd George

How weak were lloyd georges liberals in 1922?

only 53 mps

When was the first Labour government?

in 1924, it was led by Ramsay MacDonald

How was the Labour Government of 1924 viewed by conservatives?

it was seen as deeply alarming by newspapers such as the times

How did the conservatives try to defame the Labour government in 1924?

They tried to compare them to the communist regime

• campbell affair

• zinovev letter

Why couldn’t the Labour government of 1924 enact any radical change?

because it was a minority government and relied on liberal support

what was the housing act of 1924

Introduced by Ramsay’s Labour, it increased the amount of money available to local authorities to build homes for low-income workers

Ramsey macdonalds background

• He was born in North Scotland and

• He later moved to Bristol and London,

• He used to be on the Labour Party’s left wing

• moved to the right when the russian revolution made him suspicious of communism

What was the Campbell affair of 1924?

The attorney general dropped charges against Campbell of incitement to mutiny, liberals and conservatives called Labour communist sympathisers

what was the Zinoviev letter of 1924

The Daily Mail published a forged letter by a communist, which was an incitement to revolution

wanted to sway the public away from the left

Who won the election of 1924

The conservatives led by Stanley Baldwin

What happened to the liberal party in the election of 1924

12% decline in its share of the votes and a loss of 118 seats

How did Baldwin present his conservative party?

as an alternative to the threat of socialism in Britain

He disliked the rhetoric of a ‘class war’ that emerged under Macdonald

What did the Conservatives want to do about Labour’s funding in 1925?

introduce a private members’ bill that banned unions from levying the party - this would essentially end the Labour Party

Baldwin blocked the bill in the House of Commons

What did the Conservatives want to do about Labour’s funding after the general strike?

Reduced labour funding from the unions by making union members agree to fund the party

1/3 of union members choose not to fund labour

What was the outcome of the 1929 election?

baldwin won the popular vote but labour won the most seats

What was the housing act of 1930?

passed under macdonalds second gov, cleared ¾ slums

what was the coal mines act of 1930?

passed under macdonalds second gov, attempted to raise their pay

how did macdonald ammend unemployment insurance?

passed under macdonalds second gov, he created a public works scheme

What were the rumours about the 1931 budget saying?

The budget was unbalanced

What did banks in America do after they heard about the unbalanced budget in 1931?

engaged in panic selling

What did the government want to do about the panic selling of the pound in 1931?

Introduced a 10% in unemployment

What were the results of MacDonald’s spending cuts?

Split the labour party

Due to the financial crisis in 1931, what did King George do?

make a national government with Macdonald at the helm

In the national government who won the majority of seats?

The conservatives

Who was prime minister of the national government from 1931-35?

Mac Donald, though he mainly served s a figurehead

Why did labours votes slump during the start of the national government?

They were seen as putting their interests and the interests of trade unions before those of the people

When did the national government end?

1945

How long was MacDonald pm of the national government?

1931-35

What was Mac Donald’s premiership dominated by? (National government)

Challenges caused by the Great Depression

What did the national government do about the rise of racism in Europe (1931-35)

Made some moves to rearm

What was a result of the early national governments pay cuts? (1931-35)

Public sector pay was cut 10% which led to a mutiny in the Royal Navy base Invergorden

As well as pay cuts what did Mac Donald’s national government (1931-35) introduce?

Tariffs

End gold standard and low interest rates - stimulate economic recovery

How did labour reorganise itself in the 1930s?

Clement Attlee managed to get 154 seats in the 1935 general election

What was the membership of extremist groups in 1934?

BUF - 50,000

Communist part GB - 9,000 (CPGB also organised the national unemployed workers movement which is believed to have thousands of members)

During the early 1930s what did intellectuals on the left (Such as Webb) do?

Vistsed the Soviet Union and deemed it an economic success

What party was Mosley originally in and when inspired him in 1922?

Mosley was a labour mp who was inspired by Mussolini’s Italy so he left to national government to create the BUF

What was Mosleys manifesto called? - national government

Mosley Memorandum

What were mosleys violent enforces called?- national government

Biff boys

What did mosleys maifesto want? - national government

Co-ordinated national economic plan

What did the national government do about Mosleys BUF?

Public order act 1936 - banned the wearing of uniforms and political groups needed express permission for marches

How did Hitler appointment as chancellor (1933) divide Britain?

People were split between disarmament and rearmament

(Some wanted to join peace organisations such as the League of Nations)

What was the peace ballot and pledge of 1934?

Peace ballot - league of national ballot 11million opposed war

Peace pledge - backed by father Shepard, over 100,000 people wrote postcards pledging to oppose war

Why did the world disarmament conference fail in 1933?

Germany withdrew and expressed they wanted to rearm to levels equal to France

How did Britain rearm from 1934?

RAF 40 squadrons

Army and navy expanded

In 1935 who replaced Mac Donald as the head of the national government?

Stanley Baldwin

What did Baldwins 1935 manifesto include?

Pledge for new houses, jobs and economic help for the most deprived parts of the country

Through baldwins rearmament of the national government what was the labour opposition divided on?

The question of peace and security, Attlee at the Center argued that collective security would make war impossible

What world events through the 1930s made war seem inevitable?

1935 - Italy invade Abyssinia

1936 - Hitler reoccupies Rhineland

1936 - Spanish civil war

1937 - Japan invade china

How did labour and the national government react to Hitler breaking the treaty of Versailles in 1936?

Labour - opposed economic sanctions

National government - divided between taking action and backing down

What was the abdication crisis of 1936

King George died, his son Edward inherited the crown, Edward had many affairs with married women (these were kept secret from the public), Edward wanted to Mary a divorcee Wallis Simpson. Baldwin said choose to abandon marriage or abdicate

(Overall it presented Baldwin as a steady headed PM who could deal with crisis in a diplomatic manner)

Who replaced Baldwin in 1937?

Neville chamberlain

Chamberlain and appeasement

Met Hitler 3x in 1938 to negotiate

1938 Munich agreement gave Hitler all of his demands

(However chamberlain was sceptical and very keen on rearmament so it shouldn’t be completely argued that he was weak)

When did Britain declare war on germany?

1939 after the invasion of Poland

What was the phoney war of 1940?

A 7 month stand off

Why did chamberlain ultimately resign

Britain had a massive failure in saving Norway in 1940 and chamberlain took all the blame

Who replaced chamberlain in 1940?

Winston Churchill

What did Churchill first speech as PM offer to the war effort?

Blood, toil, tears and sweat

How did the situation worsen in the war under churchill ?

British force withdrew to Dunkirk - churchill refused to surrender though, claiming Britain would become a ‘slave state’

What were consensus politics

The broad agreement between parties between 1945 and 79 on the running of the welfare state

Consensus politics (1957-79) was left on the political spectrum. What sort of things did they agree on?

• full employment regardless of inflation

• Mixed economy with national infrastructure in state ownership

• Welfare state and NHS

• Cooperation with trade unions

How was consensus politics (1945-79) also slightly right wing?

Parties endorsed a foreign defence policy with confronting the ussr in the Cold War and investing in nuclear weapons

What were the conservative and labour manifestos in the 1945 election

Conservative - Churchill believed he would win due to his service in the war, he focused on foreign policy and claimed labour would use a ‘gestapo’ to incite fear

Labour - Atlees manifesto ‘let us face the future’ promised action on housing jobs, social security and healthcare resulting in his landslide victory

What did atlees government 1945-51 implement?

• national health service

• National insurance act

• Housing act 1949

• Education act 1944

What are two of the reasons labours seats declined in 1950?

• 1949 House of Commons act reduced the number of labour safe seats

• The size of the working class shrunk 6%

What are the three reasons for dissatisfaction with labour in 1950?

• continued rationing

• Continued austerity

• High taxation - 9 shillings for every pound (45%)

Why did Attlee struggle in 1951?

He lost two of his ministers, Bevin and Stafford

How did the Korean War affect atlees labour government of the 1950s?

Hugh increase in military spending chancellor Gaitskell announced austerity budget in 1951 and charges for glasses/ dentistry

What happened when Attlee called an election in 1951?

Conservatives won

From 1951 how long did conservatives dominate British politics?

13 years

What was the conservative economic policies dubbed in 1954?

Butskellism

Who was pm in 1955?

Anthony Eden, he was young and popular due to his work as foreign minister

What did Eden do in 1955 to improve his mandate?

Called a general election