l12. The 1929 Election

the last election contested by...

the last election contested by...

all three political parties

first election...

women and men could vote on equal terms

(whole over 21 population involved)

newspapers that warned against flappers

daily mail

daily telegraph

conservative readers

women were more likely to vote for

conservatives

1928 ropa increased electorate by

2.2 million

voting on the ropa in parliament

387 in favour

10 against

conservatives vs labour

capitalism vs socialism

conservative motto

"safety first"

no new radical ideas to conquer unemployment

labour motto

"a socialist commonwealth"

had proven themselves in 1924, and hadn't supported general strike (feeling confident)

liberal motto

"we can conquer unemployment"

liberal by-elections won 1927-29

6

how much of his own money did dlg contribute

£40,000

candidates put forward by liberals

513

compared to 340 at previous election

liberal economic policy with economist

john maynard keynes

liberals on unemployment

claimed they could reduce it to "normal proportions" within a year by an extensive scheme of public works

1929 election results

labour - 288

conservative - 260

liberal - 59

labour success was due to four factors

• macdonald's moderate policies convinced the electorate he was responsible

• baldwin's "safety first" argument did not appeal, there was no direct threat

• unemployment seemed like it needed to be solved by a new administration

• fptp system meant that liberals won a disproportionately low number of seats

prime minister

ramsey Macdonald

chancellor

snowden

ministry of works

george lansbury

only prominent left wing member of government

foreign office

arthur henderson

minister of labour

margaret bondfield

first female cabinet minister

labour planned to (4)

• build council houses

• raise school leaving age to 15

• take government control over london transport

• tackle unemployment

emergence of usa as a world power

economic influence over the whole world (wall street crash)

russian communist revolution

fears a similar revolution could occur in Britain

british empire

ww1 threatened this

growing independence movement in india