History, Britain Revision Stats: 1918-1997
CONTENTS
Table of Contents
CONTENTS.....................................................................................................................................1
CHANGING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT.................................................................2
POLITICS............................................................................................................................................................................................. 2
ECONOMICS....................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS............................................................................................................................................................. 9
WELFARE STATE...........................................................................................................................11
WELFARE PROVISION................................................................................................................................................................ 11
EDUCATION..................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
SOCIETY.......................................................................................................................................16
CLASS STRUCTURE AND SOCIAL VALUES.......................................................................................................................... 16
WOMEN............................................................................................................................................................................................. 20
IMMIGRANTS.................................................................................................................................................................................. 23
QUALITY OF LIFE..........................................................................................................................26
LIVING STANDARDS.................................................................................................................................................................... 26
POPULAR CULTURE..................................................................................................................................................................... 28
TRANSPORT AND LEISURE...................................................................................................................................................... 33
THATCHER...................................................................................................................................36
ECONOMIC POLICIES................................................................................................................................................................... 36
ROLL BACK THE PUBLIC SECTOR.......................................................................................................................................... 38
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL DIVISIONS...................................................................................................................................... 39
EFFECTS ON POLITICS AND PARTY DEVELOPMENT.................................................................................................... 40
1
,CHANGING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
POLITICS
Period in office Prime Minister Party/parties Reason for fall
Liberal-Conservative Conservatives ended
Dec 1918 to Oct 1922 Lloyd George
coalition coalition
Oct 1922 to May 1923 Bonar Law Conservative Ill health
May 1923 to Jan 1924 Baldwin Conservative Lost vote of confidence
Jan 1924 to Nov 1924 MacDonald Labour Lost election
Nov 1924 to June 1929 Baldwin Conservative Lost election
Party divisions over
June 1929 to Aug 1931 MacDonald Labour policies to cope with
the Great Depression
National Labour –
Conservative –
Aug 1931 to June 1935 MacDonald Ill health
National Liberal
coalition
Conservative –
June 1935 to May National Labour –
Baldwin Retired
1937 National Liberal
coalition
Conservative –
May 1937 to May National Labour – Resigned having failed
Chamberlain
1940 National Liberal to form a coalition
coalition
Conservative – Labour
May 1940 to July 1945 Churchill Lost GE
– Liberal coalition
July 1945 to Oct 1951 Attlee Labour Lost election
Oct 1951 to April 1955 Churchill Conservative Retired as PM
April 1955 to Jan 1957 Eden Conservative Retired from ill health
Jan 1957 to Oct 1963 Macmillan Conservative Retired from ill health
Oct 1963 to Oct 1964 Douglas-Home Conservative Lost GE
Oct 1964 to June 1970 Wilson Labour Lost GE
June 1970 to March
Heath Conservative Lost GE
1974
March 1974 to April Resigned from ill
Wilson Labour
1976 health
April 1976 to May
Callaghan Labour Lost GE
1979
May 1979 to Nov 1990 Thatcher Conservative Resigned as PM
Seats (% vote)
Election year
Conservative Liberals Labour
2
, Dec 1910 272(46.3) 272(43.9) 42(7.1)
Coalition: 133(13.5)
Coalition: 335(32.6) Coalition: 10(1.5)
Dec 1918 Non-coalition:
Non-coalition: 23(3.4) Non-coalition: 114(33.7)
28(12.1)
Asquith: 54(17.5)
Nov 1922 345(38.2) 142(29.2)
Lloyd George: 62(11.6)
Dec 1923 258(38.1) 159(29.6) 191(30.5)
Oct 1924 419(48.3) 40(17.6) 151(33.0)
May 1929 260(38.2) 59(23.4) 288(27.1)
Coalition: 473(55.2) Coalition: 33(6.5) Coalition: 13(1.6)
Oct 1931
Non-coalition: – Non-coalition: 4(0.5) Non-coalition: 52(30.6)
Coalition: 386(47.8) Coalition: 21(3.7) Coalition: 8(1.5)
Nov 1935
Non-coalition: – Non-coalition: 6(0.5) Non-coalition: 154(37.9)
July 1945 213(39.8) 12(9.0) 393(47.8)
Feb 1950 298(43.5) 9(9.1) 315(46.1)
Oct 1951 321(48.0) 6(2.5) 295(48.8)
May 1955 344(49.7) 6(2.7) 277(46.4)
Oct 1959 365(49.4) 6(5.9) 258(44.8)
Oct 1964 304(43.4) 6(11.2) 295(44.1)
March 1966 253(41.9) 12(8.5) 363(47.9)
June 1970 330(46.4) 6(7.5) 287(43.0)
Feb 1974 297(37.9) 14(19.3) 301(37.1)
Oct 1974 277(35.8) 13(18.3) 319(39.2)
May 1979 339(43.9) 11(13.8) 269(36.9)
3
, 1918-31
Decline of the Liberals:
1936 Dangerfield quote
1986 Bernstein quote
The events of 1914
Dec 1916 – LG ousted the likes of Asquith as PM of the coalition gov
1918 – Maurice debate
Tories not won an election since 1900
1918 Representation of the People Act
All men over 21 could vote
Until 1928, only propertied women aged 30 or over could vote
Women – 43% of the electorate
Electorate size – 7.7mill in 1910, 21.4mill in 1918
Industrial working class – 80% of the electorate (up from 76%)
Working class vote split throughout the 20s across all three parties
May 1920 – Asquith supporters voted to ban LG supporters from Leamington party
conference
Sept 1922 Chanak incident
Selling honours – e.g. knighthood for £10,000
Couldn’t field enough candidates for 1922/23/24 GEs
1926 – Asquith stepped down as leader
1929 GE – Liberals could afford the same amount of candidates as their two rivals
FPTP – doomed to be the 3rd party from 30s onwards
Rise of Labour:
Labour Representation Committee until 1906
Split in 1914, reunited in 1917
Field similar number of candidates as the Tories in 1922/23/24 GEs
After the 1923 GE – Asquith backed the minority Labour gov
1924 – Campbell Case, Zinoviev letter
1924 – Tories win GE
1929 – Labour win GE
Conservatives:
Party rebranding from 1872 under Disraeli
1923 – Baldwin Tory leader
1922 – Carlton Club meeting
1923 – protectionism policy, voters rejected it in the 1924 GE
1929 – lackluster election slogan ‘Safety First’
(Until the 1948 Representation of the People Act), plural vote – Oxbridge, City of London
returned 14 MPs between them, almost always Tory
1921 – Irish Free State – Liberals lost support of around 80 Irish Nationalist MPs, Tories kept
support from around 10 Northern Irish MPs
On average in 1918 – 15,943 votes for a Tory MP, 29,868 for Labour, 36,116 for Liberal MP
1931-45
Why the National Government was formed:
October 1929 – Wall Street Crash
Labour ministers disagreed with spending cuts e.g. 10% to benefits
4
CONTENTS
Table of Contents
CONTENTS.....................................................................................................................................1
CHANGING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT.................................................................2
POLITICS............................................................................................................................................................................................. 2
ECONOMICS....................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS............................................................................................................................................................. 9
WELFARE STATE...........................................................................................................................11
WELFARE PROVISION................................................................................................................................................................ 11
EDUCATION..................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
SOCIETY.......................................................................................................................................16
CLASS STRUCTURE AND SOCIAL VALUES.......................................................................................................................... 16
WOMEN............................................................................................................................................................................................. 20
IMMIGRANTS.................................................................................................................................................................................. 23
QUALITY OF LIFE..........................................................................................................................26
LIVING STANDARDS.................................................................................................................................................................... 26
POPULAR CULTURE..................................................................................................................................................................... 28
TRANSPORT AND LEISURE...................................................................................................................................................... 33
THATCHER...................................................................................................................................36
ECONOMIC POLICIES................................................................................................................................................................... 36
ROLL BACK THE PUBLIC SECTOR.......................................................................................................................................... 38
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL DIVISIONS...................................................................................................................................... 39
EFFECTS ON POLITICS AND PARTY DEVELOPMENT.................................................................................................... 40
1
,CHANGING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
POLITICS
Period in office Prime Minister Party/parties Reason for fall
Liberal-Conservative Conservatives ended
Dec 1918 to Oct 1922 Lloyd George
coalition coalition
Oct 1922 to May 1923 Bonar Law Conservative Ill health
May 1923 to Jan 1924 Baldwin Conservative Lost vote of confidence
Jan 1924 to Nov 1924 MacDonald Labour Lost election
Nov 1924 to June 1929 Baldwin Conservative Lost election
Party divisions over
June 1929 to Aug 1931 MacDonald Labour policies to cope with
the Great Depression
National Labour –
Conservative –
Aug 1931 to June 1935 MacDonald Ill health
National Liberal
coalition
Conservative –
June 1935 to May National Labour –
Baldwin Retired
1937 National Liberal
coalition
Conservative –
May 1937 to May National Labour – Resigned having failed
Chamberlain
1940 National Liberal to form a coalition
coalition
Conservative – Labour
May 1940 to July 1945 Churchill Lost GE
– Liberal coalition
July 1945 to Oct 1951 Attlee Labour Lost election
Oct 1951 to April 1955 Churchill Conservative Retired as PM
April 1955 to Jan 1957 Eden Conservative Retired from ill health
Jan 1957 to Oct 1963 Macmillan Conservative Retired from ill health
Oct 1963 to Oct 1964 Douglas-Home Conservative Lost GE
Oct 1964 to June 1970 Wilson Labour Lost GE
June 1970 to March
Heath Conservative Lost GE
1974
March 1974 to April Resigned from ill
Wilson Labour
1976 health
April 1976 to May
Callaghan Labour Lost GE
1979
May 1979 to Nov 1990 Thatcher Conservative Resigned as PM
Seats (% vote)
Election year
Conservative Liberals Labour
2
, Dec 1910 272(46.3) 272(43.9) 42(7.1)
Coalition: 133(13.5)
Coalition: 335(32.6) Coalition: 10(1.5)
Dec 1918 Non-coalition:
Non-coalition: 23(3.4) Non-coalition: 114(33.7)
28(12.1)
Asquith: 54(17.5)
Nov 1922 345(38.2) 142(29.2)
Lloyd George: 62(11.6)
Dec 1923 258(38.1) 159(29.6) 191(30.5)
Oct 1924 419(48.3) 40(17.6) 151(33.0)
May 1929 260(38.2) 59(23.4) 288(27.1)
Coalition: 473(55.2) Coalition: 33(6.5) Coalition: 13(1.6)
Oct 1931
Non-coalition: – Non-coalition: 4(0.5) Non-coalition: 52(30.6)
Coalition: 386(47.8) Coalition: 21(3.7) Coalition: 8(1.5)
Nov 1935
Non-coalition: – Non-coalition: 6(0.5) Non-coalition: 154(37.9)
July 1945 213(39.8) 12(9.0) 393(47.8)
Feb 1950 298(43.5) 9(9.1) 315(46.1)
Oct 1951 321(48.0) 6(2.5) 295(48.8)
May 1955 344(49.7) 6(2.7) 277(46.4)
Oct 1959 365(49.4) 6(5.9) 258(44.8)
Oct 1964 304(43.4) 6(11.2) 295(44.1)
March 1966 253(41.9) 12(8.5) 363(47.9)
June 1970 330(46.4) 6(7.5) 287(43.0)
Feb 1974 297(37.9) 14(19.3) 301(37.1)
Oct 1974 277(35.8) 13(18.3) 319(39.2)
May 1979 339(43.9) 11(13.8) 269(36.9)
3
, 1918-31
Decline of the Liberals:
1936 Dangerfield quote
1986 Bernstein quote
The events of 1914
Dec 1916 – LG ousted the likes of Asquith as PM of the coalition gov
1918 – Maurice debate
Tories not won an election since 1900
1918 Representation of the People Act
All men over 21 could vote
Until 1928, only propertied women aged 30 or over could vote
Women – 43% of the electorate
Electorate size – 7.7mill in 1910, 21.4mill in 1918
Industrial working class – 80% of the electorate (up from 76%)
Working class vote split throughout the 20s across all three parties
May 1920 – Asquith supporters voted to ban LG supporters from Leamington party
conference
Sept 1922 Chanak incident
Selling honours – e.g. knighthood for £10,000
Couldn’t field enough candidates for 1922/23/24 GEs
1926 – Asquith stepped down as leader
1929 GE – Liberals could afford the same amount of candidates as their two rivals
FPTP – doomed to be the 3rd party from 30s onwards
Rise of Labour:
Labour Representation Committee until 1906
Split in 1914, reunited in 1917
Field similar number of candidates as the Tories in 1922/23/24 GEs
After the 1923 GE – Asquith backed the minority Labour gov
1924 – Campbell Case, Zinoviev letter
1924 – Tories win GE
1929 – Labour win GE
Conservatives:
Party rebranding from 1872 under Disraeli
1923 – Baldwin Tory leader
1922 – Carlton Club meeting
1923 – protectionism policy, voters rejected it in the 1924 GE
1929 – lackluster election slogan ‘Safety First’
(Until the 1948 Representation of the People Act), plural vote – Oxbridge, City of London
returned 14 MPs between them, almost always Tory
1921 – Irish Free State – Liberals lost support of around 80 Irish Nationalist MPs, Tories kept
support from around 10 Northern Irish MPs
On average in 1918 – 15,943 votes for a Tory MP, 29,868 for Labour, 36,116 for Liberal MP
1931-45
Why the National Government was formed:
October 1929 – Wall Street Crash
Labour ministers disagreed with spending cuts e.g. 10% to benefits
4
