Britain Breadth (2): Changing influences in parliament: The impact of parliamentary reform

Question 1

Earl Grey’s government 1830-4

Answer 1

Reforming ministery defined the liberals as pro-reform and the conservatives as anti-reform.

Question 2

Lichfield House compact 1835

Answer 2

a deal for Whigs, radicals and Irish MPs to work together against Peel’s conservatives. This unified the Whig party.

Question 3

Reform club 1836

Answer 3

Became the unofficial headquarters of the Liberal party, mostly focused on developing ideology.

Question 4

Willis’ Rooms meeting 1859

Answer 4

the ‘peelite’ conservatives joined with the Whigs to form an anti-conservative alliance (the conservatives had split over the corn law).
Nascent party still had no clear policies, more of a faction-like general ideological direction.

Question 5

1870’s Birmingham Caucus

Answer 5

Election strategy devised by Joseph Chamberlain to organise voters to the party’s advantage. 1867 reform act created many multimember constituencies. Chamberlain instead canvassed Birmingham voters and directed them to spread their votes evenly between all 3 liberal candidates, allowing liberals to take a clean sweep of all 3 candidates.

Question 6

National Liberal Association 1877

Answer 6

A union of regional Liberal groups. Held an annual party conference. In part, it wanted to spread the Birmingham caucus system across other multi-member seats. In 1883 the NLF approved extending the vote to women although Gladstone didn’t include it in the 1884 extension of the franchise.

Question 7

Gladstone and New Liberalism

Answer 7

To win working class votes and out of genuine conviction. New liberals embraced the idea that the state should take the lead in introducing social reforms. Offered working class voters a middle path between the ‘old’ liberals focus on individual liberty and the complete restructuring of society advocated for by the socialists.
Still faced the obstacle of a conservative dominated HOL determined to frustrate their agenda.
Gave policy direction to the Liberal party.
His Midlothian campaign 1878-80 is seen as the first modern political campaign, cementing G as a clear leader, generating popularity that would translate into electoral success in the 1880 election.
New liberalism moved towards active intervention to help the poor.
- pensions introduced 1908
- Labour exchanges 1909
- National insurance 1911

Question 8

First home rule bill 1886

Answer 8

Split the liberal party. Gladstone’s messianic determination to ‘pacify Ireland’ split the party. Chamberlain resigned, gov fell, ushering a long period of conservative rule under Salisbury.

Question 9

Tariff reform 1903-6

Answer 9

Imploded the conservative party and united liberals in their opposition and around one of their favourite commitments - to free trade. The tariff reform split wiped the conservatives out in the 1906 election and ushered in the radically reforming lib gov.

Question 10

WW1

Answer 10

Liberal party split in 1916 when Asquith’s gov was brought down. The wartime and post-war Liberal coalition government held until 1922, after which the liberals wouldn’t return to government until the coalition gov of 2010.

Question 11

The working-class

Answer 11

Examples of WC MPs include Thomas Burt and Alexander MacDonald.

Question 12

Kier Hardie

Answer 12

-founder of the labour party
-used union dues to sponsor MPs in 1893
-worked in the mines
-led a successful strike in 1880
-first elected in 1892

Question 13

Monarchs 1760-1936

Answer 13

• George III (1760-1820): 1783 fired the Whigs = powerful.
• George IV (1820-30): Extravagant. Banquet at Brighton pavilion 1817.
• William IV (1830-7): His death triggered a general election.
• Victoria (1837-1901): Constitutional monarchy. Soft power = shift.
• Edward VII (1901-10)
• George V (1910-36): 1924 he appointed the first labour gov.

Question 14

Differences in the monarchy 1780 compared to 1928

Answer 14

William IV and onwards could no longer choose a prime minister if he couldn’t rely on parliamentary majority in the HOC.
George V (1910-36) privately opposed the 1914 bill to grant home rule to Ireland as he feared it would lead to civil war in Ireland.
Pitt got rid of sinecures.
Monarch didn’t directly influence PM.
HOL had become the second chamber.

Question 15

Aristocracy

Answer 15

50% of MPs were elected from the South of England.
In 1906 10% of MPs elected came from aristocratic or gentry families.
Lord Penrhyn spent £30,000 bribing electors in Liverpool in 1830.
In the 1890’s the aristocracy owned 4/5’s of Britain’s land.

Question 16

Abolition of the property qualification for MPs 1858

Answer 16

Before the property qualifications were:
- County = £600 per year
- Borough = £300 per year
was abolished but MPs still didn’t have a salary so relied on private income

Question 17

Reasons for the declining power of the aristocracy 1780-1928

Answer 17

By 1885 the number of MPs from industrial and commercial backgrounds outnumbered the MPs from the landowning elite.

Question 18

Parliament act 1911

Answer 18

Law introduced a series of changes:
- HOL could only delay a bill for 2 years, after which it would be passed. Severely weakened their ability to block laws.
- HOL couldn’t delay or amend a financial bill.
- Time btwn general elections was reduced from 7 to a max of 5 years.
- salaries of £400 were introduced for MPs, making the role accessible for working-class representatives.
- However the HOL would remain unelected and hereditary.

Question 19

Growing organisation of political parties

Answer 19

From 1874, under the gov of PTY party lines became more distinct, w/ clear differences in their views on the American War of Independence and the French revolutionary wars.
The ROPA 1832 meant that parties needed to register voters so became more organised. The need to contest elections made parties more essential.

Question 20

Catholic Emancipation 1829

Answer 20

This meant that Catholics could become MPs.

Question 21

The 1830’s Tory comeback

Question 22

Repeal of the corn laws 1846

Answer 22

Peel repealed the corn laws in 1845, this tore the conservative apart and he resigned in 1846. 2/3rds of conservatives rebleed and voted against Peel. The Peelites and Whigs formed an anti-conservative alliance which became the Liberal party.

Question 23

Disraeli’s leap in the dark 1867

Question 24

Carlton club

Answer 24

The conservative central office was set up after the 1867 representation of the people act, it had 791 local associations by 1877.

Question 25

Economical reform 1780’s

Answer 25

1780 proposal for ‘economical reform’. Stated ‘the power of the crown has increased, is increasing and ought to be diminished’. Reduce government spending. The bill was passed and reduced the number of offices that the crown could award.

Question 26

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835

Answer 26

Replaced closed, self-nominating, oligarchic borough corporations with elected councils. Under the new system councillors were to be elected for three year terms, who would in turn elect the mayor to hold office for one year and each borough was to have a paid own clerk and treasurer. The reform also placed new responsibilities upon councils such as the formation of a police force.
Such change was the basis of an upsurge in urban politics and a wave of urban reformism. Was a crucial piece of legislation, with respect to political participation, in the early part of the century.

Question 27

Tamworth manifesto

Answer 27

a speech by Robert Peel stating the views of the tory party and where they stood on the reform line. First polarised the use of the word ‘conservatives’. stressed the timely reform of abuses, the necessity of law and order, an orderly system of taxation, and the importance of both landed interests and trade and industry. Outlined the conservative ideology, characterising the party.

Question 28

1867 Reform act impact on political parties

Answer 28

-increased size of electorate required more organisation (conservative central office and the national liberal federation)
-parties paid local agents for voter recruitment
-parties began investing more in newspapers etc.
-women’s organisations were used to influence their husbands votes.

Question 29

Impact of the 1872 secret ballot act on political parties

Answer 29

getting out the party message became increasingly important

Question 30

how did the 1883 corruption and illegal practices prevention act impact political parties?

Answer 30

-locked down on where parties could spend their money in elections making the parties message more important
-more focus in local volunteer groups.
- by 1910 the average spent on one vote was just 18% of what had been spent in 1880.

Question 31

how did the 1918 reform act impact political parties?

Answer 31

-spurred the growth of the labour party
-finalised the loss of the liberal party.

Question 32

Independent Labour party

Answer 32

Independent Labour party was formed in 1893.
Middle classes viewed it as a socialist and revolutionary movement, in reality it was more involved in practical thinking.

Question 33

LRC (labour representation committee)

Answer 33

Formed in 1900, it unified over 100 trade unions to connect trade unionism to parliamentary reform - campaigned on behalf of the ILP and trade unions

Question 34

Lib-lab pact

Answer 34

1903, liberals agreed with the LRC to avoid splitting the opposition vote against conservatives in the next election that the LRC would support a liberal government and the liberals would contest a number of labour strongpoints to allow them to win seats.
As a result, 29 LRC candidates won seats and they named themselves the Labour party.

Question 35

Labour party

Answer 35

First labour government was formed in 1924 under Ramsay MacDonald.
However, a fake letter from Russia published ‘Zinoviev’s letter’ promised the extension of communism - damaging labour’s first time in government and exacerbating the perceived threat of communism.
In 1923 labour won 191 seats in the election.
the enfranchisement of millions of working-class men in the 1918 ROPA spurred the growth of the labour party, their vote share rose from 7% to 22% in the 1918 general election. This ROPA also finalised the loss of dominance of the liberal party.

Question 36

how did the 1884 and 1885 acts help change the social makeup of the House of Commons?

Answer 36

background outnumbered landed MPs
-small number of working class MPs representing trade unions and liberals were elected
-labour had 29 MPs by 1906 - funded by the unions and labour party

Question 37

in what ways did the social makeup of the house of commons hardly change?

Answer 37

-majority of MPs were still from wealthy backgrounds
-majority of MPs were male
-any women who was elected more often than not was wealthy and/or had a husband who had previously stood for MP

Question 38

in what ways did the social makeup of the house of commons change?

Answer 38

-MPs were mainly from urban or commercial middle/upper class instead of landowners
-more evenly distributed geographically
-working class men were MPs
-women were MPs

Question 39

who was the first women to take up her seat as MP?

Answer 39

Nancy Astor in 1919

Question 40

Jewish relief act 1858

Answer 40

meant that Jews could become MPs.

Question 41

what were some situations that the House of Lords intervened to force the commons to postpone or reconsider legislation?

Answer 41

1884 over parliamentary reform and 1893 over Irish Home Rule which split the liberal party in 1886.

Question 42

the House of Lords has long been seen as detached from reality and aristocratic, outline a quote from Salisbury in 1876 that expresses his opinion on it…

Answer 42

‘the dullest assembly in the world’

Question 43

Civil service act 1780’s

Answer 43

abolished over 130 royal and government sinecures (a position requiring little or no work but giving the holder status or financial benefit) saving over £70,000 a year

Question 44

Conservative central office

Answer 44

After the 1867 reform act. Built a network of local party organisations. By 1877, it had 791 local associations. Women’s organisations like the primrose league (1883) held social events used to encourage women to influence their husbands vote.

Question 45

How did the social make-up of the house of lords remain the same?

Answer 45

• 1928 the majority of MPs were from wealthy background.
• Majority of MPs were male.
• only 12 elected female MPs in 1920’s.
• In 1845, 41% of MPs were listed as sons or close relatives of aristocrats.