Decline of the Liberals 1918/22 - A Changing Political and Economic Environment 1918 - 79

How did the Liberal Party develop in interwar British politics?

—  In the 1910 General Elections, the Liberal Party retained power and formed a government.

—  In 1915, the Liberal Party had strong representation on the coalition wartime government.

—  During the First World War, the Liberal Party begins to split which leads those who support Lloyd George forming a coalition government with the Conservatives after the 1918 General Election.

—  The Liberal Party loses the 1922, 1924, 1929 and 1931 General Elections by large margins - 1922 Labour gains more seats then the Liberals and become the main opposition to Conservatives

—  During this time, the Liberal Party supported the minority Labour governments of 1924 and 1929-31.

Why did the Liberal Party fall as a political force in the interwar period?

1. Collapse of party unity.
2. Impact of the Representation of the People Act.
3. Impact of the 1918 General Election.
4. Failure of Lloyd George after 1922.

How did the First World War impact upon Liberal unity?

—  The First World War saw the government implement the Defence of the Realm Act [1914] which gave the government extended powers, such as economic controls, conscription and rationing to avoid defeat.

—  These illiberal measures were opposed by many in the Liberal Party.

—  However, DORA was supported by leading and popular Liberal, David Lloyd George. Lloyd George in 1916 managed to oust traditional Liberal, Herbert Asquith as Prime Minister. This was as much to do with Asquith’s wartime leadership as well as policies.

—  Asquith’s ousting outraged many traditional Liberals who saw Lloyd George as a traitor and continued to support Asquith.

—  This split was crystallised in the Maurice Debate which was sparked by a public letter by General Maurice who accused Lloyd George of lying to Parliament about the number of troops on the Western Front.

—  Asquith led an attempt to oust Lloyd George with the support of the majority of Liberal MPs, but this failed.

To what extent did the Representation of the People Act of 1918 damage the Liberals?

Significant damage

Limited damage

—  ROPA extended the electorate by 13 million people, including young, working class men - the working class made up the majority (80%) of the electorate - and (some) women —  The Representation of the People Act led to a growing number of working class voters which the Liberals failed to win over. —  Effectiveness of the Labour Party in adapting to the new areas of the electorate took votes away from the Liberals. —  Between 1910 (before ROPA) and 1923 (after ROPA) the Labour party went from having 7.1% of the vote to having 30.5%, meanwhile the Liberals share of the vote declined – from 43.9% to 29.6% - evidence that the new influx of voter led to a rise in the Labour Party’s power – and a decline of the Liberals.

—  The working class vote did not increase to the extent where it could have led to such a decline in Liberal seats. —  Liberals failed to challenge the development of the first past the post system and this only really damaged the Liberals in the 1930s – by then the decline was too far gone.

Was the 1918 ‘Coupon Election’ a turning point in Liberal fortunes?

·       Because the divisions within the Liberal Party did not heal in time, the 1918 General Election was contested by two Liberal Parties – one which supported Lloyd George and the other who supported Asquith.

·       Lloyd George made a coalition with the Conservatives – who were desperate for office after an absence of 18 years and allied themselves with the popular Lloyd George, who did not have enough Parliamentary Liberals to support him.

·       Any candidate who stood for election on behalf of the Lloyd George/Conservative coalition was issues with a ‘Coupon’ – a letter confirming they stood for the coalition.

·       The coalition won by a landslide with the Conservatives as the dominant partner with 332 seats and Lloyd George Liberals with 133 seats. Only 28 Asquith Liberals won seats with Asquith losing his.

The impact of the ‘Coupon Election’ was far reaching on the Liberals –

—   Asquith’s leadership never recovered.

—   The Lloyd George Liberals were dependent on the Conservatives and had a weak position in Parliament.

—  The split between the party deepened - Lloyd George was ejected from the Leamington party conference in 1920 by Asquith and his supporters

—   Lloyd George tried to make the coalition permanent with the formation of an anti-Labour ‘Centre Party’. This attempt failed and divided Liberals even further.

How did Lloyd George’s conduct damage the Liberal Party in 1922?

—  Lloyd George had made his name as a champion of limiting the rights of the privileged and the ‘man who won the war’.

—  In June 1922, a scandal emerged where he was selling knighthoods and peerages amassing a huge political fortune - a knighthood could be bought for £10 000 -[which he refused to share with the Liberals unless they followed his ideas].

—  The scandal did much damage to his credibility and he was portrayed as corrupt.

—   At the same time, he was seen as a warmonger, threatening Turkey if it sought to revise the terms of the peace treaty in the Chanak Incident.

—  These events led to the Conservatives withdrawing from the coalition and forcing Lloyd George to resign.

—  The subsequent election saw the Conservatives win a handsome majority with Lloyd George’s National Liberals in third place, overtaken by Labour

How did the Liberals try to bounce back from the 1922 General Election?

—  Lloyd George’s personal unpopularity, divisions between the Liberals and the rise of the Labour Party were significant reasons why the Liberals lost the 1922 General Election.

—  In the 1922, 1923 and 1924 elections the Liberals lacked the proper funds to run successful campaigns or field as many candidates as the Conservative and Labour partys (this was party due to Lloyd George withholding funds from the Liberal party unless they gave him their full support)

—  Although it supported a minority Labour government in 1924, their share of the vote fell by 12% in the 1924 General Election, This was down to the Liberals losing the confidence of their traditional voter base as many turned to the Conservatives.

—  After Asquith’s resignation, Lloyd George was able to reunite the Liberals in 1926.

—  Lloyd George tried to create a viable set of policies to solve the growing problem of unemployment and investment in industry presented in their ‘The Yellow Book’. They never gained the support of the electorate and the Liberals became increasingly marginalised and their share of the vote continued to fall throughout the 1920s.

—  FPTP further limited their ability to gain seats; as it favoured a two party race, and after 1922 the two dominant parties were the Conservatives and Labour – In 1924 election the Liberals gained 17.6% of the vote, but were only awarded 40 seats, Labour gained 33.0% of the vote, but were awarded 151 seats.