Zusammenfassung der Ressource
1906 - Liberal Landslide
- The Boer War 1899-1902
- Began in 1899 with the
expectation of victory
- It cost lives and money (more than
expected)
- The methods used
were seen as
wrong by people
- Revealed the effects of poverty
and the need of social reforms
- Liberals gained support by
claiming the Conservatives
neglected social reforms
- Encouraged Joseph
Chamberlain to push his
campaign for tariff reform
- Balfour- 1902 Education Act
- It brought all schools under local
council control which angered non
conformist
- The schools were mostly controlled by
Anglicans and they feared that Anglicans
would control the schools = religion
- It led to great campaign
against the act
- Some refused to pay tax
- Some non-conformist schools refused to
accept council supervision and went
independent
- Lib-Lab Pact
- The Conservatives = failed to do
anything about the effects of the Taff
Vale Judgement
- The Labour Party and
Liberal Party formed an
alliance
- They formed in 1903
- The two parties agreed not to fight against
each other in constituencies at the next general
election.
- Labour would support Liberal
reforms which would reverse Taff Vale
- The Liberals offered the
prospect of social reforms
- Chinese Slavery 1902-1904
- Chinese labourers were working
for low wages
- They were imported into
South Africa
- It raised moral outcry of the
treatment of the Chinese
- Trade union feared that employers
might bring them into Brtiain
- It may cause the wages to go down in Britain
and with employments very high in 1905
- Taff Vale Case
- 1901, a dispute had broken out in
Wales between the Taff Vale Railway
Company and the railway workers trade union
- Led to strike action
- The company took the trade union to court
for compensation for loss of profits during
the strike
- In 1902, the House of Lords, the highest court
ruled that a company was within its rights to sue
a trade union.
- The trade union were
horrified
- Only the Act of Parliament could over rule a Lord's
judgement and the Conservatives refused
- The Tariff Reform Campaign
- This was the
Conservatives biggest
misjudgement
- It was launched by Joseph
Chamberlain
- Proposed duties on many
imports to counter
competition from cheaper
foreign goods.
- He wanted to reintroduce tariffs with a lower
tariff for goods coming into Britain from the
empire than for goods, imported from
non-empire countries. This was the Imperial
Protectionism
- Argued it was to protect British
jobs, help pay for social reforms
and strength Britain's position in
the world
- Damaged the
Conservatives
- Everyone feared the tariffs
because of dearer food and
falling living standards.
- Tariff Reforms divided the
Conservatives government &
party
- Helped Liberals reunite and
strengthen them since they believe in
Free Trade
- Balfour
- He was highly intelligent but
lacked political skills
- Failed to forsee the anger that the Chinese
labour and his refusal to reverse the Taff Vale
Case
- Misunderstood the working
men's reaction to the tariff
reform
- Allowed Chamberlain to
make tariff reforms a key
unisonist
- Responsible for the 1906
election through his
unusual decison
- He was indecisive on tarrifs and
miscalculated the reation of the
workin class on key issues.
- Attraction to Liberal
- They reunited in 1905
- The issues that divided them were
pushed aside
- All agreed and supported Free Trade and
exploited this during the 1906 election
- Exploited Conservative mistakes which led
to winning the nonconformist support
- Irish voters in Britain were more likely to
vote Liberal with is support for the Home
Rule this the anti-Home Rule Unionist.
- Neglect Of Social
Reform
- Growing awareness of the
extent of poverty
- Boer War exposed the
amount of malnutrition
- Led to concerns about the
physical decline of the Britain
- Some Liberals were
already working out a
new form of liberalism
- The Conservatives produced
nothing other than the
Education Act