Affie Otunla L6AJB Account for the liberal victory in 1906 election The general election of 1906 produced

a remarkable transformation of the political scene In Britain. The era of conservative and unionist hegemony that was a product of the liberal split over home rule for Ireland came to an end, and what turned out to be a period of liberal reform began. The landslide produced was the first ever of the 20th century. Whether the liberals won the election by such a large margin by their own success or the failure of the conservatives is debatable, but what is not debatable is that many factors contributed to this outcome. These factors can be broadly categorized into failings of the conservatives, and Liberal progress. Salisbury was succeeded as a prime minister by his nephew Arthur Balfour in July 1902. It is upon his shoulders that many historians heap the blame for his partys electoral defeat, due to a number of crucial mistakes that he made during his premiership. One of Balfour's first mistakes was the introduction of a new education bill. In 1870, Forsters Education Act had set up board schools, which had enabled nonconformists and socialists to obtain control over local schools. The 1902 education act abolished all 2568 school boards and handed over their duties to local borough or county councils. The act also provided for ratepayers support for church schools. At worst, this was Rome on the rates. Non-conformists were outraged and threw their support behind the liberal party. By 1906 over 170 men had gone to prison for refusing to pay their school taxes. Joseph chamberlain describe the reform as having changed the non conformists into active instead of merely passive opponents I do not think that any seat, where there is a strong Nonconformist electorate, can be considered as absolutely safe'. This was a vital issue for the 1906 election, as it produced a real turnaround in conservative fortunes. Neil Blewett argues that this must be the case as prior to the act being passed, the conservatives won 9 out of 10 elections; after the act was passed they began to lose. The economic situation was good and the Boer war had ended-so it must have been the act that made the difference, he argues. In fact, the measure did improve education provisions, but it shows that Balfour was insensitive to public perceptions of his policy, and that the education act was definitely a factor in the liberal victory of 1906. The conservative government also managed to reunite liberal nonconformists that had been divided over home rule through the licensing act; the 1902 licensing act reduced the number of public houses, resulting in the issue that was the entitlement to compensation of those who lost their licenses. An act in 1904 established that they were entitled to this compensation, and he temperance movement was energized to campaign to reverse this subsidy on sin. This revived temperance support for the liberal party. Not only did the conservatives push support towards the liberals, but they also contributed heavily to the rise of labor party. This was done through two policies that were seemingly endorsed by the Balfour government. Firstly the House of Lords decision upholding the Taff Vale judgment, which ruled that, a trade union could be sued and compelled to pay for damages inflicted by its officials. This had been a court verdict, not government policy, but the passivity of the conservatives seemed to endorse it. It became very clear to the trade unions that,

Affie Otunla L6AJB if the right to strike was ever to be preserved as an essential instrument of trade union policy, then the Taff vale decision must be reversed by parliament. The only way to achieve this was to secure a greater and more influential representation in parliament. This resulted in the mass trade unionist backing of the lib-lab coalition, which manifested itself in the return of 54 labor candidates during the 1906 election. There was also the matter of Chinese labor, whereby Chinese laborers were brought to South Africa to work in mines. Balfour disapproved but failed to stop it. The result was a chorus of humanitarian disapproval in Britain at the conditions in which the Chinese would live and work. The issue was taken up by the liberal party under the slogan of Chinese slavery both as a crusade for humanitarianism but also to exploit fear amongst British workers that the conservative government might allow similar immigration to Britain, threatening British jobs. This took further votes from the conservatives. All of the aforementioned policies were poorly thought out on the behalf of the conservatives, but none more so than Joseph chamberlains policy on tariff reform. Chamberlain wanted to introduce tariffs, with a lower level tariff for goods coming into Britain from the empire than for goods imported from nonempire countries. Chamberlain believed that this would protect British jobs and help pay for social reforms such as old age pensions (which would also serve to slow the advance of socialism). This was all good in theory, but chamberlain had neglected to convert his own party fully on the matter before launching into his national crusade. This resulted in a three way split of the conservative party. Some party activists found chamberlain irresistible and flocked to the tariff banner. But others were uncertain, and a third group was hotly against. In September 1903 chamberlain resigned from the government, as did several free traders, and decided to take the message to the country. Thus, the conservative party was divided three ways, whereas the liberal party was firmly united behind free trade. The effects on the conservative party were furthered worsened by the fact that many members of the public believed that free trade kept prices low, especially food prices, and the liberal party played expertly on these fears. A liberal poster campaign showing two loaves, he one bought under protection being much smaller, was particularly effective. The public was right, as the price of bread probably would have gone up since most of Britains wheat was imported from thee U.S. In addition, key sectors of the economy would lose out. For example, the textile areas of Lancashire, a traditional conservative stronghold, were worried about possible rises in the price of raw cotton and so re-voted liberal MPs in 1906. The nail in the coffin that was this policy was Balfours reaction to it, or should I say, Balfours lack of reaction to it. Balfour failed to provide a policy to unite the party and capture the imagination of the party (simply because their wasnt a policy that could do that). Instead, Balfour sat on the fence, calling for retaliation against those countries that discriminated against British goods, or else arguing that the issue should be shelved until a colonial conference was called. This was actually fairly sensible, as it was designed to try and maintain the unity of his party. However, this went over most of the electorates heads and left him open to mockery. Who is our leader, asked the conservative chief whip at one stage if it is Balfour, why doesnt he lead?

Affie Otunla L6AJB The once formidable conservative political machine was undoubtedly failing by 1905, whereas the liberals had made enormous strides since the defeat in 1900. The end of the Boer war allowed the pro-and anti-war factions to settle their differences and issues like education reform and temperance (very much old liberalism) provided rallying points as well as committed supporters, while free trade was the ideal party adhesive. In august 1903, the liberals concluded an electoral pact with labor, arranging that the two parties would not run rival candidates at the next election in order to prevent the risk of them splitting the vote as well as establishing the labor party as a third force to undermine the conservatives in key working class seats. Equally important was the emergence of Henry Campbell-Bannerman as a figure of stature within the liberal party. His criticisms of Britains methods of barbarism in the Boer was and the lead he took in condemning Chinese slavery provided a clarity and authority that had not been seen in the liberal party since Gladstone. An American journalist decided that his straightforwardness was a lesson to shuffling politicians everywhere. In conclusion, the series of own goals on behalf of the conservative party which led to the unification of the liberal party and the genesis of the labor party as a political force, combined with the rise of Henry Campbell-Bannerman as a leader and the progression of the liberal party ultimately resulted in the 400 seat to 157 seat liberal landslide of 1906.