Liberal Party Divisions

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To what extent did World War One cause divisions within the Liberal Party? Although World War One (and the Labour Party) did contribute to divisions within the Liberals, the most important factor for the split is due to Lloyd George and the Conservatives. Lloyd George had replaced the Liberal Party leader Herbert Henry Asquith as Prime Minister in 1916, at the head of a coalition government with the Conservatives. So Asquith and many of his leading colleagues who did not want the split went into opposition to Lloyd and there was a formal split within the party. This was emphasized as Lloyd George and the Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law decided to continue the coalition after the end of the First World War and held the “coupon election”.…show more content…
1906 election victory disguised one simple fact that the Liberals could not have fought against. After the 1867 Reform Act, far more working class men could vote. This number was further increased after the introduction of the 1884 Reform Act. For years, the only party that seemingly represented the best interests of the working class man was the Liberal Party. The creation of the Independent Labour Party ended this and gave the working class their own political voice. When the ILP stood at their first general election in 1895 they made little impact – as would be expected from a novice party. However, by the 1900 election and the elections held in 1906 and twice in 1910, the Labour Party was starting make an impact in terms of MP’s elected and votes gained. In 1900, the Labour Party got 62,698 votes. By 1910 this had grown to 505,675 – an eight-fold increase in just ten years. This was also matched with the growth of Labour MP’s in Parliament. The First World War interrupted any further electoral advance for the Labour Party until 1918 when in the ‘Coupon Election’ the party got 2,245,777 votes – just under 21% of the total cast with 57 MP’s elected. This growth in support was invariably at the expense of the Liberal Party. Conservative supporters stayed tolerably solid during this time and were not likely to change their support to the Labour Party. The Liberal Party had little that they could offer the working class that was not offered by the Labour Party. This put further strain on the Liberal party and effectively helped to deepen the divide that was
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