The Impact of Labour 1920–1924
The Beginning of Modern British Politics

This book is primarily an account of the initiatives of politicians and their reactions to one another.

Maurice Cowling (Author)

9780521619202, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 17 February 2005

584 pages
21.5 x 14 x 3.9 cm, 0.77 kg

Modern British politics begins with the Labour victory at the Spen Valley by-election in early 1920. In the next four years, the challenge presented by its arrival as a major electoral force enabled the Conservative leaders to destroy the Coalition, the Liberal Party, and Lloyd George, to triumph as guardians of the social order under Baldwin at the General Election of 1924 and to establish the Labour-Conservative polarisation in the form which has persisted since. This conclusion emerges from Mr Cowling's detailed study of the high politics of these years, in which the various attempts to end and replace the Coalition are shown to have hinged on 'resistance to socialism'. This book is primarily an account of the initiatives of politicians and their reactions to one another. Mr Cowling's book is unique in the sources used; it is also the only study of this period to examine all three political parties in detail.

Introduction
Part I: 1. The threat from Labour
2. The importance of Horatio Bottomley
3. The conspiracies of Lord Robert Cecil
4. Lord Salisbury's connections
5. The Liberal collapse
6. The Coalition dilemma
Part II: 7. The election kite of January 1922
8. The preservation of the Coalition
9. Withdrawal to Criccieth, March 1922
10. Unemployment and the Labour party
11. The disappointment of Austen Chamberlain
12. The shunning of Lloyd George
13. The inadequacy of Bonar Law
14. The arrival of Mr Baldwin
Part III: 15. Baldwin's need for a platform
16. Salisbury's revolt
17. The defeat of Birkenhead
18. The Liberal miscalculation
19. The politics of the first Labour government
20. Baldwin's triumph
Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: History [HB]