Liberals in Schism: A History of the National Liberal Party–By David Dutton (original) (raw)
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Decline and Disintegration (Liberal Party 1929-55)
2011
he 1929 general election was a disappointment for the Liberal Party and confirmed its third-party status at national level. 1 Nevertheless, apart from 1922-23 it was the party's strongest performance in terms of vote share at any election between 1910 and 1983.
Recruitment of Liberals into the Conservative party, 1906-1935
PhD Thesis, 2015
Consideration of recruitment of Liberal politicians into the Conservative party, in the first third of the twentieth century, is an important but under-explored aspect of the political realignment which saw the demise of the Liberal party and the rise of a new duopoly between the Conservative and Labour parties. A specific and detailed investigation of the phenomenon is necessary. This study provides an opportunity to appreciate the nature of how individual Liberal politicians reacted to changing political circumstances with the weakening of the Liberal party. It examines a range of relevant factors – both of a long-term and immediate nature – and undertakes comparative analysis of the careers of the relevant politicians, including not only prominent politicians but also less well-known ones to assist in ensuring that the topic avoids being merely a study of high politics. All findings point to a diverse range of issues which influenced political thinking about party allegiances, but broadly these relate to the growth of a shared political agenda, between Liberals and Conservatives. Some Liberals wanted positively to coalesce with Conservatives, forming relationships, both in Parliament and in the constituencies, which eventually brought them inside the Conservative party or close to it, whilst others, by contrast, almost fell into working with the Conservatives due to political pressures over time. All seemed to suffer some level of disaffection from the Liberal party, which was therefore a key ingredient in hastening their change of party.
The decline of the governing Liberal Party from a 400-seat position of electoral dominance in 1906 to a 40-seat political also-ran, eighteen years later, has emerged as a topic rich in historical controversy. Published throughout several decades, copious historical literature has presented a variety of plausible conflicting interpretations many of which have been based upon sound empirical evidence. Geoffrey Searle’s work is positioned as a guide through various historical texts that address the issue as he examines and critiques the main disintegration theories presented and puts forward his own explanation as a conclusion. Within this review of his work, Searle’s methodological techniques are appraised - in particular: his selection and handling of sources, the validity of his decisions for inclusion or omission, the cogency of his concluding argument and the strength of his historiography.
LLOYD GEORGE AND THE ELECTORAL DECLINE OF THE BRITISH LIBERAL PARTY IN THE 1920s
The Historical Journal
This article reassesses the electoral decline of British Liberalism in the 1920s, especially the catastrophic defeat of 1924. A leading explanation for this disaster is that the Liberals were ‘fighting to lose’ by leaving nearly 250 constituencies uncontested. David Lloyd George is widely seen as deliberately seeking to destroy his party by refusing to finance candidates through his infamous ‘fund’, so he could lead what remained after electoral evisceration. His actions are widely credited with stymieing prospects of a Liberal recovery in the next election, 1929, which confirmed the party's permanent replacement by Labour. Through a wide-ranging statistical reanalysis, supported by a study of grassroots constituency campaigns, this article argues that the lack of candidates was a negligible contributor either to Liberal annihilation in 1924, or to Liberal failure to recover in 1929. The sharply deteriorating health of the party was already felt keenly at the grassroots before, ...
Labour Leaders and the Liberals, 1906-24
2016
The decline of the British Liberal party remains a matter for serious historical enquiry. This is not surprising, given its scale and speed. Some of the heat has gone from the controversy. For example, historians no longer come to blows (metaphorically at least) over the question of whether Stockport is part of Lancashire or Cheshire.1 Attempts to outflank the arguments of the ‘other side ’ have resulted in a series of local studies. These outflanking actions have produced some fine work and some that is perhaps less remarkable, but none has produced the knockout blow their authors have desired: they have tended to cancel each other out in a kind of historiographical trench warfare.2 Analyses of particular political issues have attempted to illustrate wider truths, although with somewhat conflicting conclusions as to the sustainability or otherwise of the Liberal party.3 Various categories have been employed as explanatory tools. None has entirely explained. At one time the decline ...
Liberals of the Right? The terms left and right applied to the British Liberal Democrat tradition
Journal of Liberal History 47, 2005
asks whether it is meaningful to apply the terms left and right to the British Liberal Democrat tradition? And what do we mean by the 'Liberal Right' in this special edition of the Journal of Liberal History? 'I am a nineteenth-century Liberal. So is Mrs Thatcher. That is what this government is all about'. Sir John Nott, Conservative Minister in the 1980s i 'The picture generally given of the relative position of the three parties does more to obscure than to elucidate their true relations. They are usually represented as different positions on a line, with the socialists on the left, the conservatives on the right, and the liberals somewhere in the middle. Nothing could be more misleading.'
Civic republicanism and Sir Robert Menzies the non liberal side of the Liberal leader.pdf
Robert Menzies was the founder of the Liberal Party and a constitutional monarchist. His political thought, however, often reveals a civic republican understanding of the crucial problems of government and society. This article will examine some key events and influences on Menzies and argue that his political philosophy and understanding of politics can be more accurately understood as classically republican. In his support for a limited monarchy, his defence of public life, and insistence on civic virtue through education, Menzies supported fundamentally republican ideals. This article offers scholars a way to get past some of the seemingly contradictory elements of Menzies’s career and arguments, along with reassessing the role and understanding of republicanism in Australian political history.
The making of a liberal programme 1947-1950
1990
Throughout the 1950s the Liberal Party of South Africa suffered severe internal conflict over basic issues of policy and strategy. On one level this stemmed from the internal dynamics of a small party unequally divided between the Cape, Transvaal and Natal, in terms of membership, racial composftion and political traditon. This paper and the larger work from which it is taken , however, argue inter alia that the conflict stemmed to a greater degree from a more fundamental problem, namely differing interpretations of liberalism and thus of the role of South African liberals held by various elements within the Liberal Party (LP). This paper analyses the political creed of those parliamentary and other liberals who became the early leaders of the LP. Their standpoint developed in specific circumstances during the period 1947-1950, and reflected opposition to increasingly radical black political opinion and activity, and retreat before the unfolding of apartheid after 1948. This particular brand of liberalism was marked by a rejection of extraparliamentary activity, by a complete rejection of the univensal franchise, and by anti-communismthe negative cgaracteristics of the early LP, but also the areas of most conflict within the party. The liberals under studyincluding the Ballingers, Donald Molteno, Leo Marquard, and otherswere all prominent figures. All became early leaders of the