The decline of the Liberal party was due to a number of factors:

Impact of the war: The divisions among the Liberals that developed during the war continued to have an effect. The split between Asquith and Lloyd George was never properly healed. Although they came together in 1923 to fight the election, the reunion was unconvincing; both sides remained suspicious of each other. In addition, government measures during the war such as the introduction of conscription and DORA meant that Liberal values which centred on the freedom of the individual and the concept of ‘laissez-faire’, had been severely challenged.

Impact of Liberal legislation: The social reforms introduced by the Liberals had been far-reaching, but they marked the limits of how far most Liberals were prepared to go in this area. Thus, working classes needed to look elsewhere for further reforms.

Electoral costs: Both the Conservative and the Labour parties had substantial sources of income. The Conservatives could count on donations from the business world and the Labour Party received funds from trade unions which increased as trade union membership grew. The Liberal party had no similar source of income. This meant that its election campaigns were relatively limited.

The electoral system: As indicated by the tables of the different elections above, the Liberals were disadvantaged by the British electoral system known as ‘first past the post’. Although the Liberals, for instance had a similar percentage of votes to Labour in the 1923 election, it could not translate these into seats. This also made it less attractive to voters who were reluctant to ‘waste’ their vote. 

Within Parliament they could no longer rely on the parliamentary support of the Irish Nationalists as they had done before 1914, as Sinn Fein had boycotted the House of Commons in 1918 and Home Rule for southern Ireland was implemented in 1922.

Loss of traditional support: By 1918, the Labour party had a new constitution ensuring trade union dominance, and increasingly workers realised that their interests lay in voting Labour. The most enthusiastic supporters of the Liberals had been nonconformists, but the nonconformist churches were declining rapidly in numbers and enthusiasm. 

Several factors account for this remarkable number of seats won by the Labour party:

• Working class voters now switched allegiance from the Liberal to the Labour Party; Labour policies were much more relevant to their post-war needs.
• The Labour Party was now organised and well-funded. It had improved its constituency organisation during the war which allowed it to put candidates in most constituencies in 1922. It adopted a formal constitution in 1918 which set out a distinct programme. In addition, funds from the trade unions gave it strong financial backing.
• The Labour Party had gained experience in government during the war; this had allowed it to prove that it was a patriotic party and that it could be trusted with power.

The Conservatives were the dominant force in the 1920s, and indeed would continue to be so until the outbreak of war in 1939.  Following their influential position in Lloyd George’s coalition from 1918 to 1922, they went on, after their break from the Liberals, to form the government of Britain up to 1929. The only exception was the nine-month period that you have just read about, under the Labour government.

There were several reasons for this Conservative dominance.

Impact of the First World War: The war had split the Liberal Party and brought the Conservatives into the coalitions where they played a key role and gained valuable ministerial experience. The war also allowed the Conservatives to highlight their traditional values; patriotism, strong defence and protection of the Empire were all important during wartime.

Electoral change: The electoral changes at the end of the war benefited the Conservatives. The Representation of the People Act (see previous page) preserved ‘plural voting’. This meant that owners of business premises outside their constituency of residence could vote twice, and graduates could also vote for university seats; both of these categories of voters were likely to be Conservative. The redistribution of seats in the Act favoured the Conservatives as several ‘safe’ seats in the South of England in the Home Counties were subdivided into more ‘safe’ seats. Moreover, it appears that the female voters who were enfranchised in 1918 largely voted for the Conservative Party.

Post-war events in Ireland: These further benefited the Conservatives as after 1922 and the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Nationalists who had previously supported the Liberals now sat in their own parliament in Dublin. The only Irish MPs left at Westminster were those from Ulster, who were pro-Conservative.

Broad-based support: The Conservative Party had the support of wealthy, upper-class Britons. However, it also had the support of much of both the middle and the working class. This broad appeal came from its association with national unity, patriotism, King and empire as well as its emphasis on self-reliance. In comparison to, what seemed to many, the radical policies of the Labour Party and the Liberals, the Conservatives could portray themselves as both moderate and unified.

Funding : The wealth of the upper classes provided the Conservatives with valuable funds which helped to conduct highly organised election campaigns and to contest every single constituency in the country at election time.

Organised campaigning: The Conservatives had more paid professional agents than other parties. They were the first party to employ an advertising agency for the 1929 election and issued more printed material than any other party – four leaflets per voter in 1929. They also developed a larger party membership with an estimated million members of Conservatives’ women’s branches by 1930.

Newspaper support: The newspapers were largely owned by Conservative supporters who thus gave the party favourable news coverage during elections.