Why was the Labour Government of 1924 so short lived?

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Why was the Labour government 1924 so short-lived?

In 1924 Labour formed their first government under their leader Ramsay Macdonald, but only served 9 months in office. Despite losing power in October 1924 many considered their time in power to be successful as it proved to the public that they could govern sensibly, which was what they set out to prove. Not only this but Labour also gained an extra million votes and through their moderate domestic policy, laid the foundations for Labour governments to serve in the future. Labour’s moderate domestic policy was an attempt to balance the books, which they achieved, but this meant that very little was done, which was one of the reasons their time in power was so shot lived. There were many other reasons that led to their downfall in October 1924 including; Macdonald’s poor communication, and the Zinoviev letter.

When Labour took power there were lots of rumours about them, such as; they were Communists; they intended to disband the British Empire; right wing MP’s would be sacked and they were going to undermine the armed forces. These fears were all unfounded, but they scared many people including Winston Churchill, who hated Labour and even declared them “not fit to govern”. Labour’s leader Ramsey Macdonald was an extremely poor communicator and was very detached from his party, however he did have his strengths. One of the PM’s great strengths being his determination to stand up to the power of the unions, and another being his excellent foreign policy. Macdonald tried to combine his role as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister; this meant he worked a massive number of hours, which detached him further from his party and exploited his poor communication skills. Despite the combining of two roles having a negative effect on Macdonald, it did have some benefits, as he was successful in his Foreign policy. In his foreign policy Macdonald was very pro peace and he convinced the French to withdraw their troops from the Rhur. He also played a key role in the Dawes Plan, so that Germany could afford to pay reparations. Macdonald also succeeded in thawing relations between France and Germany, which was one of his major successes as Prime Minister. Unfortunately it was Macdonald’s attempts to improve relations with the USSR that eventually led to the downfall of the first Labour government. Labour decided to give Russia political recognition, which made sense, however they also agreed to a £30 million loan, in the hope that the Communists would compensate British investors for money they had pumped into pre-Communist Russia. Many already felt Labour were too friendly with Communism, but the £30M loan led some people to believe Labour actually supported communism. The handling of this issue was a major factor behind Labours premature downfall, and one of the reasons they were victimized by the media and other political parties.

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Undoubtedly the biggest influence on the first Labour government being so short-lived was the fact they weren’t the biggest political party, which meant it was no surprise to most that Labour only lasted nine months in office. Even Macdonald knew Labour had no chance of lasting five years, so it was decided that the party should govern moderately, in order to attract more votes in the next election. The fact that Labour weren’t the biggest political party meant they were reliant on the Liberals, which meant if they tried to introduce any socialist acts then the Tories and Liberals ...

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