The Conservative Party was beginning to decline in popularity. The became disillusioned with imperialism after the Boer war which had ended by 1902. Many people believed that Britiain was unneccarily involving themselves in foreign affairs rather than concentrating at the matters at hand within their own country such as the horrendous poverty ridden conditions within the towns and cities. Despite already having begun the war, the general public caused controversy over many things, Lord Kitcheners concentration camps, they were atrocious and deplorable and unheard of methods in dealing with the people there. By this time Britain was also becomin very isolated and unpopular to other countries in the world. Chinese slavery was also seen as being awful as they were employed cheaply and was seen as an injustice to them.
Not only did the was effect the decline of the Consevative Party but due to their strong 'laissez-faire' attitude they failed to pay attention to society, especially the working class, as the Conservatives were of middle class beliefs, very traditional and aristocratic. They failed to introduce social reforms such as housing, improvement of factory conditions, wage increases and the disgraceful liveing conditions due to poverty throughout the nation.
The Conservatives also came to disputes and disagreements regardin a major issue, the Tariff Reforms. Should taxes or duties be imposed on foreign imports as Britain faced ever increasing competition from major powers at the time such as Germany and USA. There were two main figures with two fairly different ideas, Arthur Balffour wanted to keep free trade however Joseph Chamberlain wanted to protect British farming and manufacturing. This dispute caused a split within the party and unlike the Liberals found great difficulty in sorting their act out to reunite.
The Liberals also felt that the Labour Party was begininning to rise with its increase in popularity and support, they felt as though they had to increase their popularity (Liberal Party) in order to be able to neutralise any threats in winning the elections. 'New Liberalism' was spreadingin which they accepted a degree of governemtn intervention in economy and an increase in taxes to pay for social reforms. In 1903 the Liberals were to make a pact with the Labour Party. This took place under Herbert Gladston(Lib) and Ramsay Macdonald(Lab) in which both agreed not to stand against one another during elections. Therefore the two became united in order to fight against the Conservatives. Not only this but the Liberals gained the support of Irish Nationalists.
With these reasons put together as well as others the Liberals obtained a landslide victory in 1906 gaining more than double the amount of seats than the Conservatives. The people felt that they were loosing faith towards their imperialist Conservative Party who were begining to find that making simple choices amongst themselves was too great a difficulty to master and to concentrate on important issues within their own terrain was unfeasable and therefore due to this loss of faith in them the Liberals were able to capitalise and win the following election with a vast majority of votes.
Sean Karoonian
