The Government accelerated the change of mood between 1902 and 1905 by a series of controversial measures and major mistakes, and consequently helped to bring a truly calamitous defeat upon themselves in the 1906 election.
The Education Act of 1902 was the first important setback. Balfour was aware that Britain’s survival as a great power would to some extent rest on the quality of the educational system. This issue was causing concern for politicians and educationalists. Neither party could introduce reforms without antagonising some sectional interests, the Anglicans and the nonconformists. Balfour who was warned that the Bill would lead to defeat still introduced the Education Bill which subsequently became law in 1902. The Education Act caused Conservative divisions and a political furore which severely damaged the Government’s standing in the country. The nonconformists denunciation of the Bill in and out of Parliament helped revive the Liberal party. After the 1902 Act the Conservatives started to lose by-elections.
The Chinese Slavery scandal. After the British victory in the Boer War 50,000 coolies were employed on low pay to meet a shortage of native labour in the mines. They worked in appalling accommodation in the gold fields of South Africa. This aggravated the working class, they were worried that the government might import coolies into Britain to deal with labour shortages or to put down wages. There was controversy over the closure of a source of emigration for British workers and the middle class were outraged at accounts of slavery while the nonconformists at the nameless practices reported. This harmed the Unionists at the polls and contributed to their defeat at the election in 1906.
The Licensing Act of 1904 reduced the number of public houses so that they should not exceed a fixed ratio to the population in that area. It was supported by religious organisations and the temperance at first. However the decision to compensate brewers for the closure of pubs angered the temperance which revived its support of the Liberal Party which promised to stop compensation. The middle class were against this act. The Liberals were against the 1904 Licensing Act, which they castigated as a ‘brewers’ Bill because it established the principle of compensation for redundant public-houses, had reforged the old alliance with the Nonconformists and the temperance reformers that had worked so well in the past
In 1903 Joseph Chamberlain put forward the policy of Tariff Reform. This was to start to pay tax on imported goods. He rejected free trade. This was designed to protect home industry from cheaper foreign imports. An argument against the tariff reformers was that the rise in food prices that would follow the start of tariffs would outweigh the benefits of protection to the general public. The free traders appeal for cheap food aroused a far greater response from the working class than Chamberlain’s claim that the Empire served working class interests and that Tariff Reform would make more jobs and social reforms. Chamberlain had lost his middle class audience. This destroyed the unity of the Conservative and Unionist Party and ensured its defeat in the 1906 election.
The Boer War resulted in a decline in imperialist fervour because of the methods used to gain victory in the Boers. The use of concentration camps to imprison wives and children for instance lost support for the Conservatives and contributed to their defeat at the 1906 election.
The failure of the government to reduce the high level of unemployment between 1904 and 1905 resulted in the Liberals election victory in 1906. It still believed in the Poor Law. A new scheme was proposed to deal with unemployment in London. The scheme proved inadequate and there were hunger marches and demonstrations by the unemployed. Another Bill was introduced, the Unemployed Workmen Bill. This too failed. These failures widened the breach between the Unionist party and the labouring classes.