The 1906 election was notable for another reason. The emerging Labour party, promising to improve the lives of working people, gained 24 seats in parliament. Although the MP’s were aligned with the Liberals on most issues, their mere presence was still significant. For the first time, there was an organised working class alternative to the Liberals. This essay will discuss to what extent the Liberal reforms were motivated by this “threat” from the Labour Party: Or whether other factors such as the growth of New Liberalism, drives for ‘national efficiency’ and the social investigations of Booth and Rowntree were just as important.
The forerunner of the Labour Party, the Labour Representation Committee, formed in 1900. It was an uneasy alliance of relatively small socialist parties and the Trade Unions. The LRC vowed to fight for changes in legislation, which would benefit the Trade Unions and the working class in general. This development made the Liberal party uneasy. They were afraid that their working class voters might desert them if they didn’t begin to address some of Britain’s social problems – such as poverty and unemployment. Lloyd George, speaking in 1904, warned that “unless we can prove that there is no necessity for a separate party to push forward the demands of labour, then the Liberal party in England will be practically wiped out”. This statement clearly shows that leading members of the Liberal Party (particularly the New Liberal wing, which I will discuss later) feared for the future of the Liberalism. For men like Lloyd George and Churchill, “Liberal Collectivism” was the only sure antidote to the dreaded “socialism” of the Labour movement. They hoped that welfare reforms would ‘sweep the rug’ from under the Labour party. Indeed, the first Liberal reform bill – the School Meals Act – was introduced by a Labour MP. The Liberals also attempted to appeal to the base of the Labour party, the Trade Unions, with their 1906 ‘Trade Unions Disputes Act’ that removed trade union liability for damage by strike action. They argue that the Labour Party were never viewed a serious threat by the Liberals. After all, the Liberals were willing to join a pact with Labour that allowed the Labour Party to get their first ever MP’s into parliament. Surely, it is argued, that if they “feared” Labour so much, they would have attempted to marginalize rather than accommodate them.
Motivated by a kind of ‘Imperial angst’ that had sprung up at the end of the 19th century, the Liberals decided to strive for a new ‘national efficiency. The re-unification of Germany, and it’s sudden growth into a superpower under Bismarck, coupled with the ever increasing might of the U.S.A, led many to believe that Britain’s position as the main Imperial power would be under threat. These fears were only worsened when the ‘great British army’ had struggled to victory over a group of disgruntled South African farmers in the Boer War. It was believed that social and welfare reforms would be a panacea to these problems, creating a more cohesive society and a population of skilled and healthy workers who could work productively and be good soldiers if and when required.
