The Conservative party ruled Britain from1886 until 1905, however they lost the 1906 elections.

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‘THE CONSERVATIVES LOST THE 1906 ELECTION BECAUSE CHAMBERLAIN SPLIT THE PARTY OVER THE TARIFF REFORM.’ HOW FAR DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS POINT OF VIEW?

Nadirah Kaba 

The Conservative party ruled Britain from 1886 until 1905, however they lost the 1906 elections. This was not due to the change in the electorate, or because the conservative party suddenly changed their policies, but due to a number of factors that combined made the people of Britain look for a new way out and a different rule of Britain.

The elections in 1906 followed the resignation of the Prime Minister; Arthur Balfour and the Conservative party in 1906. Balfour had realised that him and his government were becoming unpopular, due to the results of by-elections and thought that if the Liberal party ruled Britain for a while, the people would realise that they were better off with the Conservative party. He took a gamble and lost, as in 1906 the Liberals won the election with a landslide victory.

Different historians have different ideas and view on why the Liberal’s won the 1906 elections, one these views is because Chamberlain wanted to destroy the foundation of the Victorian economic policy and abandon the idea of free trade. This was a ‘radical bombshell’ to the majority of the people in Britain and as a result of this policy, Chamberlain resigned from the government in order to concentrate fully on this campaign. However this was not the only factor that lead to the Conservative downfall, and other events such as the Taff vale reform, the Boer war, the education act and the licensing act also played a part in it. However one of the largest factors in the Conservative party loosing the 1906 election, was the fact that the Liberal party had become united over Chamberlain’s Tariff reform ideas and were there to offer the people a way out, whilst the Conservative party was split over the issue.

Joseph Chamberlain served the government as the Cabinet’s secretary of state for the colonies during the period of 1895-1903. As a result of this, by 1903 he had become convinced that the only way to secure Britain’s future was to abandon free trade; a very radical idea at the time, when Victorian economic policy was still in full bloom in Britain. He wanted to replace it with preferential tariffs; which was the idea that Britain would place import taxes on international goods, save those from British colonies who would have either lower or no taxes at all. He wanted to introduce the idea o ‘protectionism’ into the country, as many other European countries such as France and Germany has also introduced this policy. He hoped that by protecting Britain’s industry it would raise the revenue and tighten imperial ties.

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In May 1903, when Chamberlain returned from a trip to South Africa, he made a speech in Birmingham introducing his ideas of ‘tariff reform,’ the speech not only shocked many of the British people, but also united the Liberal party further, and they exploited Chamberlain’s campaign by enhancing the people’s fears as to what no Free Trade could mean.

The people of Britain were horrified at Chamberlain’s proposition of tariff reforms, as they immediately associated the idea of import taxes, with high food prices. The theory that Free Trade kept food in Britain reasonable cheap was popular, as because ...

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