Despite these two attempts at change, the Conservative leader, Balfour, who was elected in 1902 was criticised at this time for not introducing enough social reforms. As a wealthy aristocrat, he appeared to be put of touch with the working class men, many of whom had just been awarded the vote in 1884 and were beginning to take an interest in politics. Although, the unemployed workmen act of 1905 helped the unemployed find work through labour exchanges, set up by distress committees, Balfour refused to give these committees any government funding and they had to rely on charities: to many of the working class, he seemed uninterested in the welfare of the people. Austen Chamberlain even stated that he had ‘no comprehension of the habits of his countrymen’ and the fact that many working class men now had the vote, decreased Balfour's popularity. The Boer war further highlighted Balfour’s lack of interest in the working classes- thousands of men volunteered to fight but two out of three were considered physically unfit to do so. This starling revelation led people to question why Britain, an apparently strong nation could produce such a large amount of unhealthy young men. The war also created the scandal of concentration camps: in order to achieve victory, the British army forced citizens into these camps and the poor conditions led to a widespread outbreak of fatal diseases. News of British actions horrified many citizens. Moreover, the Conservatives allowed Chinese labourers to work in South Africa to dig in gold and diamond mines for very low wages. This also appalled the British citizens: many of the working class were scared that Britain may import cheaper, foreign workers, which would make their wages fall. Although these scandals were not major reasons why the Conservatives lost support, they added to other party weaknesses which affected them in the general election. Balfour opposed the ‘Chinese slavery’ but did nothing to stop it, which only added to the idea that he had a lack of interest in ‘the masses.’
Additionally, the Conservatives were further criticised for their handling of the Taff Vale crisis in 1901. The Conservatives allowed The Taff Vale Railway Company to sue the Trade Union for loss of income, after workers went on strike. The union were forced to pay £23,000 in compensation and the event made the right to strike practically useless as Trade Unions’ powers were decreased. Again, this only highlighted Balfour’s lack of sympathy with the working citizens.
As we can see, these factors greatly weakened the Conservative party: their attempts at reform led to widespread uproar and Balfour’s leadership style was unsympathetic to the working citizens. Although these issues did damage the party, arguably the most significant matter which weakened Conservative support was the issue of Tariff Reform. This idea was introduced by Joseph Chamberlain in 1903, who was concerned about the increase in industry in countries such as America and Germany. He proposed that tariffs should be put on some goods being imported into Britain, to protect British industry from cheaper, foreign products. He believed this would give the government more money to spend on social reform such as unemployment and strengthen links with the empire, as high tariffs wouldn’t be placed on goods from British colonies. This policy united the Liberals who all agreed that it would benefit Britain. However the issue split the Conservatives: some agreed with Chamberlain and believed introducing tariffs would help ‘national efficiency.’ Others disagreed and wanted to retain the current method of ‘free trade’, had been a long-standing Conservative policy and had helped Britain sell industrial goods abroad during the Industrial revolution. Other Conservative members, such as Balfour were undecided on the issue. Like the Liberal split in the late-nineteenth century, over the issue of Home Rule, this matter significantly weakened the Conservatives and many people were confused over which policies they supported. In fact, Churchill, who was a member of the Conservative party, left and joined the Liberals, which shows how strongly this issue affected the Conservatives. However, Balfour decided to accept Tariff Reform as an official Conservative policy- strong propaganda posters were issued by both parties (‘free trade Vs protection’) but the Liberals were able to appeal to the working classes by offering the possibility of cheaper food.
Additionally, like the Liberal party in 1900, the Conservatives were further weakened by bad organisation during this time. Captain Middleton, who had ensured the Conservative party were well structured in the 1900 general election, resigned in 1906, which led to poor organisation: 27 seats were lost as there was no Conservative candidate standing in these areas. In contrast, the Liberal party had significantly improved their plans since the Conservative victory in 1900. The Liberals took part in a secret deal with the newly established Labour Representation Committee, which greatly increased their number of possible seats. Known as the ‘Lib-Lab Pact’, they agreed that no liberal candidate would stand if a LRC candidate had a better chance of getting elected. This meant that the combined votes of the Liberal and Labour party would be greater than the number of Conservative seats and they would be defeated: both the Liberal and Labour candidates would campaign for an anti-conservative vote. This pact was certainly a strength of the Liberal party which led to them gaining a land-slide victory in 1906. However, other strengths of the Liberal party, such as campaigning against the Licensing and Education Acts were only evident because the Conservatives had made the mistake of introducing these reforms in the first place. Other Conservative weaknesses such as poor leadership and the split over Tariff reform placed the party at a major disadvantage so the Liberals appeared more attractive, when compared. Overall, although the Liberals did unite together for a number of policies and took part in the Lib-Lab pact to gain support, it seems the Conservative weaknesses played a more important role in the landslide victory as its mistakes gave something to unite the Liberals and the contrast in organisation within the parties made the Liberals more appealing.
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