Tariff Reform is a further reason that we must look at to fully discover the reasons why the election results turned out the way they did. Tariff Reform, introduced by Joseph Chamberlain, stated that a tax should be put on imported food outside of the empire, therefore raising more money for the government. This was a bad decision for the conservative to make, and is proved by looking at the by-election defeats of 1903, which shows that it was not a big vote winner. This will be more closely looked at when I examine the middle and working class interests.
The final main issue that we must scrutinize in relation with the conservative weaknesses is Arthur Balfour and his poor leadership style of the party.
Balfour came in to power in 1902, when he succeeded his uncle, Lord Salisbury, this was, however, an awful choice. In relations with Balfour and the 1902 Education act, he said that it was a good idea and allowed it to continue. Goodlad, however, said that Salisbury thought it was a mistake, and would blame Balfour if it failed to work out.
One thing that Balfour was not convinced about was Joseph Chamberlain’s idea about Tariff Reform. However, he did not stop chamberlain and allowed it to dominate between the years of 1903 and 1908. Balfour’s relationship with the working class will be discussed further on in that section. You can see here that Balfour didn’t really take control of his party, and made poor decisions and actions. This can be backed up by looking at what Goodlad said, ‘The chosen approach of the Party Leader ensured the worst possible outcome’.
You can see, by looking at the four main strong factors above, that the mistakes made by the conservative party were the main reasons as to why they lost the 1906 election. There are although other issues to discuss which also contribute to why the liberals won, and the conservatives lost, the 1906 election.
The liberals, although did not seem the strongest political party at the time, won 2,751,057 of the 1906 election votes, gaining 399 MPs. Therefore they must have done something right to attract all of those votes, which is what we will be looking at now.
The most important reason, apart from the conservative’s weaknesses, as to why they won the election vote was their policies on taxes. As described previously, the conservatives believed in Tariff Reform, whereas the Liberals believed religiously in Free Trade. This would have, of course, attracted many working class voters who did not want to pay tax on imported food from outside the empire.
An additional strength that the Liberals had was their strong belief in Anti-Imperialism, and therefore they were Anti-Boer War. People would have therefore voted for the party as they thought that their government would bring more peace to the country. It is apparent that, compared to others, this factor has very little significance in the reason why the liberals won the 1906 election.
Citizens may have also voted for the liberals in protest to what the conservatives were doing to the country. This is a reasonably strong factor compared to the others, because the liberals played on the conservative’s weaknesses, and so looked more appealing to voters. For example, when Tariff Reform was brought into the conservative party by Joseph Chamberlain, the Liberals then strongly believed in Free Trade, therefore making their party look more attractive to the working class. As stated previously, the middle class people blamed the conservative government for the way in which it was fought. This would have consequently led middle class individuals away from voting for the conservatives, and towards choosing the liberals.
The liberals may have also won the 1906 election because of the unions within it, although this would have been a less important factor. Unions such as the ILP (Independent Labour Party) may have attracted votes, because it was thought that only a new socialist/working class party could represent the working class properly.
A Labour Representation Committee (LRC) was also formed, and were sympathetic to socialism but not keen on state ownership, this party, although, was not massively different from New Liberalism.
The final factor that must be considered in the relation of the Liberal’s strengths is the attraction of non-conformists votes. The liberal party had regional variations in support, such as Scotland and Wales, South West England, West Yorkshire and East Anglia, and places with high non-conformist populations. The reason why non-conformists would have voted for the liberal party would have been in protest against the 1902 education act which the conservatives introduced. This, as explained previously, was originally because non-conformists had to pay rates for Church of England and Catholic schools, which many of them strongly disapproved of. They would have therefore voted for the liberals, so that they could express to the conservatives they did not approve of the 1902 education act.
Above, I have outlined the main strengths that the liberal party had, which may have attracted votes away from the conservatives thus winning the 1906 election. We must now examine the Middle class and Working class interests, as reasons why the liberals won, and the conservatives lost, the election held in 1906.
There are many reasons as to why the working class would have been put off voting for the conservatives, which will now be looked at and reviewed.
The first is Arthur Balfour, the party leader at the time, and his relationship with the working class. Six years earlier, in the 1900’s, many conservative voters consisted of the working class, but all this changed around in the 1906 election. Balfour was blamed for alienating them over ‘Chinese Slavery’, this was using Chinese indentured labour in South Africa, the working class objected to this, but Balfour did not realise.
The working class, in the early 1900’s, were generally quite poor and had to put all that they earned into looking after themselves and their family. They did not like the idea of Tariff reform, which is what the conservatives introduced, as this would mean that they wouldn’t be able to afford food and other necessary items. On the other hand, the liberals believed solely in Free Trade, which the working class appreciated as they wouldn’t have to pay extra taxes on food. You can see here another reason why the liberals won the 1906 election, and the conservatives lost. I think that this factor, compared to ‘Chinese slavery’, is a more influential and important one over the liberal victory.
Yet another reason why the liberals may have won the 1906 election was because of the Taff Vale judgement of 1901, although this is more of a minor factor. The Taff Vale case stated that unions had to pay compensation to employees for losses incurred from going on strike. You can see here that although it affected the working class, it isn’t the most influential factor present.
The idea of the ‘Gas and Water Socialism’ may have also attracted the working class to the liberal party. This was when the local authorities took over local amenities and facilities, which were run in a way that benefited the whole community. Although Joseph Chamberlain, of the conservative party, introduced these, they were often run by Liberals. This may have persuaded the working class to vote for them, as it gave them easier and cheaper use of facilities in the community.
Working class Non-conformists also would have not voted for the conservative party because of the 1902 education act, as previously stated. Non-conformists had always objected to what they saw as the privileges of the Church of England, and so therefore they launched a fierce campaign against the act. This campaign was, surprisingly, supported by the liberals, which may have gained them more votes in the 1906 general election. This is a reasonably important factor as to why the liberals won the election, compared to the Taff Vale judgement of 1901.
You can see here that I have outlined five reasons giving the working class interests as to why they would have voted for the liberal part in the 1906 general election.
Finally, we must look at the middle class interests in reference as to why the liberals won, and the conservatives lost, the 1906 election.
Similarly, the middle class would have chosen not to vote for the conservatives, because some of them were non-conformists. This meant that they did not support the 1902 education act introduced by the conservatives, and would have therefore voted for the liberals.
With reference to the working class interests, the middle class, although they were wealthier than the working class, still did not approve of Tariff Reform, introduced by Joseph Chamberlain. They didn’t want to pay extra taxes on food and other items that came from outside the empire, and would have therefore voted for the liberals instead. The liberals, of course, believed solely in free trade and selling items for its face price.
You can see from this short section on the middle class interests, that they didn’t really influence the 1906 election, whereas the working class had greater dominance in the voting.
From reading through this analysis of my view on why the Liberals won, and the Conservatives lost the 1906 election, you can see that my main argument is that it was down to the many mistakes that the conservatives made, that lost them the victory to the liberals. This is in comparison to the other three main points that I set out, which consisted of the Liberal strengths, the working class interest and the middle class interests.
The middle class were the least influential as to why the liberals won the 1906 election, compared to the working class interests, who had many views on the way that the conservative government was run.
You can clearly see the reasons why the conservative government in the early 1900’s were not the most popular of groups, and why they were taken over by the liberal government in the 1906 general election, gaining 49.4% of the vote compared to the 43.4% that the conservatives got.
