Why did the Liberals win a landslide election in 1906?
The Conservative Party had been the dominant party in Britain since 1895 and had ruled for just over 10 years before the Party’s mighty reign fell at the 1906 General election. The Liberals lead by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman won a landslide victory over Balfours Conservative Party, which caused a dramatic change in how Britain was ruled. There are many reasons for the Conservatives defeat which evidentially piled up and caused many to change there vote or vote just to keep the Conservatives out of government.
Joseph Chamberlain, the secretary of colonies for the Conservative party, left the Conservative party in 1903 due to strong feelings towards Tariff Reform that were not being addressed by Balfour. Britain adopted the system of Free Trade that meant a charge was not put on their goods. Countries such as America, Italy and Germany had adopted protective tariffs, which enabled more industries to develop and flourish. Chamberlain recognised this system to be far more effective and wanted to tax countries on British goods that taxed them, (relatively duties against countries that imposed tariff). Balfour did like some issues about charging a tariff, but he questioned in too often to make a decision, which made him and his Party look indecisive. Many others in the Party felt, like Chamberlain, that Tariff reform was good and this caused a major slit in the Party. The Party’s indecisiveness and split lead many to believe the Conservatives were weak and not united in trying to build on Britains future. This cost them votes from many traditional conservative voters because they were not prepared to vote for a split and weak party so they voted for the Liberals instead. Chamberlain, after resigning, chose to tour Britain and emphasise his message on Tariff reform. He spoke mainly to the working class, but because of Chamberlain s fast education and the working classes lack of, it was hard for him to communicate and pass on this message. At the same time Asquith, a Liberal, argued against Tariff Reform and exploited Chamberlain’s inability to communicated with the working class by speaking to people in a language which they could understand and by using slogans such as “Big loaf Vs Little Loaf.” Asquith explained that they would have more food (the bigger loaf) if Free Trade continued. Many of the working class lacked food and to be told that they would have more if Tariff reform was not introduced encouraged them to vote Liberal instead of the Conservatives. Chamberlain, who was a former Conservative, was still in many peoples eyes linked with the Conservative Party so this did not aid the Conservatives in receiving more votes as many of the working class thought he was stuck up and that his ideas reflected the conservatives views. Chamberlain did not feel that tariff reform had been a downfall for the Conservative Party, but this was probably because it was mainly his fault that so many votes were lost.
