The Conservatives in the Age of Mass Democracy, 1918 - 1964
Interwar Years
Past paper questions
2021: Is Conservative electoral success in EITHER the 1930s OR the 1950s best explained in terms of ‘One
Nation Conservatism’?
2020: Did Conservative electoral success conceal a party frequently divided in the inter-war years?
2019: Only question on 1951-64: Why did the Conservative party win elections in the 1950s but not the 1960s?
2018: Only question on 1951-64: 1951-64 saw consensus government, not Conservative government’
and WWI: Why did the First World War produce a Conservative-dominated coalition government?
2017: Only question on WWI: Did the First World War inaugurate or merely accelerate political change?
2016: ‘As far as ideology is concerned, Conservatives are well-advised to travel light’.
2015: What did the Conservatives have to fear in the inter-war years? and ‘The 1950s was a decade of class
voting yet consensus politics.’
2014: Only question comparing to Labour: Which party adapted itself better to face a mass electorate after
1918: Conservatives or Labour?
2013: Why was tariff reform so attractive to the Conservative Party between 1903 and 1932?
2012: Only question on 1951-64: Is ‘affluence’ an adequate explanation for Conservative success in the
1950s?
2011: Only question on 1951-64: Has the continuity of government policy after the Conservatives returned
to power in 1951 been exaggerated?
2011: Why did Conservatives' fears about their future prove to be unfounded after 1918?
2010: Only question on 1951-64: 'Downhill all the way: thirteen Tory years 1951-1964.' Do the Conservative
governments deserve such a harsh verdict?
, Summary of governments
Lloyd George peacetime coalition (1919 - 1922)
1. Conservatives became junior partners in the Asquith coalition in 1915. Lloyd George came to power
after a Liberal split in 1916.
2. As a party of nationalism and patriotism, the war tended to be more hospitable to Conservative
politics. Conversely, Liberals were divided over the illiberal issue of conscription (though Seldon and
Ball write that ‘too much has been made of this point’).
3. But Lloyd George was a famous and prestigious leader; Bonar Law was obscure.
4. Why did the Conservatives decide to remain with Lloyd George in December 1918? Didn’t he need
them more than they needed him?
a. Seldon and Ball: the decision was ‘essentially born of a lack of confidence’. Fears of
expanded suffrage after 1918, the Russian Revolution, trade-union unrest.
b. Vernon Bogdanor:
i. New positive mood of a ‘different world’ after the war, where old issues (free
trade/protection, disestablishment, Home Rule) were giving way to new
socioeconomic issues.
ii. Lloyd George compared coalition to the newly-formed League of Nations →
social harmony.
c. Churchill (a Lloyd George Liberal): ‘why is it if men and women of all classes and parties are able to
work together like a mighty machine for 5 years to produce destruction, why can they not work together for
another 5 years to produce abundance?
5. Lloyd George Liberals and Conservatives won election by landslide (1918) → Labour and
Asquith Liberals in opposition.
6. Post-war impregnability of Lloyd George: ‘Lloyd George can be Prime Minister for life if he likes’
(Bonar Law).
7. But famous Carlton Club meeting in 1922 put an end to coalition (see ‘challenges’ notes below).
Bonar Law & First Baldwin ministry (1922 - 1924)
1. Bonar Law:
a. Conservatives won a majority in the election of 1922 by 88.
b. Law certainly had a strategy for gaining power (amplified the ‘red scare’). But he had no clear
strategy for government.
c. Incapacitated by health complaints and died 6 months later.
2. Baldwin succeeded in May 1923.
a. Baldwin became convinced that only tariff reform would help the government deal with
unemployment (despite his time on the laissez-faire board of trade moderating his attitudes).
b. Tariffs also held the potential to reunite the party around a strong principle.
c. Baldwin called an election to seek a mandate for tariffs.
Interwar Years
Past paper questions
2021: Is Conservative electoral success in EITHER the 1930s OR the 1950s best explained in terms of ‘One
Nation Conservatism’?
2020: Did Conservative electoral success conceal a party frequently divided in the inter-war years?
2019: Only question on 1951-64: Why did the Conservative party win elections in the 1950s but not the 1960s?
2018: Only question on 1951-64: 1951-64 saw consensus government, not Conservative government’
and WWI: Why did the First World War produce a Conservative-dominated coalition government?
2017: Only question on WWI: Did the First World War inaugurate or merely accelerate political change?
2016: ‘As far as ideology is concerned, Conservatives are well-advised to travel light’.
2015: What did the Conservatives have to fear in the inter-war years? and ‘The 1950s was a decade of class
voting yet consensus politics.’
2014: Only question comparing to Labour: Which party adapted itself better to face a mass electorate after
1918: Conservatives or Labour?
2013: Why was tariff reform so attractive to the Conservative Party between 1903 and 1932?
2012: Only question on 1951-64: Is ‘affluence’ an adequate explanation for Conservative success in the
1950s?
2011: Only question on 1951-64: Has the continuity of government policy after the Conservatives returned
to power in 1951 been exaggerated?
2011: Why did Conservatives' fears about their future prove to be unfounded after 1918?
2010: Only question on 1951-64: 'Downhill all the way: thirteen Tory years 1951-1964.' Do the Conservative
governments deserve such a harsh verdict?
, Summary of governments
Lloyd George peacetime coalition (1919 - 1922)
1. Conservatives became junior partners in the Asquith coalition in 1915. Lloyd George came to power
after a Liberal split in 1916.
2. As a party of nationalism and patriotism, the war tended to be more hospitable to Conservative
politics. Conversely, Liberals were divided over the illiberal issue of conscription (though Seldon and
Ball write that ‘too much has been made of this point’).
3. But Lloyd George was a famous and prestigious leader; Bonar Law was obscure.
4. Why did the Conservatives decide to remain with Lloyd George in December 1918? Didn’t he need
them more than they needed him?
a. Seldon and Ball: the decision was ‘essentially born of a lack of confidence’. Fears of
expanded suffrage after 1918, the Russian Revolution, trade-union unrest.
b. Vernon Bogdanor:
i. New positive mood of a ‘different world’ after the war, where old issues (free
trade/protection, disestablishment, Home Rule) were giving way to new
socioeconomic issues.
ii. Lloyd George compared coalition to the newly-formed League of Nations →
social harmony.
c. Churchill (a Lloyd George Liberal): ‘why is it if men and women of all classes and parties are able to
work together like a mighty machine for 5 years to produce destruction, why can they not work together for
another 5 years to produce abundance?
5. Lloyd George Liberals and Conservatives won election by landslide (1918) → Labour and
Asquith Liberals in opposition.
6. Post-war impregnability of Lloyd George: ‘Lloyd George can be Prime Minister for life if he likes’
(Bonar Law).
7. But famous Carlton Club meeting in 1922 put an end to coalition (see ‘challenges’ notes below).
Bonar Law & First Baldwin ministry (1922 - 1924)
1. Bonar Law:
a. Conservatives won a majority in the election of 1922 by 88.
b. Law certainly had a strategy for gaining power (amplified the ‘red scare’). But he had no clear
strategy for government.
c. Incapacitated by health complaints and died 6 months later.
2. Baldwin succeeded in May 1923.
a. Baldwin became convinced that only tariff reform would help the government deal with
unemployment (despite his time on the laissez-faire board of trade moderating his attitudes).
b. Tariffs also held the potential to reunite the party around a strong principle.
c. Baldwin called an election to seek a mandate for tariffs.
