The First Labour Government
- Created by: Millie
- Created on: 08-03-13 22:48
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- The First Labour Government. Ramsay MacDonald.
- Successes
- Managed to convince people that Labour was moderate , could be trusted and were 'fit to govern'
- Passed useful reforms
- Raised old age pensions
- Raised unemployment benefit
- Wheatley's Housing Act. Resulted in 0.5 million new council houses being built in the next 10 years
- Set up a committee for the future of further education
- Failures
- MacDonald's indecisive handling of the ' Campbell case'
- Campbell case = communist journalist who urged men in the armed forces to disobey orders if they were ever sent down to put down a general strike
- Was the last straw for his minority government and so he resigned -> general election
- Campbell case = communist journalist who urged men in the armed forces to disobey orders if they were ever sent down to put down a general strike
- Sustaining a minority government was difficult , but it was helped by the continual split in the Liberal Party. When the Liberals withdrew their support and MacDonald could not continue
- Didn't tackle the issue of unemployment
- 50% of people belonged to unions
- MacDonald's indecisive handling of the ' Campbell case'
- Downfall
- Campbell case
- Loss of Liberal support
- 4 days before the election the Daily Maiil published the ' Zinoview letter'
- Supposedly sent from the leadership of the USSR to the Britsh Communist party to promote acts of subversion
- This was exploited by the Conservatives
- Damaged Labour's campaign in the vital last days before polling
- Result = Labour lost but the Conserviativeswon enough seats for S.Baldwin to form a government
- Supposedly sent from the leadership of the USSR to the Britsh Communist party to promote acts of subversion
- December 1923- October 1924
- Managed to get into power because of Baldwin's mistake
- Successes
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