The Labour Part6y. From War to Government AS British History OCR Spec B

War to Government

1981 General election - gained 59 seats - they were the largest opposition party to Lloyd George's Coalition - 48 Conservatives - 26 liberals - Sinn Fein INP refused to take up seats - Labour the official opposition

Issues - why labours performance was dissapointing

• Party stil affected by divisions of war -� some w/c still remembered opposition to war that had emerged.
• Personal popularity of Lloyd George as a wartime leader
• Bolshevik Rvoloution in Russia - resulted in bloody civil war - murder of Tsar & family - fear of communism - labour party unfairly linked to Bolshevism

Labour's improving fortunes

�� Sucessful in following by-elections - seats rose to 72

�� When Lloyd George resigned Bonar Law called immediate election

�� Labour then won 142 seats - Ramsy Macdonald had been out of house of commons but was now back in and re-elected leader - resulted in a much stronger labour

Why labours fourtunes improved so much

• disillusionment with Lloyd George coalition begane to set in - apparent refroms limited or slow to take place
• PArty took measures to distance self from extremism
• MacDonald went to great lengths to present himself as a conventional politician
• Party rejected association with the Communist international set up by Lenin's government in russia to promote…