The Conservatives in British Government and the Search for a Social Policy 1918-1923
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71-22,488 HOGAN, Neil William, 1936- THE CONSERVATIVES IN BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND THE SEARCH FOR A SOCIAL POLICY 1918-1923. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1971 History, modern University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED THE CONSERVATIVES IN BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND THE SEARCH FOR A SOCIAL POLICY 1918-1923 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Neil William Hogan, B.S.S., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1971 Approved by I AdvAdviser iser Department of History PREFACE I would like to acknowledge my thanks to Mr. Geoffrey D.M. Block, M.B.E. and Mrs. Critch of the Conservative Research Centre for the use of Conservative Party material; A.J.P. Taylor of the Beaverbrook Library for his encouragement and helpful suggestions and his efficient and courteous librarian, Mr. Iago. In addition, I wish to thank the staffs of the British Museum, Public Record Office, West Sussex Record Office, and the University of Birmingham Library for their aid. To my adviser, Professor Phillip P. Poirier, a special acknowledgement#for his suggestions and criticisms were always useful and wise. I also want to thank my mother who helped in the typing and most of all my wife, Janet, who typed and proofread the paper and gave so much encouragement in the whole project. VITA July 27, 1936 . Bom, Cleveland, Ohio 1958 .......... B.S.S., John Carroll University Cleveland, Ohio 1959 - 1965 .... U. S. Army Officer 1965....... ..... M.A., John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio 1965 - 1970 .... Teaching Assistant, Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1970....... ..... Assistant Professor, East Stroudsburg State College, East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: M o d e m Britain. Professor Philip P. Poirier European History 1648-1815. Professor John C. Rule Civil War and Reconstruction. Professor Merton Dillon Chinese History Since 1500. Professor Frank Wong United States Since 1900. Professor Harry L. Coles TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE........................................ ii VITA .......................................... iii INTRODUCTION................................... 1 Chapter I. THE TORY TRADITION......................... 22 Toryism and Social Reform Reactionary Tendencies Roots of the New Social Reform II. THE TORY SPECTRUM ......................... 60 The Tory Reformers Die Hards and Reactionaries The Coalitionists III. THE LLOYD GEORGE PROGRAM, NOVEMBER, 1918 - MAY, 1921: PROMISE............................ 112 Housing Industrial Relations Unemployment Insurance Unemployment IV. THE LLOYD GEORGE PROGRAM, MAY, 1921 - OCTOBER, 1922: DISILLUSIONMENT...................... 165 Economy The Geddes Axe and Social Program Fear of the Left V. THE FALL OF LLOYD GEORGE AND THE 1922 ELECTION PLANS AND PREPARATION...................... 2 m The Conservative Program Results and Trends iv Chapter Page VI. CONSERVATIVES RETURN TO POWER: NOVEMBER 1922 - MAY 1923 ................................. 259 Unemployment Housing Rent Control VII. PROTECTION, THE NEW PANACEA: May 1923 - JANUARY 1 9 2 ^ .................................... 302 Unemployment Remedies Imperialism and Unemployment The 1923 Election and After Epilogue BIBLIOGRAPHY................................... 339 v INTRODUCTION The election of 1918 marked an important turning point in British politics. By extending the wartime Coalition beyond the Armistice Lloyd George insured that the Liberal Party would never again return to power on its own. The split of 1916 was widened and although party unity was eventually restored the Liberals were displaced as a pillar of the British two party structure. In its place, a reorganized, but still weak Labour Party emerged as the official opposition. These were, of course, long term changes whose inpact was not fully realized until the late twenties. Of more immediate concern was a fear that the entire system of party politics had been overshadowed and perhaps even superseded by the dominant personality of one man — David Lloyd George. Never a strong party man the Prime Minister's reputation as the "Architect of Victory" placed him in the almost unparalleled position of transcending all political parties. Even the dominant Conservative wing of the Coalition was convinced that it owed its overwhelming majority to the immense popularity of Lloyd George among the electorate. 1 2 In reality, however, Lloyd George was a man almost without a party. With less than 140 supporters of his own the Prime Minister was heavily dependent on an unruly group of over 350 members representing the various factions of his Tory partners. Thus it was not surprising that he tried to convert this unwieldy Coalition into a more manageable body by organizing a Centre Party which would encompass the moderately progressive factions of Liberals, Conservatives, and perhaps even of Labour while excluding the extremes of both the right and left. Although these efforts aimed at the organization of a new party eventually failed, they reflected the widespread political instability which colored the political scene following the end of the First World War. Much of this ferment was tied directly to the ascendency of Lloyd George over all other political figures. As long as the majority of Conservatives believed the Prime Minister was "the indispensable man" who could captivate the mass of new voters the Coalition would hold together. At the first sign of public disillusion of disen chantment with the Leader of his policies, however, -the Conservatives began to question the political necessity or wisdom of continued support for Lloyd George and his Government. Aside from the issues of party politics, the election of 1918 marked an important watershed in other respects. It was the first general election to see the achievement of universal suffrage with only women under thirty still excluded from the franchise. Facing this greatly enlarged electorate the politicians turned their attention away from organizing a military victory and toward the task of satisfying the social demands of these new voters. The sacrifices of the working class both in uniform and on the home front had merited substantial rewards in the form of a program of unprecedented social reforms. Beyond this exercise of paternalism Lloyd George and his supporters had other and more persuasive reasons for a commitment to reform. In a document entitled Labour and the New Social Order, the Labour Party had outlined a program of nationalization and government control which threatened to overturn the basic economic and social structure of the nation. Even more ominous and frightening was an underlying fear of revolution. In the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and similar outbreaks in Central Europe many political leaders were convinced that Britain too would be engulfed in a major revolt. By early 1919 these fears seemed more than justified. A general strike took place during January in Glasgow and this seemingly nascent rebellion was supressed only with the aid of troops. It seemed that this incident might be a mere rehearsal far a nationwide conflict between the militant trade unions and the Government. In particular, the Triple Alliance of miners, railwaymen and transport workers threatened a crippling sympathetic strike if the demands of any of their respective unions were not met. Responding to these warning signs the Coalition adopted a policy of appeasement of the working class in an attempt to satisfy the masses while isolating them from radical agitators or revolution aries. Under the direction of the Ministry of Reconstruction and its predecessor corrmittees a sweeping program of economic and social reforms had been prepared for implementation at the end of the War, however, much of the detailed planning remained uncompleted by the fall of 1918 because of the suddeness of the German collapse. While many of the plans for basic economic changes were never accepted the Coalition's social programs including subsidized public housing, improved secondary education, unemployment insurance and a fresh approach to labour management relations through the adoption of the Whitley Councils, formed the core of the Coalition's pledges to the working class. This "Lloyd George Program" reflected an updated version of the reforms introduced by the prewar Liberal Government. With a few exceptions the Conservatives had played a minor role in reconstruction planning and were less than enthusi astic about the Coalition's reform programs. While it is true that the Conservatives did have a record of advocating and enacting con structive social reforms in the nineteenth century, in recent years the Party had done little to promote social reform and had actually opposed Lloyd George's National Health Insurance Scheme. Still the Tories were willing to accept this essentially Radical-Liberal 5 program as an accomodation to their political partners as well as a necessary alternative to social discontent that might spark revolution. On their own it is unlikely that the Conservatives would have introduced such ambitious plans, but with Lloyd George in command Tory objections were swept aside and reforms were adopted as part of the Coalition's electoral program in 1918. Among the Conservatives, there was never a deep comnit- ment to reform of the type that guided Liberal ministers such as Christopher Addison. Except