Factions
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Labour Unrest: Ramsay MacDonald and the Labour party, 1931
Our series this summer has taken a look at historical cases of division within political parties. In our last post of the series, this week we discuss the Labour party of the 1930s, and how Ramsay MacDonald came to be…
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David Lloyd George and Herbert Asquith: Liberals at war
Inspired by the political upheaval in many of our political parties after the Brexit vote, we’ve been looking this summer at some historic party splits. In today’s blog we move into the 20th century, and the personal and political rivalry…
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Party splits and political change in the 19th century
This summer, following the internal wrangling that occurred in most parties following the Brexit referendum, we’ve been taking a look at historic cases of party division. In today’s blog, Dr Philip Salmon, Editor of the Victorian Commons, discusses the impact…
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‘At whose door must this resentment be laid?’ The Whig Schism of 1717
The fall-out from Brexit has caused considerable disarray in the British party system, and over the course of this summer four parties either have new leaders or are holding leadership contests. Over the summer we’ll take a look at some…
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The parties and Europe 2: Conservatives and Maastricht
Earlier this week we delved in to our oral history archive to discover the divisions within the Labour Party over Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) in the 1970s. In today’s blogpost, we’ve returned to our archive to…
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The Parties and Europe 1: Labour and the 1975 Referendum
The European Referendum campaign is now in full swing, creating heated political debate and causing some unusual alliances. In British politics, however, the issue of Europe and Britain’s role in it has been long-running and divisive for both the Labour…
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Labour leadership elections through the years
The Labour party’s leadership contest comes to a close this week, with the winner announced at a special conference on Saturday. Our oral history project features many former Labour MPs’ recollections of leadership contests, and the consequences of them, particularly…
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Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Alex Middleton, ‘The idea of Whiggism in mid-Victorian politics’
In an excellent conclusion to this term’s seminar programme, Dr. Alex Middleton of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, discussed Whiggism in nineteenth century British politics. He blogs for us about his paper… This paper examined how the mid-Victorians understood Whiggism and…
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Defection, by-elections and Europe… in the 1970s.
In tomorrow’s by-election in Clacton, former Conservative MP Douglas Carswell will contest his previous seat after defection to UKIP. Carswell’s strong difference of opinion with his party over the issue of Europe has echoes of a different by-election – Lincoln…
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Political drama: From The Wars of the Roses to the Australian Labor Party
Looking back at the startling events in Australian politics over the past week, Dr Hannes Kleineke compares the divisions in the ruling Labor party with those currently dramatised by the BBC in ‘The White Queen’ during the Wars of the…