The Decline of the Liberal Party
David Powell establishes a clear path through the historiographical maze
The reasons for the decline of the Liberal party as a political force in early twentieth century Britain have been a perennial topic of debate since at least the 1960s. The main division of opinion has been between those who regard the Liberal decline as more or less inevitable, because of longterm processes of social, economic and political change (especially the rise of an organised working class), and those who emphasise its more contingent character and the impact of a series of historical ‘accidents’, in particular the effects of what Trevor Wilson famously called the ‘rampant omnibus’ of the First World War. To explore these arguments in more detail, and to determine at what point the Liberal decline began or became irreversible, it is necessary to review the Liberal party’s history in the pre-war, wartime and post-war periods, in the wider context of a changing political and party system.
The Pre-War Era
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