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The Conservative Party and the impact of the 1918 Reform Act

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journal contribution
posted on 2018-02-08, 10:51 authored by Stuart R. Ball
Before the First World War, the Conservative Party feared the extension of the suffrage to all adult males, and was divided over even a limited granting of votes to women. However, the patriotic public response to the war moderated these attitudes, and by 1916 the Conservatives were in favour of giving the vote to all servicemen. Although the Conservatives were represented in the Speaker’s Conference which drew up proposals for electoral reform, when its report was published in January 1917 these were almost entirely opposed by the party organisation. However, the Conservatives came to accept adult male suffrage as the only practicable way of recognising the servicemen’s contribution. During the passage of the electoral reform bill, they successfully amended it in several respects and secured gains from the redistribution of constituencies. This article assesses the Conservative response to the reform proposals and the impact of the Representation of the People Act 1918 upon the party’s fortunes, organisation and culture. During the following decade, the Conservative Party made substantial efforts to reach the female, younger and working-class voters. Whilst it was reassured by electoral success, and especially support from women, there remained concerns about the nature of democracy and demands from the grass-roots for a defensive restoration of powers to the House of Lords. However, by 1928 giving the vote to women on equal terms of adult citizenship was seen as the inevitable completion of the new electoral system – in which the Conservatives became the most successful party.

History

Citation

Parliamentary History, 2018, 37 (1), pp. 23-46

Author affiliation

/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, ARTS AND HUMANITIES/School of History

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Published in

Parliamentary History

Publisher

Wiley

issn

0264-2824

eissn

1750-0206

Acceptance date

2017-06-29

Publisher version

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1750-0206.12336

Notes

The file associated with this record is under embargo until 24 months after publication, in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. The full text may be available through the publisher links provided above.

Language

en

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