In the1870s, the Conservative Party won three out of four elections and formed the government for 17 years out of a total of 20 years. It reflected the Conservative Party was the most powerful party in England at that time; they even had an overpowering majority of seats in the House of Lords. They had support from everywhere. However, the situation changed dramatically when the Liberal party won the general election in 1906 with an overwhelming majority of 400 seats as against 157 seats for the Conservatives party. This event was marked as the well-known ‘Liberal landslide’. There are several reasons why the Conservative lost such a large amount of seats; national efficiency, the imposition of Education Act and Licensing Act, tariff campaign and Neglect of social reform.
To begin with, The Boer War is one of the most important events. The war started in 1899 in South Africa; the enemies of the British were the …show more content…
There was a growing awareness of poverty in Britain, especially in London in early 1900s. According to the research of Charles Booth in London, there were 25% of people that were living under abject poverty and over 35% of people were living under the poverty line of 0.90-1.05 pounds per week for a family with 3 children. The situation was severe and that was not only happening in London, but other cities as well. According to Seebhom Rowntree’s studies, there were 28% of people that lives in York could not afford to buy clothing and food. Social reform was definitely needed. At that time, some other new liberalism were arising, they aimed to give out minimum living standard for needy families. In contrast, the conservative was not doing anything good and the Education Act that did not please the society. As a result, a party that was providing more benefit to citizens and poverty became more successful and gained more voter’s