BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION MANIFESTOS

Transcription

1 BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION MANIFESTOS

2 OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES British Parliamentary Election Results (in preparation) British Parliamentary Election Results British Parliamentary Election Results British Parliamentary Election Results British Parliamentary Election Statistics (Second Edition) Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies The Min or Parties at British Parliamentary Elections The Most Gracious Speeches to Parliament (in preparation) The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (Second Edition)

3 BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION MANIFESTOS Compiled and Edited by EWS. CRAIG

4 Preface, selection and editorial material F.W.S. Craig 1970, 1975 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 2nd edition All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First edition British General Election Manifestos published in 1970 by POLITICAL REFERENCE PUBLICATIONS 18 Lincoln Green, Chichester Revised and enlarged edition first published in 1975 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in New York Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Typeset by Lithoset, Chichester This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement.

5 To SUSAN

6 CONTENTS PREFACE xi THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1900 THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1906 THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1910 (January) THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1910 (December) THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1918 Coalition Manifesto vii

7 THE GENERAL ELECTION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION OF National 90 National 91 National THE GENERAL ELECTION OF National Manifesto viii

8 THE GENERAL ELECTION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION OF ix

9 THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1966 THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1970 THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1974 (February) THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1974 (October) APPENDIX 1 The Tamworth Manifesto 479 APPENDIX 2 Manifestos for Wales and Scotland 483 X

10 PREFACE In recent years the increasing interest shown in political behaviour and election campaigns, not only of the present but of the past, has drawn attention to the many gaps which exist in cumulative reference books in this field. In presenting a new and extended edition of a collection of election manifestos of the three principal parties in Britain, I hope that this book will provide a useful reader on the policies placed before the electorate during the past seventyfive years. The publishing of a formal manifesto at each election only became an accepted custom in recent times and previously a party's manifesto usually consisted of a statement of policy issued by its Leader in the form of an election address to his constituents. The election platforms of the parties evolve during the years between elections and frequently the formal manifestos only summarise policy which has already been announced in party publications or in the speeches of its leaders. Valuable as they undoubtedly are in the study of politics, the manifestos rarely cover any subject in great depth and a wealth of detailed proposals will be found in the press reports of campaign speeches and in the numerous leaflets and pamphlets issued before and during election campaigns. Since 1950, the Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties have from time to time issued special manifestos for Wales and Scotland and although due to their length and limited interest they are not included in this collection, details are given in Appendix 2. At the election of 1922, the Liberal Party fought as two-groups-the official liberal Party under Asquith and the National (former Coalition) Liberals led by Lloyd George. Only the official Liberal manifesto has been included in this collection and in fact no formal manifesto was published by the National Liberals. Lloyd George did however make a detailed speech on policy to his candidates and organisers in London on May 25, 1922 and a verbatim account will be found in the Daily Chronicle of the following day. In 1929 the Liberal Party did not issue a manifesto and their policy was based on a number of pamphlets and books published during the previous five years, the principal of which was We Can Conquer Unemployment: Mr. Lloyd George's Pledge, a book of 64 pages with maps published in I have induded Lloyd George's own election address in the collection as it summarises the main policy proposals on which the Liberal Party fought the election. At the 1931 and 1935 elections, the manifestos of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal sections of the National Government have been included. It should be noted that at the 1951 election the Conservative Party in addition to publishing a manifesto also issued a long and detailed policy statement under the title Britain Strong and Free. A book of this type cannot be compiled without the help and encouragement of many people and I would especially like to thank Geoffrey D.M. Block xi

11 of the Conservative Research Department; Mrs. Irene Wagner, Labour Party librarian, and G.E.V. Awdry of the Gladstone Library at the National Liberal Club. Their assistance in searching for material was invaluable. All the documents in this collection are reproduced verbatim in their original style, the only changes being in typographical lay-out. There is no bibliography to this book because to the best of my knowledge the only useful reference to the history of election manifestos appears in the excellent little book published in 1964 by the Conservative Political Centre A Source Book of Conservatism by Geoffrey D.M. Block. This book provides a comprehensive source of reference to party publications from The Labour Party published in 1967 a most useful bibliography of their pamphlets and leaflets from the formation of the Labour Representation Committee in The Liberal Party although lacking a bibliography of publications, has deposited most of their archives at the Gladstone Library which has some bound sets of leaflets. I have included as an Appendix, Sir Robert Peel's manifesto to the electors of Tamworth constituency, issued in December This is usually accepted as having been the first party election manifesto and I felt that it was worthwhile including this historic document. F.W.S. CRAIG Parliamentary Research Services Olichester April 7975 xii