British Political Culture and the Idea of Public Opinion, 1867 1914 Newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets and books all reflect the ubiquity of public opinion in political discourse in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain. Through close attention to debates across the political spectrum, charts the ways in which Britons sought to locate public opinion in an era prior to polling. He shows that public opinion was the principal term through which the link between the social and the political was interrogated, charted and contested, and reveals how the widespread conviction that the public was growing in power raised significant issues about the kind of polity emerging in Britain. He also examines how the early Labour party negotiated the language of public opinion and sought to articulate Labour interests in relation to those of the public. In so doing he sheds important new light on the character of Britain s liberal political culture and on Labour s place in and relationship to that culture. james thompson is a senior lecturer in modern British history at the University of Bristol. His research focuses primarily upon the political and intellectual culture of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain. He has published articles on a wide variety of aspects of modern British history, including trade union law, class and political language, and political posters.
British Political Culture and the Idea of Public Opinion, 1867 1914 james thompson
University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. Information on this title: /9781107026797 C 2013 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2013 Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Thompson, James, 1973 British political culture and the idea of public opinion, 1867 1914 /. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-107-02679-7 1. Political culture Great Britain History. 2. Public opinion Great Britain History. 3. Great Britain Politics and government. 4. Press Great Britain History. I. Title. JN216.T46 2013 306.20941 09034 dc23 2012042952 ISBN 978-1-107-02679-7 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
To my mother and father
Contents Acknowledgements page viii Introduction: Rethinking public opinion in late nineteenth-century Britain 1 1 An open demos? The public and the question of membership 28 2 The ghost in the machine : Locating public opinion 85 3 The mind of the nation? Reason and the public 136 4 Political economy and the idea of public opinion 183 5 Representing labour: The Labour movement, politics and the public 218 Conclusion: Public opinion and political culture in Britain, 1867 1914 243 Bibliography 252 Index 284 vii
Acknowledgements The origins of this book lie, longer ago than I care to remember, in New York City. David Cannadine provided sage advice then, and has been unfailingly generous ever since. The project took shape in Cambridge under the wise supervision of Peter Clarke. Its completion was aided by the responses of the readers for Cambridge University Press and the editorial work of Michael Watson. The research and writing were supported by the British Academy, the Institute of Historical Research, King s College and Jesus College, Cambridge and the University of Bristol. I am grateful to archivists and librarians at the British Library, Cambridge University Library, the London School of Economics, the Bodleian Library and Houghton Library at Harvard University. My research has benefited from the comments of colleagues at seminars and conferences at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the Institute of Historical Research, the University of Bristol and the Ecole Normale Supérieure. I owe a particular debt to the insights of Jon Lawrence, Jon Parry, Gareth Stedman Jones and Miles Taylor. The intellectual comradeship of Max Jones, Adam Tooze, Lawrence Black, Josie McLellan, Kirsty Reid and Richard Sheldon helped revive spirits and clarify ideas. David Craig has been a stalwart friend and a source of excellent advice more of which I should have followed over many years. Ann Fielding provided love and patience in the face of considerable provocation. viii