Catch Up 1

I realise I've fallen behind in terms of blogging on topics introduced in Chris Horrie's Tuesday lectures. Time to catch up...

So the lecture a couple of weeks ago concerned itself with the topic of political parties and the history of the party system in the UK. What started with the Torys and Whigs has resulted in well known parties such as:

• Conseratives


• Labour


• Liberal Democrats


• Green Party

There are also many other minor parties such as:

• Official Monster Raving Loony Party


• Revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain


• Pensioners Party

And so on...

The political period I have been interested in since school is the Liberal welfare reforms between 1906-1914. This period essentially saw the birth of the modern 'welfare state' in the UK.

In short, the Liberals, under the chancellorship of David Lloyd George, issued a series of reforms to improve working and living conditions in the UK. They created the Children's Charter, introduced pensions for the elderly, set up Labour exchanges to help the unemployed find work, and created the National Insurance Act.

The reforms were paid for using Robin Hood tactics. Lloyd George named his Finance Bill 'the People's Budget' where he taxed the rich to benefit the poor, ill and working class.

Cartoon from Punch, 1908

Despite a number of limitations and problems with the reforms, I believe they really were a positively pioneering set of Acts aimed for the good of the country. A far cry from the greedy MPs claiming expenses for horse manure and swimming maintenance.