...Why was the reform act of 1832 passed? There were several major factors involved in the build up to the reform act which all led to the government having to enforce the reform act to keep the people happy. The voting system was extremely out of date, having not been altered since the 18th century and the government had not taken into consideration the demographic changes with had taken place since then. There were many rotten boroughs (Areas which had low vote to high representation ratio) and yet many fast growing cities like Leeds and Manchester had little or no representation at all which meant that no proportional voting was in place. The swing riots was an explosion in Britain at the time as it was such a huge movement of industrial workers, unhappy at low wages, high unemployment and new labour saving devices led the workers to attack machinery and burn barns which was affecting the amount of work in the country. This put pressure on the government to change, something they were not used to and caused panic in parliament as they were worried about a revolution which were rife at that time throughout Europe e.g. France. Another major turning point was the passing of the catholic emancipation act (1829) which caused outrage in parliament and led to the break up of the Tory party, many of them outraged at the passing of this act. All of these are main factors which led to an angry and dis-contented country, fighting for their rights and the enforcement of a reform act. Britain...
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...Monarchy, the Church of England and the aristocrat was the most important element of Disraelian Conservatism. Other will be discussed, such as one nation conservatism, imperial and foreign policy, social stability, maintaining institutions of the country. It will be argue that Tory democracy was the most important element. The first topic, is the creation of Tory democracy, which was the idea that the party was committed to aiding poor and underprivileged in society. The social reforms of Disraeli’s 2nd ministry that dealt with a wide range of issues such as factory reform, housing, public health and trade union rearm all seemed to support this view. Disraeli was always open to parliamentary reform. In 1859 he had introduced a Reform Act into the house of Commons where it was opposed by Gladstone. It was in fact Disraeli who passed the scone reform act 1867 and he was aware that he had to appeal to a wider trance of people and not just the landed classes if he was to fain electoral appeal-consider the importance of the alliance between the workers and Tory aristocrats against their common middle class liberal enemies, using worker numbers to gain power for a government who then delivered on social reform. Alexander McDonald, a trade unionist and Liberal MP declared the ‘the conservative had done more for the working classes in six years than the Liberal had done in 50’. A second factor is One-nation Conservatism. Disraeli believed that Whig created a divide between rich and...
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...to politicians, poets, bishops, but none to cooks or bacon-curers or market gardeners”, as described by Orwell. A time in which the poor were overlooked and undermined, a land in which the people “bred in the slums can imagine nothing but the slums.” Why was Churchill, being the national hero that he was, rejected by the Britons? Was it the failure of the Conservatives, which gave rise to Labour; or was it the rise of Labour which led to the failure of the Conservatives? These are some key aspects that this essay will attempt to consider. This paper will focus on how the rise of Labour, through their efforts locally, won over the population in order achieve a significant victory. Conducive to that change in leadership was the lack of Tory focus on social-policy and attention towards the working-class, which emanated from the lack of party politicking on the part of Churchill himself. Churchill was the leader of the Conservative Party, who governed the country in 1940. The Conservative Party is essentially a capitalist based polity; they are very much opposed to the idea of socialism. However, in 1939 Britain goes to war for the second time in just after two decades. It is a difficult period, so for the sake of national...
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...The House of Lords an effective institution? an effective institution? Introduction Since the reform of the House of Lords in 1999 by Tony Blair’s ‘New Labour’ government, the status and legislative scope of the ‘upper house’ has steadily risen. Its role as a ‘revising chamber’, scrutinising bills sent to it from the House of Commons, is an important one. However, unlike upper houses in many modern democracies such as the Senate in the USA, theoretically it cannot stop, and at best can only delay, legislation sent from the Commons. As a largely appointed chamber, doubts remain as to its legitimacy and as recently as 2012 the government tried to replace the Lords with a largely elected chamber. This initiative however failed, perhaps partly because MPs were worried that a wholly elected Lords might in the future question the primacy of the Commons. Task Objective * This task requires you to explore the workings of the Lords and consider how effective it is as a parliamentary body. * It will ask you to consider whether the House of Lords should be reformed further. * It will guide you through a range of reading material and pose key questions for you to post on as you complete each section of reading. Task 1: Overview of Functions____________________________________________________________________ You can get a very quick overview of the role and work of the House of Lords by skim reading the following pamphlet and watching the YouTube clip: http://youtu...
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...Sebastian A. P. Pasha 2nd February 2015 Do you agree the 1932 Reform Act was a conservative measure with limited effect? The statement that the 1932 Reform Act was a conservative measure with limited effect is correct only to a certain extent. Although it did remove the electoral rights from most of the oddities that were rotten boroughs, and give representation to growing cities such as Leeds and Manchester; it resulted in little improvement on the lives of the working class and merely benefitted the middle class. The Great Reform Act of 1832 was passed under a Whig government. They benefitted enormously from the old system of politics, and therefore did not want large amounts of change, simply enough to quell the country’s thirst for revolution. They also needed to get the wealthy middle class on their side, thereby not simply reflecting the wishes of the aristocracy. This is highlighted in Source 1 is before the Great Reform Act is established, and it outlines Prime Minister Grey’s intentions. He simply states that ‘if any persons suppose that this reform will lead to ulterior measures, they are mistaken’. He reassures his peers that the bill would not bring about any dramatic changes, as the current system benefitted them (and him) the most, bringing them significant wealth and influence. The bill was simply a way to satisfy the masses without giving too much ground, and to ‘put an end to such hopes and projects’. Therefore it was a conservative measure designed...
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...a series of moves designed to win back disaffected voters who have fled to the UK Independence Party and to present a softer image of the party, Mr Cameron promoted 10 women in a day which saw 40 new appointments. The Prime Minister described his new top team as one which “reflects modern Britain” and added: “This is a fresh team with the ideas, the energy, the policy and the ability to take this country forward.” However, in a sign that the Tory leader is willing to be ruthless ahead of the General Election, he removed Michael Gove, his close friend and ally, from the Cabinet. Mr Gove was unseated as Education Secretary amid fears that the controversy over his programme of reforms and a series of spats with other ministers could cost the Tories votes. Nicky Morgan, Liz Truss and Esther McVey became members of the Cabinet, meaning that five of the 17 full Tory Cabinet members are now women — the highest the total has been under Mr Cameron. This means the Prime Minister has almost made good on a pledge that one in three Tory women in his Cabinet would be women. In an attempt to appease Ukip voters and Conservative backbenchers, Philip Hammond, a vociferous Eurosceptic, was made Foreign Secretary, replacing William Hague. Mr Cameron said his new team was the right one to “complete the long-term economic plan and secure our future”. He added: “I think it...
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...HOW FAR TRUE IS THE ASSERTION THAT THE NDEBELE PEOPLE RELIED ON RAIDING ALONE FOR THEIR LIVELIWOOD? There is so much truth to the claim that the Ndebele economy relied heavily on raiding and the various Shona communities especially those close to the Ndebele suffered as a consequence. In this essay it will be shown that from the advent of the Ndebele in the present day Matebeleland up to the imposition of colonial rule in the 1890's, there was never a decade without Ndebele raids into Shona territory. This essay will also show that how ever much significant raiding was, the Ndebele also relied on other activities including, tribute, agriculture and trade. It will be made clear that although highly significant, raiding alone does not fully explain the Ndebele economic way of life. Both Mzilikazi and Lobengula pursued a consistent policy of raiding against one or the other Shona communities from the time of their arrival from present day South Africa. Apart from attacking the declining Rozvi, D.N.Beach cites Ndebele raiding activities which greatly affected the Chirimuhanzu dynasty in the 1850's. This would be repeated during the 1860's when the Kalanga and Tswana communities to the west were raided during the 1860 - 1 drought. That same decade (1868) the north-western Ngezi dynasty of Rimuka was also raided resulting in the flight of the Mashayamombe and Chivero rulers further north-east. The pattern continued during the 1870's when the Ndebele raided the Shona communities...
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...Jean Charest was born on June 24, 1958, in Sherbrooke, in the Eastern Townships. His parents are Rita (born Leonard), an Irish Quebecer, and Claude "Red" Charest, a French Canadian.[2] He obtained a law degree from the Université de Sherbrooke and was admitted to the Barreau du Québec in 1981. He is married to Michèle Dionne (since June 21, 1980) and they have three children, Amélie, Antoine, and Alexandra. Charest is fully bilingual in French and English. Some have wrongfully claimed that Jean Charest downplays his legal first name John by presenting himself in French as Jean so as to appeal more to francophone Quebecers. For example, in the 1997 federal election, Bloc Québécois MP Suzanne Tremblay attacked Charest by saying, "First, let's recall who Jean Charest really is... his real name is John, that's what's on his birth certificate, not Jean."[3] Charest responded that, his mother being an Irish-Quebecer, it was the Irish priest who baptized him that wrote John on the baptism certificate, but that he was always known as Jean in his family and with his peers as well. He also went to French schools. Federal politics He worked as a lawyer until he was elected Progressive Conservative member of the Canadian Parliament for the riding (electoral district) of Sherbrooke in the 1984 election. From 1984 to 1986, Charest served as Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole of the House of Commons. In 1986, at age 28, he was appointed to the Cabinet of then Prime Minister...
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...determine specific policy outcomes. There is a constant debate whether the UK is a truly democratic country or not and to what extent. It is believed that nowadays Britain has a massive issues: the electoral system is totally unfair, there are unelected political members and the lack of parties, Civil Rights are in danger, citizens no longer have a wish to participate in elections, the media is prejudged and, finally, the UK is not representative. This essay will evaluate how to make the Great Britain more democratized. The major point is that there is a low rate of political participation in the UK that might lead to an arbitrary and autocratic government. It is significant element because it makes the government more accountable. There are some ways which can prevent this undemocratic style. Firstly, the UK government can introduce the compulsory voting which is nowadays enhanced in Australia. This method would force citizens to affect the outcomes of elections and make them more politically aware of issues. The second way is to increase the use of referendums in order to encourage political engagement. Although a referendum result is not binding totally on Parliament (it is Omnicompetent), it has to be stressed that it is almost unthinkable that the UK Parliament would defy the expressed result of a referendum. The referendum is the most direct form of democracy that also helps to make decisions legitimate and confirms the principle of...
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...One-nation conservatism (also known as one-nationism, or Tory democracy) is a form of British political conservatism that views society as organic and values paternalism and pragmatism. The phrase "One-nation Tory" originated with Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), who served as the chief Conservative spokesman and became Conservative Prime Minister in February 1868. He devised it to appeal to working class men as a solution to worsening divisions in society. As a political philosophy, one-nation conservatism reflects the belief that societies exist and develop organically, and that members within them have obligations towards each other. There is particular emphasis on the paternalistic obligation of the upper classes to those classes below them. The ideology featured heavily during Disraeli's terms in government, during which considerable social reforms were passed. Towards the end of the 19th century, the party moved away from paternalism in favour of free market capitalism, but fears of extremism during the interwar period caused the revival of one-nation conservatism. The philosophy continued to be held by the party throughout the post-war consensus until the rise of the New Right, which attributed the country's social and economic troubles to one-nation conservatism. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, named Disraeli as his favourite Conservative and some commentators and MPs have suggested that Cameron's ideology contains an element of one-nationism. In his 2012...
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..."The role of Disraeli was the most important in the achievement of Parliamentary Reform in 1867." How valid is this view? The representation of the People Act in 1867, more commonly known as the Reform Act of 1867 or the Second Reform Act was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised the urban male working class in England and Wales. The 1867 Reform Act was the second major attempt to reform Britain’s electoral process – the first being the 1832 Reform Act. It was not just the role of Disraeli but one must also take consideration to popular pressure and take note of the role of the middle class and working class radicals, the importance of the Reform League and union, the importance of Hyde Park Riots and that of other important political figures such as Gladstone, Derby and Russell and the importance of different political parties; the Conservative and Liberal Party. The passage of the Reform Act resulted in; The 1867 Reform Act enfranchised 1,500,000 men. All male urban householders and male lodgers paying £10 rent a year for unfurnished accommodation got the right to vote. The act all but doubled the electorate. 52 seats were redistributed from small towns (less than a population of 10,000 such as Chichester, Harwich and Windsor) to the growing industrial towns or counties. Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester saw their representation increase from 2 MP’s to 3 MP’s. The University of London was also given a seat. The counties of Cheshire, Kent, Norfolk, Somerset...
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...passing the 1832 reform act? The use of popular pressure was quite significant in the passing of the 1832 reform act. Firstly, because of the protests and riots which occurred in the build-up to the reform act, the Government made some sort of concessions for the public, and were seen to give into popular pressure. Though on the other hand, it could be seen that the Whig’s were using the excuse of popular pressure to gain more power for themselves. Popular pressure was significant in passing the 1832 reform act, because of the fact that Earl Grey knew that the reform act was public knowledge after the failure of the first attempt to pass the reform act, he knew that the public would not take kindly if he was to not push for the act again in the house of commons, this is backed up by a letter from Duke Wellington to Mrs Arbuthnot where he states “They will plunder, annihilate, all property in this country”, this is in reference to if reform was not passed. Wellington also stated in the letter “It may be relied on that we have a revolution”, this is furthermore showing the potential power of the masses, which shows that the fear of the people was prevalent even in the wealthy, who had a lot of political power within Britain at the time. This proves greatly that popular pressure was significant in the passing of the act because even in the early stages, the inclination of chaos was enough to intimidate Duke Wellington. The BPU was the biggest threat to the Government at the time, and...
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...Module: Public Law& Civil Rights ‘The Government is pledged in its manifesto to complete reform of the Lords to remove the hereditary element entirely and to reconstitute the House on a modern representative basis.’ Government White Paper (The House of Lords: Completing the Reform 2001). Consider the political and legal reasons as to why, some 13 years after stage 1 of House of Lords reform (the House of Lords Act 1999), Parliament has only now started to consider Stage 2 legislation (House of Lords Reform Bill 2012). Abstract During the past 100 years, the British government has never ceased trying to bring democracy to the House of Lords. However, having examined the reform history, one could conclude that all the reforms proposed after 1999 are not carried out as planned. This essay, therefore, attempts to provide descriptions on the major reforms of Lords proposed or implemented since 1911. It will focus particularly on discussing the main political and legal difficulties on the incompletion of reform of Lords since 1999. 1. Introduction The House of Lords has long been known as a historical curiosity of this country. Together with the Canadian Senate, the chamber remains one of the only two unelected second chambers in the modern and major democracies. Owing to the undemocratic composition of the Lords, it was reluctant to utilize its legitimate powers in the 20th century for which some local political scholars described as having ‘a little public profile...
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...part of the British Empire; but by the end of 1947, India had achieved independence. For most of the Nineteenth Century, India was ruled by the British. India was considered the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. Queen Victoria had been made Empress of India and the British had a major military presence in India. Indian nationals had no say in central government and even at a local level, their influence on policy and decision making was minimal. In 1885, educated middle class nationals had founded the Indian National Conference (INC). Their aim was to get a much greater say in the way India was governed. In response to this development, the Morley-Minto reforms were introduced in 1909. Morley was the Secretary of State for India and Lord Morley was Viceroy of India. Their reforms lead to each province in India having its own governor and Indian nationals were allowed to sit on the councils which advised these governors. After 1918, nationalism within India intensified. This was probably due to 2 reasons: 1. Many educated nationals in India were far from satisfied with the Morley-Minto reforms. White Englishmen still dominated India and there had been no real decrease in their power or increase in national power. The INC (Indian National Council) wanted a lot more. 2. Woodrow Wilson had stimulated the minds of many people with his belief in national self-determination – i.e. that people from a country had a right to govern themselves. The whole concept...
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...which struggled to feed itself and therefore became restless. The change from the empire to the German republic can be seen to have occurred due to the pressures which the working class enforced on them. The introduction of the Americans In 1917 to the war worsened Germany’s deteriorating situation and could be seen as foreshadowing for the “revolution”. The reforms in October1918 were introduced by Prince Max of Baden the new chancellor and proved to show some form of compromise for the lower classes. He hoped that the changes would prevent the outbreak of political revolutionary disturbances. Wilhelm the second gave his powers over the army and navy over to the Reichstag, the chancellor was made accountable to the Reichstag not the Kaiser and armistice negotiations. The abdication of the Kaiser did show promise to change and gave evidence to prove that the revolt did demise the House of Hohenzollern. The war gave great emphasis on Ludendorff and Hindenburg who ruled under a “silent dictatorship” and the Kaiser role diminished. The loss of the war only sped up the removal of the Kaiser whose influence had decreased. The reforms although did not make any...
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