The 1918 UK General Election
The 1918 election took place just over a month after the end of World War 1. Parliament had voted to extend its own life during the war, so this was the first general election for 8 years. And, as would be the case for Churchill after WW2, Lloyd George, the Prime Minister, was at the height of his popularity, having taken over the reigns of government at a critical moment just two years earlier.
At the 1918 election, the electorate was almost triple what it had been, with all men over the age of 21 entitled to vote and women over 30 being enfranchised for the first time (subject to her or her husband owning property over the value of £5). The full enfranchisement of women wouldn’t be complete until 1928, but this election was also the first election at which women could stand as Parliamentary candidates and 17 did so, including Christabel Pankhurst, who stood for the women’s party. Only one woman was elected, Constance Markievicz, but as she was standing for Sinn Fein, she did not take her seat.
The outcome was a landslide for the national government, but this largely benefited the Conservative Party as they stood in more seats than the national Liberals. This meant that Lloyd George would be in power, but dependant on Conservative MPs to govern. Meanwhile, Asquith’s Liberals were left with a rump of only 36 seats. This left the Conservative Party as the largest party in the Commons and it made Labour the official opposition for the first time in its history.
Meanwhile, in Ireland, the 8 years since the last election had seen a dramatic shift in public opinion, away from the Irish Parliamentary Party, who advocated home rule and towards Sinn Fein, who advocated independence. Two major events stand out in explaining this shift. Firstly, the crushing of the Easter Rising in 1916 by the British garnered sympathy for Sinn Fein and, secondly, Sinn Fein got credit for their opposition to the conscription of Irish people into the British Army during the Conscription Crisis of 1918.
The election resulted in 73 Sinn Fein MPs being elected. They refused to take their seats in Parliament and instead set up a revolutionary Irish Parliament, which met on 21 January and issued a declaration of independence, which would lead to war with Britain, the establishment of the Irish Free State and then a civil war in Ireland.
The coalition government held together until 1922, but Lloyd George’s position as Prime Minister depended upon the continued support of Conservative ministers, MPs and the wider party. Things came to a head in October 1922 at a meeting of the Carlton Club, where Conservative MPs voted to end the coalition so that the Conservative Party could stand as an independent Party at the next election.
This decision helped the Conservative Party to dominate the inter-war period and ultimately paved the way for a realignment of British politics, with the Labour Party dislodging the Liberals as the progressive alternative to the Conservatives - a pattern which persists to this day.
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