History Of The British Labour Party
The Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement and socialist political parties of the 19th century, and surpassed the Liberal Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives in the early 1920s. It has had several spells in government, first as minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929–31, then as a junior partner in the wartime coalition from 1940–1945, and then as a majority government, under Clement Attlee in 1945–51 and under Harold Wilson in 1964–70. Labour was in government again in 1974–79, under Wilson and then James Callaghan, though with a precarious and declining majority.
The previous national Labour government won a landslide 179 seat majority in the 1997 general election under the leadership of Tony Blair, its first general election victory since October 1974 and the first general election since 1970 in which it had exceeded 40% of the popular vote. The party's large majority in the House of Commons was slightly reduced to 167 in the 2001 general election and more substantially reduced to 66 in 2005. Under Gordon Brown it was defeated in the 2010 general election.
Read more about History Of The British Labour Party: Early Years and The Rise of The Labour Party, Opposition During The Time of The National Government, Local Labour Reforms in The Inter-war Period, Wartime Coalition (1940–1945), Post-War Victory Under Attlee, The "Thirteen Wasted Years", The Wilson Years, The 1970s, In Opposition (2010–present)
Famous quotes containing the words history of, history, british, labour and/or party:
“Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“Tell me of the height of the mountains of the moon, or of the diameter of space, and I may believe you, but of the secret history of the Almighty, and I shall pronounce thee mad.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality.”
—Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)
“Painting consumes labour not disproportionate to its effect; but a fellow will hack half a year at a block of marble to make something in stone that hardly resembles a man. The value of statuary is owing to its difficulty. You would not value the finest head cut upon a carrot.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“The success of a party means little more than that the Nation is using the party for a large and definite purpose.... It seeks to use and interpret a change in its own plans and point of view.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)