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:
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“A girl? Hey, that’s better in a way. A boy needs more from a father.”
—Margaret Forster, British screenwriter, Peter Nichols, and Silvio Narizzano. Jos (Alan Bates)
“The gates of Hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But, to return, and view the cheerful skies;
In this, the task and mighty labour lies.”
—Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (70–19 B.C.)
“Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)