The Growth of Political Parties

19th Century;

"Rotten Boroughs" - This time period saw a huge shift in population and demographic due to the rise of the industrial north, e.g Manchester and Liverpool becoming the root of the Industrial Revolution. Because of this the Reform Act of 1832 soon came into play in the hope of shifting representation towards the towns and the North.

The aims of the Reform Act were to stop misrepresentation of voters, for example to stop instances such as "Old Serum" where multiple MP's were representing a village with a voting population of about ten.
It has also been suggested that the Reform Act prevented a revolution in England equal to that of France or Syria. This is supposedly because the issues of unfair democracy were being solved politically without violence or unrest. The Act gave people a political voice within Parliament.

After this we were granted with the Repeal of the Corn Laws, a shattering change resulting in the end of the Tory V Whig system, hence the creation of the Liberals and Conservatives Party.

In the second half of the 19th Century we also see the electoral reform, and a much higher competition for the urban working class vote. This was due to the steady increase of franchise acts such as Education, Housing and Health. This happened because the working class were making money, and were therefore not content with getting by on their wage, but wanted to invest in improvement and the demand for a better quality of living began to grow, resulting in the growth of a middle class population.

The First World War;

The Post War saw the increase of Socialism and with it the rise of the Labour Party in the 1920's. There was, however a resurgence of conservative politics in the depression years.

The Second World War;

1945 - This saw the first 'proper' Labour government with a secure majority which saw the multiple democratic reforms including the NHS, Keynesian Economics and Trade Union rights. After the war we saw resources being pulled back into Britain to replenish the injured homeland, resulting in the dismantling of the British Empire, giving India independence.

The government was against Churchill who stood during the war as a conservative. Despite his war hero persona, Churchill was quickly moved aside making way for Labour's head liner, Atlee. The majority of policies that were brought forwards were very liberal, and heavily relied upon the 'Beverage Report'. This was the foundation of the Welfare system we use today.

Post War;

The Beverage Report took off, with claims to "protect you from cradle to grave". This also saw the introduction of Keynes, and the idea that the government managed the economy for aims of full employment. Otherwise known as "Managed Capitalism".

Late 20th Century;

In the 70's we saw utter despair for Labour, with the huge landslide defeat to the Conservatives, which was also known as the Winter of Discontent to bring us out of the depression. This "winter" saw gravediggers go on strike, refusing to bury the dead as the Trade Unions were gaining too much power and greediness which the public then deemed a strict Conservative government the perfect solution.

We then welcomed Margaret Thatcher. Straight away she attacked the Trade Unions, in particular the miners, the top dogs in other words to make a point that she was not to be messed with. After this she sold off national attributes aiming for utter privatisation. To basically let the invisible hand of the market make money. This sparked consumption within Britain, and a heavy focus on London as the investment hotspot of the world.

This led to a major clash of right V left. The right wing were living by the motto that the "best will achieve" because the rich were just getting richer. The left wing saw this as highly unfair.

Tory Major Sleaze;

Major, a Tory described himself and the cabinet as a representation of true family morals and lifestyle for Britain. The papers then tore this apart, reporting conclusive evidence of bribery, prostitution and irresponsible lifestyle choices taken by John Major himself as well as other Tory cabinet members. This was the tabloid 'boom' period as gossipy articles could be written non-stop about leading political figures as all journalists were protected by qualified privilege and therefore could not be sued, as these were public eye figures and their actions were of the highest importance to the public's interest.
Jonathan Aitken, head of military finances was reported outright by the Guardian as taking bribes. Aitken denied the claims, using the line "the Sword of Truth" as his main defence weapon. Shortly after he was jailed for taking bribes and for purgatory (lying under oath).

Rise of New Labour;

With the Conservative Party in ruin, Blair soon took over leading the quickest turn around landslide victory ever known in modern politics. With this New Labour kept growing, and growing.