A century ago today, Ramsay MacDonald became the Labour Party’s first prime minister. For those unfamiliar with UK politics, the Labour Party formed on 27th February 1900, as the political voice of the working classes. The Labour Party grew from the trade union movement and socialist parties of the nineteenth century.
Don’t worry, I’m not getting political (or at least trying to avoid it). I just thought I’d use this opportunity to babble about eighteenth-century politics. In modern UK politics, we have a little more choice, but the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats are the dominant parties in what is still effectively a two-party system. This hasn’t changed since the Georgian era. While we may also moan about modern politicians being self-serving and corrupt, they have nothing on their predecessors.
18th Century Politics
Here are a few facts:
- The two-party system compromised the Whigs (who were usually members of the aristocracy and wielded enormous influence through their connections and patronage) and the Tories, who were mainly the rural gentry.
- In the 1760s, 111 aristocrats controlled 406 constituencies. Each constituency was entitled to two seats in parliament. The aristocrats nominated people to take these seats and usually gave them to their inept relatives or sold them to the highest bidder.
- Bribery and corruption were normal and even expected. Would-be politicians bought their nominations, and the electorate expected the nominated candidates to purchase their votes. The going rate was £5 per vote, plus being wined and dined.
- Hereditary peers sat in the House of Lords (without being voted in and still do) but this meant they could not vote in elections for the House of Commons. Aristocrats instead “advised” the electorate on where to cast their vote. They also “advised” the MPs they nominated on how to vote in parliament, too.
- Only men with substantial property or wealth could vote. This amounted to around 200,000 individuals—a fraction of the population.
How Democratic!
Elections were far from fair and representative. 18th century politics takes “who you know, not what you know” to a whole new level. However, Great Britain was viewed as a beacon of democracy compared to Europe’s autocratic hereditary monarchies and, later, Napoleon’s dictatorship.
It wasn’t until the Representation of the People Act in 1918 that the right to vote was given to all men over 21 (regardless of whether they owned property) and women over 30 who owned (or their husbands owned) land or premises worth more than £5.
Anyway, let’s go back to Ramsay MacDonald. He can still be considered Britain’s most “working-class” prime minister because he rose from nothing to the top. However, his government only lasted 9 months, but it saw the election of the first three female Labour MPs.
The 1920s were turbulent, and some have made comparisons with the 2020s. While we now have equal representation (we could debate that, too), and lots more female MPs, can we say politics is less corrupt? Now, that is a loaded question, so I’ll leave it there.
