The British Political Elite and the Centre Party Project in 1919–1923

Abstract

The article concerns a relatively brief and little-studied, but striking episode in British political history: the Centre Party project, aimed at the transformation of the British party system after the end of World War I. The author makes an attempt to examine the history of the project in its political context, the challenges that it was supposed to answer and the motives of the members of the political elite that took part in its development. Additionally, the article focuses on the different concepts of this project and the causes behind its eventual failure. The author refers to newspapers and party archive materials. The schism inside the Liberal Party, the relative growth of Labour influence and the uncertain parliamentary hegemony of the Coalition government in the first few post-war years created both the need and the opportunity for the establishment of a new party which would permanently unify the centrist elements of both traditional parties. While Prime Minister David Lloyd George and his closest supporters saw the Centre Party as a platform for their reformist social and economic policies, the leadership of the Conservative Party largely hoped to use it as a barrier against Labour. As the need for such a barrier became less apparent for rank and file Conservatives and the party elite, the project began to lose their support. Nevertheless, the final rejection of the project only came in 1923, a few months after the Coalition’s dissolution, which points to its attractiveness for a certain segment of the elite.

Keywords

• история Великобритании
• политическая история
• партийная система
• межвоенный период
• коалиция
• антисоциализм
• политическая элита.