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Gordon Brown must learn from '1906 and all that'

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02 February 2007

Gordon Brown's attempt to build a 'progressive consensus' in Britain could be significantly strengthened by an understanding of the Progressive Alliance that ran the country between 1906 and 1914, according to new research from the Institute for Public Policy Research, published today. With many political pundits predicting a hung Parliament after the next election, ippr has been assessing what it would take for Labour and the Liberal Democrats to work together.

In a pamphlet for ippr, Professor Iain McLean of Nuffield College Oxford and ippr Research Fellow Guy Lodge, argue that a 21st century ‘progressive consensus’ is likely because since 1983 the combined size of the non-Conservative vote has always outstripped that of the Conservative vote. The pamphlet shows that tactical voters have raised the total of non-Conservative seats in the Commons at every General Election from 1987 to 2005. At the last election, Labour and the Liberal Democrats between them achieved 57.2 percent of the vote, while polling shows that Labour and Liberal Democrat identifiers have more in common than Conservative identifiers.

The pamphlet argues that the 1906-14 Progressive Alliance of the Liberal, Labour and Irish Parties can teach Gordon Brown five crucial lessons:

Beware of wars. Progressives are not usually good at fighting them and they will always create opposition.
Attend to the art of the possible. The progressive alliance achieved the holy grail of progressive government by permanently transforming the political landscape and re-defining the terms of political debate along progressive lines. By ‘winning the battle of ideas’ it ensured that its achievements became permanently entrenched and were not reversed by future administrations. The 1908 and 1909 Budgets introduced progressive taxation to the UK for the first time, while the 1911 National Insurance Act laid the foundations for today’s welfare state.
Do not run out of steam in office. This is a problem that has afflicted all progressive governments. Attlee’s 1945 Government soon became exhausted after an initial frenzy of activity. In stark contrast, the Progressive Alliance showed a tremendous capacity for renewal in office.
Do not ignore the electoral system. The Progressive Alliance was too careless about the electoral system, which rewarded it richly in 1906, but was to punish it viciously in 1918, 1922 and 1924. The interests of progressive politics today would be served by electoral reform. In 2009, the Liberal Democrats might agree to keeping single-member seats in the House of Commons, if First-Past-The-Post was replaced by the Alternative Vote.
Never underestimate your class enemies. The House of Lords’ fight for the privileges of the landed interest was bitter and partly successful – it stymied land tax in 1909 and 1914, although it did lead to the Parliament Act.

The pamphlet argues that the 1906-14 Progressive Alliance is the only progressive government in British history to have successfully renewed itself in office. It argues that the Progressive Alliance succeeded in permanently altering the political landscape and changing the terms of reference with which others governments would subsequently have to engage. It established a progressive legacy that shaped and constrained the choices of its successors. Its achievements include: laying the foundations of the welfare state, establishing for the first time the principle of progressive taxation and enacting the most important changes in the history of the UK constitution.

Notes to Editors

The Progressive Consensus in Perspective by Professor Iain McLean and Guy Lodge is available to download.

ippr is publishing two collections of essays on progressive politics this spring:

Beyond Liberty: Is the future of Liberalism Progressive? will be launched at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference next month and includes chapters by Nick Clegg MP, Vince Cable MP, David Laws MP, Steve Webb MP and Chris Huhne MP.
Politics for a New Generation: the Progressive Moment will be published by Palgrave MacMillan in May to mark the 10th anniversary of Labour’s 1997 election victory. It includes chapters by Ed Balls MP, Ed Miliband MP, David Miliband MP, Hilary Benn MP, Beverley Hughes MP, Kitty Ussher MP, Natasha Engel MP, Dawn Butler MP, Sadiq Khan MP, Alison Seabeck MP, Jamie Reed MP, Roberta Blackman-Woods MP and Stan Greenberg.

Contact:

Richard Darlington, ippr media manager, 020 7470 6177 / 07738 320 645 / r.darlington@ippr.org

Matt Jackson, ippr senior media officer, 020 7339 0007 / 07753 719 289 / m.jackson@ippr.org