ABSTRACT
The period between the fall of the Coalition and the 1929 general election established the pattern of British party politics for the remainder of the interwar period and determined its broad contours for the rest of the century. During the 1920s the two successful parties came to terms with the doctrinal and organisational implications of mass democracy in a less deferential, more secular and more class-conscious society. Similarly, although Labour went from strength to strength, it should not be forgotten that in 1918 the Liberals collectively obtained 350,000 more votes than Labour and even at the 1923 election. Which brought the first Labour government to power, Labour only polled 138,299 votes more than the Liberals. From this perspective, the intrinsically linked processes of Liberal decline and Labour rise are presented as the product of long-term structural changes in British society, as regional, religious and traditional electoral alignments gave way to highly developed class loyalties.
