ABSTRACT
The late 1920s saw an apparent settling down of the new party system. The Conservative government elected in 1924 served a full five-year term and had expectations of being returned to power for a further period of office. However, at the 1929 election a combination of Labour advance and Liberal revival produced another ‘hung’ parliament and a second minority Labour government. Between 1929 and 1931 all three parties experienced serious internal problems and the renewed instability raised more general doubts about the future of the party system as a whole. Finally, in the summer of 1931, a major financial and political crisis led to the fall of the second Labour government and the formation of another coalition. The subsequent landslide victory of this ‘National Government’ in the general election of 1931 upset the delicate balance of forces that had been evolving in the 1920s, although whether this was a temporary diversion or a more fundamental change in the direction of Britain’s political development it was too early to tell. What was clear, though, throughout the period, was the common thread provided by the inability of politicians and the existing party system to cope with Britain’s deepening economic problems and the sudden consequences of world recession. As in other countries, where economic crisis resulted in the collapse of parties and a challenge to democratic values, so too in 1931 Britain stood on the brink of a more serious test of its social and political fabric than at any time since the First World War.
