Martin Pugh is Research Professor in History at Liverpool John Moores University. His previous books include Electoral Reform in War and Peace (1978), The Tories and the People (1985), Women and the Women's Movement in Britain (1992) and The March of the Women: a revisionist analysis of the women's suffrage movement (2000). He is also the editor of Blackwell Publishers' Companion to Modern European History, 1871-1945 (1997).

• List of Tables viiiList of Illustrations xPreface xiPart One 1867–1900 11 Party and Participation 1867–1900 3Voting and Non-voting 4Electoral Practice and Malpractice 10The Rise of the Party Activist 14Party, Parliament and the ‘Independent Member’ 172 The Evolution of the Gladstonian Liberal Party 1867–1895 22Liberalism, Reform and Religion 23The Building Blocks of Liberalism 25The Programme versus the Single Issue 301886: The Radicalization of the Party 353 The Conservative Revival 1874–1900 42The Impact of Middle-class Conservatism 44Organizing the Democracy 48Tradition and Change 51Salisbury and Liberal Unionism 54The State and Social Reform 594 The Social Roots of Political Change in Late Victorian Britain 65Trends and Issues 66Rural Radicalism 70Working-class Politics and Socialists 73Women, Politics and Labour 78Working-class Conservatism, Empire and Patriotism 80The Lower Middle Class 86Part Two 1895–1914 895 The Edwardian Crises 1895–1914 91The Waning of Radicalism 91Liberal Imperialism 96‘National Efficiency’ and Tariff Reform 99The Crisis of Conservatism 1036 Edwardian Progressivism 107Origins of the New Liberalism 107The Politics of the Pact 1903–1914 115Edwardian Labourism 123The Workers and State Welfare 1297 The Electoral Struggle 1906–1914 130The Containment of Labour 131The Franchise Factor 135Regional Political Culture 138The Unions, MacDonald and the Pact 1911–1914 141Part Three 1914–1920s 1478 The Impact of the Great War on British Politics 149The Disintegration of the Progressive Alliance 1914–1916 151Lloyd George and the Conservatives 1916–1918 153Labour’s Change of Course 158The Coupon Election of 1918 1619 Patriotism, Ideology and the State in the Great War 165Laissez-faire and Interventionism 166Labour’s Socialist Commitment and the Liberal Inheritance 168The Working Class, the State and Patriotism 171Conservatism, Capitalism and the State 1914–1922 173Part Four 1918–1945 17910 The Elevation of Labour and the Restoration of Party Politics 1918–1931 181The Fragmentation of the Coalition 181The New Strategy 1922 183Baldwin and Normality 1923 186MacDonaldism and Socialism 188The Rise and Fall of the Second Labour Government 19411 Origins of the Conservative Electoral Hegemony 1918–1931 199The Impact of the Electoral System 199The Conservatives and the Constituencies 203Labour’s Grass Roots 1918–1929 207Women in Inter-war Politics 211The General Strike and the Realignment of the Working Class 213The Election of 1931 22012 From the National Government to the Popular Front 1931–1939 222The National Government and Liberal Toryism 222The Threat from the British Union of Fascists 229Labour, Socialism and Keynesianism 233The Left, Rearmament and Public Opinion 235The General Election of 1935 238Labour and the Popular Front 1936–1939 24013 The Politics of the ‘People’s War’ 1939–1945 243The Churchill Coalition 243Public Opinion and the Swing to the Left 247Consensus Politics 249The Labour Landslide of 1945 251Conclusions 255Notes 258Guide to Further Reading 267Index 283

"Is to be welcomed. This is a textbook of a superior sort as Pugh disavows the attempt to be a neutral assessor of the work of others and imposes his own interpretation upon the period. This leads to a clearer understanding of events." History Today - of the previous edition "A commanding synthesis ... succeeds brilliantly in finding the right voice to explain what matters now." London Review of Books - of the previous edition "Excellent book, by far the best of its kind on this period ... impressively lucid and consistent ... a remarkable book which will stimulate teachers as well as students for years to come." Society for the Study of Labour History Bulletin - of the previous edition