1868-1874: Liberal government under probably the most famous politician in British, or indeed world, history - GLADSTONE.
1874-1880: Conservative government under Benjamin DISRAELI. Disraeli was a great favourite of Queen Victoria, and is featured in the film "Mrs. Brown".
1880-1885: GLADSTONE's second premiership. The Gladstonian Liberals were true "old Liberals", known as Whigs, who believed particularly strongley in nationalism.
1885-1886: Conservative government under LORD SALISBURY. For the next fifteen years, Salisbury and Gladstone batted British politcs around between themselves.
1886-1886: Liberal government under GLADSTONE. There was a Liberal split over the issue of Irish home rule at this point. A splinter party, the Liberal Unionists, was formed, led by Joe CHAMBERLAIN. They wanted Ireland to remain a part of Britain.
1886-1892: Conservative government, again led by LORD SALISBURY, who was, incidentally, the last peer to be a Prime Ministr of Britain.
1892-1895: Liberal government, with GLADSTONE yet again at the helm. However, LORD ROSEBERY took over briefly in 1893.
1895-1905: Conservative government under the leadership of LORD SALISBURY. In 1902, the premiership was taken over by BALFOUR.
1905-1915: Liberal government, with Henry CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN as Prime Minister. In 1908, he hands the leadership over to the famous politician, Herbert ASQUITH. Asquith updated the Liberal party, revised the old ideas, and pioneered "New Liberalism", also called "Asquithian Liberalism". David LLOYD GEORGE was his Chancellor of the Exchequer. He introduced the controversial "People's Budget", the first ever Finance Bill to utilise redistributive taxation. This precipitated the constitutional crisis, when the House of lords, which had a strong Conservative tendency, refused to pass the bill.
1915-1916: Coalition (ie. all party) government, led by Herbert ASQUITH. World War I called for party politicasl differences to be set aside for the overall good of the country.
1916-1918: War coalition under David LLOYD GEORGE. At this point there was a Liberal split, one faction supporting LLOYD GEORGE, an old-stlye Liberal, and the other supporting ASQUITH.
1918-1922: The Lloyd George liberals and the Conservative party arrange a coalition government. This coalition was headed by BONAR LAW, a man whose leadership has become a subject of much controversy.
1922-1923: A very weak conservative government, once again led by BONAR LAW.
1923-1924: Consrvative government under the famous leader, Stanley BALDWIN. Baldwin championed the policy of appeasement for dealing with Hitler before World War II.
1924-1924: The first ever LABOUR government, with Ramsey MACDONALD as Prime Minister. The Labour party got their first ever government term as a result of a pact with the Liberals, but they didn't last long.
1924-1929: Conservative government under Stanley BALDWIN. This era was the time of the general strike, which was caused by a rapid increase in Trade Union membership.
1929-1931: Labour government led by Ramsey MACDONALD, again. There was a Labour party split at this point.
1931-1935: Coalition government, led by MACDONALD. However, Stanley BAlDWIN was the real power behind government at this point, as Macdonald was going somewhat ga-ga.
1935-1937: Coalition, led by BALDWIN.
1937-1940: Another coalition, this time led by Neville CHAMBERLAIN, son of Joe (see 1886).
1940-1945: War coalition, under the most famous Prime Minister in British history, Winston CHURCHILL.
1945-1951: Labour government, under Clement ATLEE.
1951-1964: Conservative government, with Winston CHURCHILL as PM. In 1955, Sir Anthony EDEN, who had been the Home Secretary during the war, became Prime Minister, to deal with the Suez crisis. In 1956, he handed over to Harold MACMILLAN, who was affectionately called "Supermac" - he was very popular. In 1963, there was yet another leadership change, this time bringing in Alex DOUGLAS-HOME s premier.
1964-1970: Labour government under Harold WILSON. Many important social reforms during this era.
1970-1974: Conservative government. Prime Minister Edward HEATH took Britain into Europe (the Common Market).
1974-1979: Labour government, once again under WILSON. However, CALLAGHAN took over in 1976, the last Labour Prime Minister before Tony Blair.
1979-1990: Conservative government led by Britain's first ever female Prime Minister, MARGARET THATCHER. She was is also our longest serving Prime Minister, serving consecutive terms. The Falklands war occurred during her first term.
1990-1997: Conservative government continues under John MAJOR.
1997- : Labour government elected in June by landslide majority. After the death of the previous opposition leader, John SMITH, Tony BLAIR became leader of the opposition, and is our current Prime Minister.
Thus, after a century of virtually complete Conservative rule, our youngest, most radical, and least experienced major party, Labour, will escort Britain into the next millenium. They have proved pretty popular so far, so good luck to them!!
Links to other sites on the Web
This is probably the briefest political history of Britain ever written!!
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