Parties At War: Political Organization In Second World War Britain University Press Scholarship Online

Political parties formed the cornerstone of the liberal democracy for which Britain claimed it was fighting in the Second World War. However, that conflict represented the most sustained challenge to the British party system during the twentieth century. War forced the suspension of normal electoral politics, and exerted considerable extra demands on the time and loyalties of party activists and organizers. This all posed a serious challenge to the Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties. Parties at War uses an unusually broad and deep range of records of the main political parties to explore how they responded to the challenge of war. Extensive use of the local as well as the national-level papers of the major parties offers a fuller picture than ever previously attempted. Andrew Thorpe focuses on what parties actually did, at both local and national levels, to sustain their organization during the war. He assesses the varying impacts of war, not just on each of the parties, but also over time, and between the different regions and areas of Britain. Thorpe demonstrates how wartime struggles over organization had significance not just for the election of the first majority Labour government in 1945, but also for the longer-term development of 'party' in modern British politics.

Political parties formed the cornerstone of the liberal democracy for which Britain claimed it was fighting in the Second World War. Yet, that conflict represented the most sustained challenge to the British party system during the twentieth century. War forced the suspension of normal electoral politics, and exerted considerable extra demands on the time and loyalties of party activists and organizers. This all posed serious problems to the Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties.

Parties at War uses an unusually broad and deep range of records to explore how they responded to the challenge of war. Extensive use of the local as well as the national-level papers of the major political parties offers a fuller picture than even previously attempted.

The Second World War represented the most sustained challenge to the British party system during the 20th century. This text explores how the main political parties responded to this challenge, showing that struggles over organisation had significance for the long-term development of 'party' in modern British politics National-level party management -- MPs and candidates -- Agents and organizers -- Party membership -- Constituency activities : the Conservatives -- Constituency activities : Labour -- Constituency activities : the Liberals -- Money