Philip Snowden: The First Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer

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During the course of the First World War, while serving both inside and outside of government, the Labour Party was able to influence a number of progressive developments in social policy. At a time when 90% of housing was privately rented, landlords sought to increase rents in the face of rising wartime prices (and in some cases as a means of profiteering). This resulted in a range of largely spontaneous protests in 1915 which were then often co-ordinated by local Labour movements, such as that in Glasgow, where the ILP played a leading role. This forced the government to pass legislation which fixed wartime rents at pre-war levels. This was significant in that it showed labour to be the party that would defend working-class interests in housing, more than its rivals, while also helping Labour to move away from trade union related issues towards areas which had some direct appeal to women, in particular. In addition, as argued by Andrew Thorpe, it also "added credibility to the idea of state action to control market forces which disadvantaged the working class." [13] The organised working class represented by the trade unions was for the first time brought into a position of partnership in the national enterprise of war – a partnership on equal not inferior terms, as in the First World War. [73] Although the first Labour government only lasted nine months, it achieved much, including the Wheatley Housing Act that saw half a million council homes built over the next decade. Labour also planned new and improved schools, improved pensions and benefits, and laid the foundations for the extension of voting rights to millions more. A subsidy for sugar beet cultivation to support agriculture was introduced, [18] while schemes for roads and bridges, land reclamation and drainage, and afforestation were developed and extended. [11] Financial support was also provided to municipal works to reduce unemployment. [19] Although relief schemes funded by the chancellor Philip Snowden had little impact on reducing unemployment, the registered rate of unemployment fell from 11.7% in 1923 to 10.3% in 1924. [20]

Murphy, Joe (5 March 2008). "Darling chooses tap water for Budget Day to support Standard campaign". London Evening Standard . Retrieved 9 February 2012.This article is about the history of the British Labour Party. For information about the wider history of British socialism, see History of socialism in Great Britain. Keith Laybourn (1988). Philip Snowden: a biography: 1864-1937. Temple Smith. p.97. ISBN 9780566070174. A graph showing the percentage of the popular vote received by major parties in general elections (1832–2005), with the rapid rise of the Labour Party after its founding during the late 19th century being clear as it became one of the two major forces in politics It was also the oratorical device with which John Freeman sought to capture the hopes and aspirations of his generation in the first speech of the new 1945 parliament. Perhaps Peter Mandelson was more self-consciously the grandson of Herbert Morrison than commonly thought. There are areas where New Labour has been criticised as having nothing to say. Main articles: Great Depression in the United Kingdom, National Government (United Kingdom), and National Labour Organisation

Labour's great record: an outline of the first six months' work of the Labour government (Labour Joint Publications Department, 1924) For war pensioners, new pensions were provided "in deserving cases at the rate of over three hundred a week." [21] What it could do and did achieve was to undo a good many of the administrative effects of the " Geddes Axe," to pass several valuable measures of social reform, and to make a somewhat faint-hearted attempt at coping with the unemployment problem by the institution of public works [5] Foreign policy [ edit ] Monetary Policy | Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) | Framework". Bank of England. 6 May 1997. Archived from the original on 8 May 2010 . Retrieved 2 May 2010. He has been unquestionably the most successful Labour chancellor of the exchequer in history, as well as the longest serving. Gordon Brown has been the first Labour chancellor not to have been embroiled in economic crisis.Likewise, New Labour's "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime", approach, including its focus on "antisocial behaviour", bears a remarkable similarity to that which Labour's annual conference demanded of its government in 1978. Not to be confused with Lord Chancellor, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Chancellor of the High Court, or Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Labour representatives on the Boards of Guardians in the 1920s and on the Public Assistance Committees of the early 1930s sought to offset the effects of unemployment and poverty as best as they could within existing structures. This often led to interventionist measures such as the provision of free school meals or ensuring that benefit claimants received the relief that was owed to them. Labour councils sought to administer the means test in the most favourable terms possible, which involved accepting a higher percentage of applications for transitional benefit than in non-Labour localities and providing the maximum rate of relief available. In Poplar, Bethnal Green, and Stepney, for instance, Labour took positive steps on behalf of its working-class supporters, providing protection, jobs, and relief at a time of economic uncertainty. [17]

In a manifesto on "The Peace", adopted by the 1941 Labour Party Annual Conference, it was claimed that Labour's participation in the Wartime coalition Government had been effective in that, a year after Labour had joined the government, the war was now being fought not only with much greater efficiency, but with a higher regard for social equity as well:

Crosland himself was to be in the privileged position, as education secretary in Wilson's cabinet during 1965-67 to do something about it. Miner's silicosis was included within the provisions for workmen's compensation, [5] under the Workmen's Compensation (Silicosis) Act of 1924 while the London Traffic Act 1924, which provided for the regulation of London traffic, [5] regulated privately owned public transport; setting timetables and safety standards. [4]