The turbulent times of Britain’s first Labour government

This year’s J.H. Whitley Lecture will be delivered by former MP Michael Meadowcroft on Thursday 26 October at 7pm, with light refreshments from 5.45pm

ONE of the most influential Liberal politicians of recent decades will reappraise the history of Britain’s first Labour government when he delivers a free public lecture at the University of Huddersfield.

It is usually thought that when Ramsay MacDonald became the first Labour PM in 1924, his goal was to ensure that his movement superseded the Liberals once and for all.  But the truth is more complex, according to Michael Meadowcroft, who will deliver the annual J.H. Whitley Lecture on Thursday 26 October (7pm). 

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Whitley was the Halifax-born Liberal MP who became Speaker of the House of Commons in 1921, meaning he presided over Parliament when Labour came to power – as a minority administration – in 1924.  It held office for just ten months.

Mr Meadowcroft states that: “All the current histories focus on Ramsay MacDonald’s desire to achieve the complete replacement of the hegemony of the historic Liberal Party by his Labour movement.  This is far too blunt a reading of the politics of the first Labour government.  A much more nuanced analysis of the period demonstrates the failures of the Chief Whips of both parties and the inevitable consequences for MacDonald and his colleagues”.

The author of several books on Liberalism, politics and local government, Mr Meadowcroft was MP for Leeds West between 1983 and 1987.  He is also a public affairs consultant and has served on a wide range of public bodies and committees, undertaking more than 50 UN missions to emerging democracies.

The J.H. Whitley Lecture has been a fixture at the University of Huddersfield since 2012, when the former Speaker’s archive was deposited at the University of Huddersfield.  Past lecturers have in included current Commons Speaker John Bercow.  The 2017 Lecture takes place in the University of Huddersfield’s Oastler Building.  Attendance is free, but places can be registered online.

The lecture will be preceded by the launch of three publications relating to J.H. Whitley.  They include Liberal Reform and Industrial Relations: The Life and Times of J.H. Whitley, whose editors include the University of Huddersfield’s Professor Keith Laybourn and Dr John Hargreaves.  Also launched is a special issue of the academic journal Labor History dealing with 100 years of Whitleyism: a century of public service industrial relations in Europe and the US, plus The Making of the Good Employer? A History of Industrial Relations in UK Local Government, by Whyeda Gill-Mclure.

There will be a light buffet available at 5.45pm.