The National Democratic and Labour Party, usually abbreviated to National Democratic Party (NDP), was a short-lived political party in the United Kingdom. Its predecessors were the British Workers' National League, and the Socialist National Defence Committee.

History

The party's origins lay in a split by the right wing of the British Socialist Party, primarily over issues raised by the First World War. In 1915, Victor Fisher formed the Socialist National Defence Committee[1] along with Alexander M. Thompson and Robert Blatchford. They supported "the eternal idea of nationality" and aimed to promote "socialist measures in the war effort".[2] The Committee was supported by John Hodge, George Henry Roberts, and for a time by Henry Hyndman who subsequently formed his own party, the National Socialist Party.

In 1916, this committee formed the British Workers League. It described itself as a "patriotic labour" group, and focused on support for the war and the British Empire and opposition to Little Englander and Cobdenite laissez-faire economics.[3] The League was subsidised by Waldorf Astor[4] through Lord Milner,[5] who consulted with Fisher during the war.[6] The League was supported by Labour MPs such as James O'Grady, Stephen Walsh and William Abraham.[7]

The League sought to challenge pacificist Parliamentary candidates; this caused a rupture with the Labour Party. Eleven out of thirty-eight of the Labour Parliamentary MPs showed support for the British Workers League; however, many later returned to the Labour Party.[8]

The British Workers League reconstituted itself in 1918 as the National Democratic and Labour Party, with the support of George Barnes, MP for Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown, when he resigned from the Labour Party (Barnes, however, never stood for election under the NDP banner, and was re-elected in 1918 as a Coalition Labour MP). The NDP policy was described as follows, 'Support of the Coalition Government and the war effort. Broadly socialist in outlook and claimed to represent "the patriotic working class." It was bitterly opposed to the pacifist elements within the Labour Party.'[9] The group gained the support of the Musicians' Union and parts of other unions, including some sections of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. It was primarily funded by Lloyd George Coalition Liberals.[citation needed]

At its high water mark, the party fielded twenty-eight candidates in the 1918 general election—twenty of them on the Coalition Coupon—and won ten seats.[8][10][11] After the election, Clement Edwards was elected chairman of the NDP in parliament.[12]

The National Democratic and Labour's remaining MPs joined the National Liberal Party and stood under that label in the 1922 general election. The National Democratic and Labour Party was wound up in 1923, but a grouping continued as the Empire Citizens' League[10] from 1925 until the late 1920s. Its journal was renamed the Empire Citizen, which ceased publication in September 1927.[13] Victor Fisher stood, unsuccessfully, for the Conservative Party.[14]

Election results

1918 UK general election

Constituency Candidate Votes Percentage Position[15]
Aberdare Charles Stanton 22,824 78.6 1
Accrington William Hammond 738 2.5 4
Birmingham Duddeston Eldred Hallas 8,796 79.4 1
Bradford East Charles Edgar Loseby 9,390 41.1 1
Broxtowe H. H. Whaite 4,374 21.6 3
Consett Robert Gee 7,283 32.9 2
Derby Harold M. Smith 13,012 19.6 4
Don Valley James Walton 6,095 46.2 1
Dumbarton Burghs John Taylor 11,734 52.6 1
East Ham South Clement Edwards 7,972 42.8 1
Edinburgh East Alexander E. Balfour 5,136 37.8 2
Hamilton David Gilmour 4,297 25.9 3
Stoke-on-Trent Hanley James Seddon 8,032 40.4 1
Houghton-le-Spring John Lindsley 6,185 30.7 3
Leicester West Joseph Frederick Green 20,150 76.0 1
Mansfield George Jarrett 6,678 32.6 2
Nuneaton William Henry Dyson 1,101 4.5 4
Paisley John Taylor 7,201 32.5 3
Rochdale John Joseph Terrett 2,358 7.8 4
Rotherham Edmund Smith Bardsley 564 2.2 4
Rother Valley Ernest George Bearcroft 4,894 27.2 2
Stourbridge Victor Fisher 6,690 28.8 3
Tottenham South Albert Ernest Harvey 1,916 12.3 3
Wallsend Matt Simm 10,246 50.9 1
Wolverhampton East James A. Shaw 7,138 48.2 2
Walthamstow West Charles Jesson 7,330 51.6 1

Some prominent members such as George Barnes were elected as Coalition Labour. Taylor ran as a joint NDP-Liberal candidate, and sat as a Coalition Liberal MP after election.

By-elections, 1918-1922

Election Candidate Votes Percentage Position[15]
1919 Chester-le-Street by-election David Gilmour 5,313 22.9 2
1920 Louth by-election Christopher Hatton Turnor 7,354 42.7 2

Turnour ran as a joint NDP-Conservative candidate.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Martin Crick, The History of the Social-Democratic Federation (Keele University Press, 1994) p. 271.
  2. ^ John Callaghan, Socialism in Britain (1990), p. 74.
  3. ^ Martin Pugh, Speak for Britain! A New History of the Labour Party (The Bodley Head, 2010), p. 115.
  4. ^ Lockwood, P.A.: The Historical Journal, "Milner's Entry into the War Cabinet, December 1916", pg. 123
  5. ^ Peter Barberis, John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley entry on British Workers League Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005), p. 274.
  6. ^ J. Lee Thompson, Forgotten Patriot: A Life of Alfred, Viscount Milner of St. James's and Cape Town (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press), p. 320.
  7. ^ Pugh, p. 115.
  8. ^ a b Pugh, p. 116.
  9. ^ Marlowe, John, Milner, Apostle of Empire, pg. 373
  10. ^ a b Barberis, McHugh and Tyldesley, p. 274.
  11. ^ Marlowe, pg. 373
  12. ^ Roy, Douglas: The Historical Journal, "The National Democratic Party and the British Workers' League", pg. 543
  13. ^ Marlowe, pg. 374
  14. ^ Crick, p. 304.
  15. ^ a b Craig, F. W. S. (1975). Minor Parties in British By-elections, 1885-1974. London: Macmillan Press. pp. 53–54.

References

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