CENTENARY OF PARLIAMENTARY LABOUR PARTY 1906 -2006
One hundred years ago in 1906, 29 members of Parliament, nominated by the Labour Representation Committee took their seats for the first time as the Parliamentary Labour Party. They were all from working class backgrounds and 23 of the 29 came from trade union backgrounds. They were a group of moderate thinking men who wanted to radically change our society.
The Tories were horrified at such a suggestion and Hugh Cecil said Parliament had been “degraded”. The outgoing Conservative and Unionist Prime Minister, Arthur Barlow said “We are face to face with the socialistic difficulties which loom on the continent”.
The Chair of the first Parliamentary Labour Party, James Keir Hardie, spoke for, voted for and delivered the agenda of the first manifesto – from universal suffrage, free health care, devolution and national insurance to the national minimum wage, the Taff Vale judgement to strengthening the legal rights of trade unions in the Trade Disputes Act 1906. Labour was also successful that year in securing the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906 and the Education (Provision of Meals) Act 1906. This made a real difference to working class families and was a sign of things to come.
The first Labour manifesto quoted “The House of Commons is supposed to be the people’s House, and yet the people are not there. Why not Labour?” He led for 2 years and was succeeded by Arthur Henderson – a popular trade unionist, who later became Labour’s first Cabinet Minister. The MPs elected in 1906 included the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Snowden.
1924 gave us our first Labour Government with Ramsay MacDonald as Prime Minister. When he kissed the hand of George the V on January 22nd 1924 as the first labour Prime Minister the King wrote of him in his diary “I had an hour talk with him he impressed me very much, he wishes to do the right thing - today 23 years ago dear grandmama died (Queen Victoria) I wonder what she would have thought of the labour government”.
In the Chamber of the House of Commons on Wednesday 8 February all Labour MPs gathered for a centenary photo, this was followed by a rendition of the “RED FLAG”. The first time this has been sung in the Chamber since Clement Attlee’s 1945 victory.
100 years on and the Labour Party are still committed to the ideals of social justice. The centenary gives us a great opportunity to celebrate our past achievements and as a movement we need to move forward to face the challenges in our materialistic society.
