Andrew Bonar Law

The sixth volume in Greenwood's ongoing series, this book is the first of three fine volumes to cover the twentieth century and the last stages in decolonization of the British Empire. It is concerned with the original five Dominions, the apparently inappropriate association of the Irish Free State with those Dominions, and the similarly anomalous status of India, the first non-European dependency and the first republic to secure full membership in the Commonwealth and to make it a multiracial association. The book documents the evolution of, changes in, and rise and fall of that Commonwealth association; the shifts in the balance of powers within the Canadian and Australian federations; the fulfillment of union in South Africa and Ireland; the coherence emerging in New Zealand; the bankruptcy in Newfoundland; and the separation of India and Pakistan. Two forthcoming volumes will deal with the colonies, protectorates, and mandates in the twentieth century.

This guidebook provides a complete overview of the lives and influence of fifty major figures in modern British political history. Reflecting the changes within British society and politics over the past century, the entries chart the development of key contemporary issues such as women's rights, immigration and the emergence of New Labour. Figures covered include: * Winston Churchill * Tony Blair * Emmeline Pankhurst * David Lloyd George * Margaret Thatcher * John Maynard Keynes * Enoch Powell * Barbara Castle With cross-referenced entries and helpful suggestions for further reading, this book is an essential guide for all those with an interest in understanding the dominating issues of modern British politics.

Lord Hugh Cecil, commenting in 1912 on the British Conservative party's staying power, said that the party's success was largely a matter of temperament, "recruited from...the natural conservatism that is found in almost every human mind." The Conservatives regarded the parties of the left as faddists or federations of pressure groups. In this thorough analysis, Coetzee examines the condition of the Conservative party during the two decades preceding World War I--a transitional period for the party, marked by the foundation of an unprecedented number of conservative pressure groups. Cecil's comment, Coetzee argues, obscures the extent to which conservative pressure groups forced their party to adapt in Edwardian England. The British Navy League, the Tariff Reform League, the Anti-Socialist Union, and a host of other groups changed the face of British conservatism, though not without considerable internal party conflict. In addition to providing a complete account of the pressure groups' origins, organizations, successes, and failures, Coetzee ties their histories to the debates within the Conservative party itself, and to the local elections. In so doing, he demonstrates how the party of the right was ultimately able to convince the electorate that its views were more "national" and "patriotic" than those of the parties of the left.