"1906 and 1910 General Election Posters" [NMLH.1994.168.308]

Catalogue Number
NMLH.1994.168.308

Object Name
Poster

Title
Various posters from the 1906 and 1910 General Elections

Place
House Of Lords & Houses Of Parliament & London & England & UK

People
Lloyd George, David; Peers, House Of Lords.

Events
Election & General & 1910

Description
The Museum collects posters from all major British political parties. These posters date from the early years of the twentieth century:

The Budget League, The Glutton

The Budget League, If You Vote For The Tories You Vote For Taxing All These

The Budget League, The Tax Payer, The Tax Dodger, Tax The Loafer Not The Loaf,

The Budget League, The Worker's Budget, As The Tories Would Make It

The Budget League, Britannia If You Were Half A Man You'd Offer To Carry Some Of ...

The Truth About Bread Prices

The Policy Of Self-Help, From The Colonies To The Colonies

The Budget League, Our Old Nobility

The Budget League, "Fore!" Out Of The Way My Lord



The Liberals won an overwhelming election victory in 1906. Despite huge popular support, in 1909 the House of Lords blocked Lloyd George's 'People's Budget', which declared 'war on poverty', promising to tax the rich to improve conditions for the poor. To gain support for this budget, in 1910 the Liberals called another election. The ‘People’s Budget’ was passed in April 1910 by a Liberal coalition government formed following the January 1910 general election.   

The Budget League, The Glutton
The poster depicts ‘The House Of Lords’ and ‘The People’ as babies.  Despite having sufficient milk of their own, the Lords steal the milk from the smaller, somewhat under-nourished people. The Budget League was a pressure group aligned to the Liberal Party. 

The Budget League, Britannia If You Were Half A Man You'd Offer To Carry Some Of These Parcels
This Liberal Party poster dates from the 1910 general election. It was part of the successful campaign for that election. It shows an untrustworthy peer refusing to help Britannia, who is overburdened with packages representing public works including education and pensions.

The Policy of Self help, From the Colonies to the Colonies poster
In this poster the Tories’ tariff reform policy of this period (around 1910) is set out graphically. Britannia is seen in front of a brilliant sun with Britain drawing in raw materials from its Empire and exporting manufactured goods to pay colonial producers. High tariffs or taxes are charged to foreign countries, deterring them from trading with the British Empire.

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