Labour Party (UK)/Timelines

• 1834: The Tolpuddle martyrs[1] - 5 trade unionists are sentenced to 7 years transportation to Australia
• 1838: The People's Charter[2] We demand universal suffrage
• 1871: The Paris Commune[3] - Paris workers seize power and form the world's first socialist government
• 1881: Democratic Federation formed
• 1884: The Democratic Federation is renamed the Social Democratic Foundation

 Fabian Society formed[4] - a socialist pressure group that wanted to create a "society in accordance with the highest moral possibilities".

• 1891: The Condition of the Working Class in England by Frederick Engels - depicting overcrowded housing, abject poverty, child labour, sexual exploitation, dirt and drunkenness.
• 1892: Keir Hardie, a Scottish trade union leader, elected Member of Parliament as "Independent Labour"
• 1893: Independent Labour Party[5] formed by Keir Hardie "to secure the collective ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange.
• 1900: Labour Representation Committee[6] - brought socialist groups togethe for the purpose of increasing working class representation in Parliament.

  Keir Hardy elected as the first "Labour" Member of Parliament

• 1901: Taff Vale judgement[7] - upheld the right of a company to sue a trade union for the recovery of losses due to a strike
• 1906: The Labour Repesentation Committee renamed "The Labour Party"
• 1916: Sidney Webb joined the Labour Party Executive and helped to draft its constitution[8]
• 1924: 1st Labour Government[9]. Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
• 1929: 2nd Labour Government[10]. Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.

1931 Recession raises the budget deficit Macdonald's proposal unemployment benefit leads to a cabinet split.

• 1931: National Government (coalition). Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
• 1934: Stanley Baldwin (Conservative) replaced Ramsay MacDonald as Prime Minister
• 1935: Clement Attlee became leader of the Labour Party
• 1940: Wartime coalition. Neville Chamberlain (Conservative) Prime Minister
• 1941: Winston Churchill (Conservative) became Prime Minister and Clement Attlee became Deputy Prime Minister
• 1945: 1st and 2nd Attlee Governments[11]. Prime Minister Clement Atlee
• 1955 Hugh Gaitskell elected party leader
• 1964: 1st & 2nd Wilson Governments [12].
• 1976: Harold Wilson resigned[13], James Callaghan becoame Prime Minister
• 1980: Michael Foot elected party leader
• 1983: Neil Kinnock[14] - the passionate moderniser - replaced Michael Foot as party leader
• 1992: John Smith took over from Michael Foot[15]
• 1994: John Smith died[16]. Tony Blair elected party leader
• 1997: Labour Governments. Prime Minister Tony Blair - see Tony Blair timeline
• 2007: Tony Blair retired. Gordon Brown replaced Tony Blair as Prime Minister
• 2010: Conservative Government. Ed Milliband elected Labour party leader.