Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The research aimed to analyse the voting behaviour of MPs (especially Labour) in the House of Commons during the Labour Governments of 1924 and 1929-1931. Every division (vote) was examined to determine levels of dissent within the Labour, Conservative and Liberal parliamentary parties in the period, with the primary focus on the Labour party. The data enable comparison of the levels of Labour dissent in the 1924 and 1929-1931 Labour Governments with those of post-war Labour Governments.
Main Topics:
The dataset covers 199 divisions in the 1924 Parliament (excluding two divisions at the beginning of the Parliament when Stanley Baldwin attempted to form a minority Conservative administration), and 948 divisions from 1929 to 1931 (excluding the 57 divisions at the end of the Parliament when a National Government was formed from 24th August 1931 until 6th October 1931, division numbers 465-521). It records every dissenting vote cast by MPs from the three main political parties. The definition of intra-party dissent encompasses those occasions when one or more Labour, Conservative or Liberal Members votes against their own party whip or the apparently clear wishes (sometimes implicit) of their own front bench, a definition also used in SN:3929 <i>Dissension in the House of Commons, 1979-1992</i>, SN:4055 <i>Dissension in the House of Commons, 1992-1997</i> and SN:4056 <i>Free Votes in the House of Commons, 1979-1997</i>. As in these other datasets the analysis excludes votes on matters of private legislation, private members' bill (except when parties have issued instructions on how to vote), matters internal to the House of Commons, and other free votes.
No sampling (total universe)
Transcription of existing materials
Compilation or synthesis of existing material
