Labour_Party_(UK)

qas: question: Who runs the Welsh Assembly?
answers: text: Carwyn Jones

question: What is the largest opposition party in the Scottish Parliament?
answers: text: The Labour Party

question: How many MEPs does it have in the British Parliament?
answers: text: twenty

question: What year was Jeremy Corbyn elected?
answers: text: 2015

question: What runs a majority government in the Welsh Assembly?

question: What is the smallest opposition party in the Scottish Parliament?

question: Where does the Labour Party not organize?

question: Who was leader of the Labour Party before 2015?

question: Where does the Labour Party have fourty MEPs?
context: Labour runs a minority government in the Welsh Assembly under Carwyn Jones, is the largest opposition party in the Scottish Parliament and has twenty MEPs in the European Parliament, sitting in the Socialists and Democrats Group. The party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a full member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance, and holds observer status in the Socialist International. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party.

qas: question: About when did the Labour Parry start?
answers: text: late 19th century

question: when was george odger elected?
answers: text: 1870

question: When did it become obvious that the rural proletariat needed a new political party?

question: What demographic had decreased in number?

question: What years was the voting franchise shrunk?

question: Who was the last Lib-Lab candidate to stand?

question: What socialist group did not form around this time?
context: The Labour Party's origins lie in the late 19th century, when it became apparent that there was a need for a new political party to represent the interests and needs of the urban proletariat, a demographic which had increased in number and had recently been given franchise. Some members of the trades union movement became interested in moving into the political field, and after further extensions of the voting franchise in 1867 and 1885, the Liberal Party endorsed some trade-union sponsored candidates. The first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, with the intention of linking the movement to political policies. Among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party.

qas: question: What year did Thomas R. Steels propose the single body union branch?
answers: text: 1899

question: Where was Thomas R. Steels a member?
answers: text: Doncaster

question: WHere was the proposed conference held?
answers: text: Memorial Hall

question: Who proposed a special conference to bring all right-wing organisations together?

question: What group did not pass the motion?

question: Where was the conference help before 1900?

question: What was attended by only a narrow spectrum of organizations?

question: What represented two thirds of the TUC delegates?
context: In 1899, a Doncaster member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, Thomas R. Steels, proposed in his union branch that the Trade Union Congress call a special conference to bring together all left-wing organisations and form them into a single body that would sponsor Parliamentary candidates. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, and the proposed conference was held at the Memorial Hall on Farringdon Street on 26 and 27 February 1900. The meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations — trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates.

qas: question: How many delegates passed the motion?
answers: text: 129

question: Who was elected Secretary?
answers: text: Ramsay MacDonald

question: How many candidates were sponsored in the 1900 electrion?
answers: text: 15

question: What did the 129 delegates do before a debate?

question: What association was meant to disorganize attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions?

question: What organization had a single leader?

question: Who was an unsuccessful candidate?

question: What was an easy task for Ramsay MacDonald?
context: After a debate, the 129 delegates passed Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour." This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and represent the working-class population. It had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the difficult task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 "Khaki election" came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively; total expenses for the election only came to £33. Only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful; Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby.

qas: question: What boosted support in 1901?
answers: text: Taff Vale Case

question: What was the Taft Vale Case?
answers: text: a dispute between strikers and a railway company

question: From this case, what happened?
answers: text: made strikes illegal

question: How much were they ordered to pay in damages for the strike?
answers: text: £23,000

question: What hurt support for the LRC?

question: How much did the railway company have to pay the union?

question: What made strikes effectively legal?

question: What appeared to be very concerned with the industrial proletariat?

question: What refused to listen to industrial and business interests?
context: Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, a dispute between strikers and a railway company that ended with the union being ordered to pay £23,000 damages for a strike. The judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. The apparent acquiescence of the Conservative Government of Arthur Balfour to industrial and business interests (traditionally the allies of the Liberal Party in opposition to the Conservative's landed interests) intensified support for the LRC against a government that appeared to have little concern for the industrial proletariat and its problems.

qas: question: Who overturned the Taft Vale judgement?
answers: text: Liberal Government

question: Who was elected Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party?
answers: text: Keir Hardie

question: How many votes did Keir Hardie win by?
answers: text: one vote

question: Who was Keir Hardie's opponent?
answers: text: David Shackleton

question: What name did the group adopt during their last meeting?

question: What name did the group adopt before 1906?

question: Who had not helped the party to become established?

question: What provided the party's activist base in the party's later years?

question: What was one of the last acts of the new Liberal Government?
context: In their first meeting after the election the group's Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name "The Labour Party" formally (15 February 1906). Keir Hardie, who had taken a leading role in getting the party established, was elected as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (in effect, the Leader), although only by one vote over David Shackleton after several ballots. In the party's early years the Independent Labour Party (ILP) provided much of its activist base as the party did not have individual membership until 1918 but operated as a conglomerate of affiliated bodies. The Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement.

qas: question: How many MP were elected in the 1910 election?
answers: text: 42

question: Who passed the Osborne judgment?
answers: text: Trade Disputes Act

question: When was the Trade Disputes Act passed?
answers: text: 1913

question: What year saw 42 Labour MPs face defeat?

question: What did the House of Lords pass a year after the election?

question: Who could no longer fund the wages of Liberal MPs?

question: What was the nadir of Liberal compromise?

question: When did the Labour government pass the Trades Disputes Act?
context: The 1910 election saw 42 Labour MPs elected to the House of Commons, a significant victory since, a year before the election, the House of Lords had passed the Osborne judgment ruling that Trades Unions in the United Kingdom could no longer donate money to fund the election campaigns and wages of Labour MPs. The governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation. The height of Liberal compromise was to introduce a wage for Members of Parliament to remove the need to involve the Trade Unions. By 1913, faced with the opposition of the largest Trades Unions, the Liberal government passed the Trade Disputes Act to allow Trade Unions to fund Labour MPs once more.

qas: question: WHen was the COmmunist party refused affiliation?
answers: text: between 1921 and 1923

question: HOw many seats id Labour win in 1922?
answers: text: 142

question: Who was voted the first leader of the Labour Party?
answers: text: Ramsay MacDonald

question: When did the Communist Party refuse affiliation to the Labour Party?

question: What allowed the Liberals to gain much of Labour's support?

question: How many seats did the Liberals win in 1922?

question: What was the third largest group in the House of Commons?

question: Who was voted the last official leader of the Labour Party?
context: The Communist Party of Great Britain was refused affiliation to the Labour Party between 1921 and 1923. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party declined rapidly, and the party also suffered a catastrophic split which allowed the Labour Party to gain much of the Liberals' support. With the Liberals thus in disarray, Labour won 142 seats in 1922, making it the second largest political group in the House of Commons and the official opposition to the Conservative government. After the election the now-rehabilitated Ramsay MacDonald was voted the first official leader of the Labour Party.

qas: question: In what year did Ramsay MacDonald become the Labour PM?
answers: text: 1924

question: How many MP did they get in the election in 1924?
answers: text: 191

question: Who was the last Labour Prime Minister?

question: What party had more than a third of the House of Commons?

question: When did the first Conservative Prime Minister serve?

question: Who won a majority in Parliament?

question: Who got the least votes?
context: The 1923 general election was fought on the Conservatives' protectionist proposals but, although they got the most votes and remained the largest party, they lost their majority in parliament, necessitating the formation of a government supporting free trade. Thus, with the acquiescence of Asquith's Liberals, Ramsay MacDonald became the first ever Labour Prime Minister in January 1924, forming the first Labour government, despite Labour only having 191 MPs (less than a third of the House of Commons).

qas: question: When was the Zinoviev letter published?
answers: text: 1924

question: After how long did the government collapse?
answers: text: nine months

question: What was rebuilt after only nine months?

question: What did the Conservatives vote for?

question: What letter was published just before the 1920 election?

question: Who was talking about a Communist revolution in America?

question: What had a big impact on the Labour vote?
context: The government collapsed after only nine months when the Liberals voted for a Select Committee inquiry into the Campbell Case, a vote which MacDonald had declared to be a vote of confidence. The ensuing 1924 general election saw the publication, four days before polling day, of the Zinoviev letter, in which Moscow talked about a Communist revolution in Britain. The letter had little impact on the Labour vote—which held up. It was the collapse of the Liberal party that led to the Conservative landslide. The Conservatives were returned to power although Labour increased its vote from 30.7% to a third of the popular vote, most Conservative gains being at the expense of the Liberals. However many Labourites for years blamed their defeat on foul play (the Zinoviev Letter), thereby according to A. J. P. Taylor misunderstanding the political forces at work and delaying needed reforms in the party.

qas: question: When did MacDonald submit the resignation of his ministers?
answers: text: 1931

question: What caused MacDonald to form a separate party?
answers: text: he and his supporters were promptly expelled

question: Who won the 1931 election?
answers: text: National Government

question: What happened when the economic situation got better?

question: Who refused to form a National Government?

question: How did people in the Conservative Party feel about MacDonald's actions?

question: Who was expelled from the National Labour Organisation?

question: What election was an overwhelming victory for the Labour Party?
context: As the economic situation worsened MacDonald agreed to form a "National Government" with the Conservatives and the Liberals. On 24 August 1931 MacDonald submitted the resignation of his ministers and led a small number of his senior colleagues in forming the National Government together with the other parties. This caused great anger among those within the Labour Party who felt betrayed by MacDonald's actions: he and his supporters were promptly expelled from the Labour Party and formed a separate National Labour Organisation. The remaining Labour Party MPs (led again by Arthur Henderson) and a few Liberals went into opposition. The ensuing 1931 general election resulted in overwhelming victory for the National Government and disaster for the Labour Party which won only 52 seats, 225 fewer than in 1929.

qas: question: In what year was the Scottish and Welsh devolution rejected?
answers: text: 1979

question: How many votes did the vote of confidence lose by in 1979?
answers: text: a single vote

question: When was Welsh devolution approved of?

question: What referendum reached the threshold of 40% support?

question: Who pushed ahead with setting up a Scottish Assembly?

question: What party withdrew its support for the SNP?

question: How much did Callaghan's government win a vote of confidence by?
context: The nationalist parties, in turn, demanded devolution to their respective constituent countries in return for their supporting the government. When referendums for Scottish and Welsh devolution were held in March 1979 Welsh devolution was rejected outright while the Scottish referendum returned a narrow majority in favour without reaching the required threshold of 40% support. When the Labour government duly refused to push ahead with setting up the proposed Scottish Assembly, the SNP withdrew its support for the government: this finally brought the government down as it triggered a vote of confidence in Callaghan's government that was lost by a single vote on 28 March 1979, necessitating a general election.

qas: question: In what year was Labour shown to have a slight lead?
answers: text: 1978

question: Who were some of the people striking in 1978-1979?
answers: text: lorry drivers

question: Why were they striking?
answers: text: higher pay

question: What was this strike called?
answers: text: Winter of Discontent

question: Who did no one expect to call for a general election?

question: When did the widespread strikes end?

question: Why were farmers striking?

question: What was called the "summer of discontent"?

question: What group of people never went on strike?
context: Callaghan had been widely expected to call a general election in the autumn of 1978 when most opinion polls showed Labour to have a narrow lead. However he decided to extend his wage restraint policy for another year hoping that the economy would be in a better shape for a 1979 election. But during the winter of 1978–79 there were widespread strikes among lorry drivers, railway workers, car workers and local government and hospital workers in favour of higher pay-rises that caused significant disruption to everyday life. These events came to be dubbed the "Winter of Discontent".

qas: question: When was the Labout party defeated?
answers: text: 1979

question: What year was Michael Foot elected as leader?
answers: text: 1980

question: What did four members of the Labour Party leave to creat?
answers: text: Social Democratic Party

question: Why was the electoral college introduced?
answers: text: widen the voting franchise

question: What did the Labour Party do after it won in 1979?

question: Who lost the election in 1980?

question: What policy did Michael Foot oppose?

question: Who was easily defeated by Healey?

question: What did the National Executive Committee conclude before 1982?
context: After its defeat in the 1979 general election the Labour Party underwent a period of internal rivalry between the left represented by Tony Benn, and the right represented by Denis Healey. The election of Michael Foot as leader in 1980, and the leftist policies he espoused, such as unilateral nuclear disarmament, leaving the European Economic Community (EEC) and NATO, closer governmental influence in the banking system, the creation of a national minimum wage and a ban on fox hunting led in 1981 to four former cabinet ministers from the right of the Labour Party (Shirley Williams, William Rodgers, Roy Jenkins and David Owen) forming the Social Democratic Party. Benn was only narrowly defeated by Healey in a bitterly fought deputy leadership election in 1981 after the introduction of an electoral college intended to widen the voting franchise to elect the leader and their deputy. By 1982, the National Executive Committee had concluded that the entryist Militant tendency group were in contravention of the party's constitution. The Militant newspaper's five member editorial board were expelled on 22 February 1983.

qas: question: Who was Foot replaced by?
answers: text: Neil Kinnock

question: Who was Neil Knnocks deputy?
answers: text: Roy Hattersley

question: What years were the miners strike?
answers: text: 1984–85

question: What was the name of the miner's leader that was blamed for the strike?
answers: text: Arthur Scargill

question: Who was replaced as a leader by Foot?

question: Who was Foot's deputy?

question: When was the lorry driver's strike?

question: Who was blamed for the lorry driver's strike?

question: What did tabloid vilification of the right do?
context: Foot resigned and was replaced as leader by Neil Kinnock, with Roy Hattersley as his deputy. The new leadership progressively dropped unpopular policies. The miners strike of 1984–85 over coal mine closures, for which miners' leader Arthur Scargill was blamed, and the Wapping dispute led to clashes with the left of the party, and negative coverage in most of the press. Tabloid vilification of the so-called loony left continued to taint the parliamentary party by association from the activities of 'extra-parliamentary' militants in local government.

qas: question: How many seats did Labour win in 2010?
answers: text: 258

question: How many seats did the Conservatives win?
answers: text: 307

question: WHen did Brown announce his intention to stand down?
answers: text: 10 May 2010
context: In the 2010 general election on 6 May that year, Labour with 29.0% of the vote won the second largest number of seats (258). The Conservatives with 36.5% of the vote won the largest number of seats (307), but no party had an overall majority, meaning that Labour could still remain in power if they managed to form a coalition with at least one smaller party. However, the Labour Party would have had to form a coalition with more than one other smaller party to gain an overall majority; anything less would result in a minority government. On 10 May 2010, after talks to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats broke down, Brown announced his intention to stand down as Leader before the Labour Party Conference but a day later resigned as both Prime Minister and party leader.

qas: question: How much in contributions did the Labour party get from January to Marrch 2008?
answers: text: £3 million

question: How far was the party in debt for the same time period?
answers: text: £17 million

question: How far was the Conservative party in debt?
answers: text: £12 million

question: What was not a major problem for the Labour Party during this period?

question: Why did party membership increase?

question: When did the Labour Party receive 6 million in donations?

question: When was the Conservative party 17 million in debt?

question: Who increased the influence of activists?
context: Finance proved a major problem for the Labour Party during this period; a "cash for peerages" scandal under Blair resulted in the drying up of many major sources of donations. Declining party membership, partially due to the reduction of activists' influence upon policy-making under the reforms of Neil Kinnock and Blair, also contributed to financial problems. Between January and March 2008, the Labour Party received just over £3 million in donations and were £17 million in debt; compared to the Conservatives' £6 million in donations and £12 million in debt.

qas: question: How many more seats did LAbour get in 1987?
answers: text: 20

question: What was the merger of SDP and the Liberals called?
answers: text: Liberal Democrats

question: Who did the NEC expel 
answers: text: activists and the two MPs who supported the group.

question: When did Labour worsen its performance?

question: What party lost 20 seats in 1987?

question: How much was the Labour majority reduced by?

question: What did the National Executive Committee do before 1987?

question: How many activists did the Conservative Party expel?
context: Labour improved its performance in 1987, gaining 20 seats and so reducing the Conservative majority from 143 to 102. They were now firmly re-established as the second political party in Britain as the Alliance had once again failed to make a breakthrough with seats. A merger of the SDP and Liberals formed the Liberal Democrats. Following the 1987 election, the National Executive Committee resumed disciplinary action against members of Militant, who remained in the party, leading to further expulsions of their activists and the two MPs who supported the group.

qas: question: What year did Kinnock call for a general election?
answers: text: 1991

question: What was Kinnocks party theme?
answers: text: "It's Time for a Change"

question: What was the original Tory lead percentage?
answers: text: 14

question: What did the percentage fall to?
answers: text: 8%

question: When was any Conservative lead in the polls sufficient for a majority?

question: Who followed Kinnock's calls for a general election?

question: What was Major's party theme?

question: How long had Labour ruled unbroken?

question: When did the Conservatives have a 14-point lead?
context: The "yo yo" in the opinion polls continued into 1992, though after November 1990 any Labour lead in the polls was rarely sufficient for a majority. Major resisted Kinnock's calls for a general election throughout 1991. Kinnock campaigned on the theme "It's Time for a Change", urging voters to elect a new government after more than a decade of unbroken Conservative rule. However, the Conservatives themselves had undergone a dramatic change in the change of leader from Thatcher to Major, at least in terms of style if not substance. From the outset, it was clearly a well-received change, as Labour's 14-point lead in the November 1990 "Poll of Polls" was replaced by an 8% Tory lead a month later.

qas: question: Who replaced Kinnock?
answers: text: John Smith

question: When did Smith change the party's rules?
answers: text: 1993

question: What does OMOV stand for?
answers: text: one member, one vote

question: Who replaced John Smith as leader?

question: Whose leadership eased tensions within the party?

question: When did Smith fail to change the party rules?

question: What did John Prescott successfully change?

question: What increased the influence of trade unions?
context: Kinnock then resigned as leader and was replaced by John Smith. Smith's leadership once again saw the re-emergence of tension between those on the party's left and those identified as "modernisers", both of whom advocated radical revisions of the party's stance albeit in different ways. At the 1993 conference, Smith successfully changed the party rules and lessened the influence of the trade unions on the selection of candidates to stand for Parliament by introducing a one member, one vote system called "OMOV" — but only barely, after a barnstorming speech by John Prescott which required Smith to compromise on other individual negotiations.

qas: question: WHen was Black Wednesday?
answers: text: September 1992

question: What was Black Wednesday?
answers: text: economic disaster

question: When was the recession declared over?
answers: text: April 1993

question: When did Smith die?
answers: text: May 1994

question: What did Smith die of?
answers: text: a heart attack

question: When was the Black Friday disaster?

question: What repaired the Conservative government's reputation?

question: By when did the Tories have a comfortable lead over Labour?

question: When did the recession start?

question: What year was Smith born?
context: The Black Wednesday economic disaster in September 1992 left the Conservative government's reputation for monetary excellence in tatters, and by the end of that year Labour had a comfortable lead over the Tories in the opinion polls. Although the recession was declared over in April 1993 and a period of strong and sustained economic growth followed, coupled with a relatively swift fall in unemployment, the Labour lead in the opinion polls remained strong. However, Smith died from a heart attack in May 1994.

qas: question: What was the other name for the Labout Party?
answers: text: "New Labour"

question: When was this branding first used?
answers: text: 1994

question: When did Labour publish a new draft manifesto?
answers: text: 1996

question: What was this manifesto called?
answers: text: New Labour, New Life For Britain

question: What was an alternate branding for the Conservative Party?

question: When was the term New Labour last used?

question: Who ended the New Labour trend?

question: What publication was the term New Labour never used?

question: What status does the name "old Labour" have?
context: "New Labour" was first termed as an alternative branding for the Labour Party, dating from a conference slogan first used by the Labour Party in 1994, which was later seen in a draft manifesto published by the party in 1996, called New Labour, New Life For Britain. It was a continuation of the trend that had begun under the leadership of Neil Kinnock. "New Labour" as a name has no official status, but remains in common use to distinguish modernisers from those holding to more traditional positions, normally referred to as "Old Labour".

qas: question: Who did Tony Blair side with?
answers: text: President George W. Bush

question: Why did Blair side with Bush?
answers: text: the Iraq War

question: Who has an active Iraq War inquiry?
answers: text: Sir John Chilcot

question: Was the idea of the Iraq War popular or unpopular in Western countries?
answers: text: deeply unpopular

question: Who did Blair ally with during the war in Afghanistan?

question: What caused Blair to win political support?

question: Who considered the war to be legal?

question: What war was popular in most western countries?

question: What is the subject of Blair's Iraq Inquiry?
context: A perceived turning point was when Blair controversially allied himself with US President George W. Bush in supporting the Iraq War, which caused him to lose much of his political support. The UN Secretary-General, among many, considered the war illegal. The Iraq War was deeply unpopular in most western countries, with Western governments divided in their support and under pressure from worldwide popular protests. The decisions that led up to the Iraq war and its subsequent conduct are currently the subject of Sir John Chilcot's Iraq Inquiry.

qas: question: When did Blair announce he was quitting?
answers: text: September 2006

question: When were the next elections?
answers: text: May 2007

question: Who did Labour lose power in the election to?
answers: text: Scottish National Party

question: Who was Blair replaced by?
answers: text: his Chancellor, Gordon Brown

question: What was the party membership at the end of 2009?
answers: text: 156,205

question: When was Blair not under pressure to quit?

question: What event did people want Blair to be in power during?

question: Where did the party gain power?

question: Who replaced Gordon Brown?

question: What did Labour win in May 2008?
context: Blair announced in September 2006 that he would quit as leader within the year, though he had been under pressure to quit earlier than May 2007 in order to get a new leader in place before the May elections which were expected to be disastrous for Labour. In the event, the party did lose power in Scotland to a minority Scottish National Party government at the 2007 elections and, shortly after this, Blair resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced by his Chancellor, Gordon Brown. Although the party experienced a brief rise in the polls after this, its popularity soon slumped to its lowest level since the days of Michael Foot. During May 2008, Labour suffered heavy defeats in the London mayoral election, local elections and the loss in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, culminating in the party registering its worst ever opinion poll result since records began in 1943, of 23%, with many citing Brown's leadership as a key factor. Membership of the party also reached a low ebb, falling to 156,205 by the end of 2009: over 40 per cent of the 405,000 peak reached in 1997 and thought to be the lowest total since the party was founded.

qas: question: Whose government was the least radical of the 20th century?

question: Who privatized major industries?

question: When was the British NHS destroyed?

question: Under what health minister was the NHS dismantled?

question: When did the British take control of Indian and Pakistan?
context: Clement Attlee's proved one of the most radical British governments of the 20th century, enacting Keynesian economic policies, presiding over a policy of nationalising major industries and utilities including the Bank of England, coal mining, the steel industry, electricity, gas, and inland transport (including railways, road haulage and canals). It developed and implemented the "cradle to grave" welfare state conceived by the economist William Beveridge. To this day, the party considers the 1948 creation of Britain's publicly funded National Health Service (NHS) under health minister Aneurin Bevan its proudest achievement. Attlee's government also began the process of dismantling the British Empire when it granted independence to India and Pakistan in 1947, followed by Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) the following year. At a secret meeting in January 1947, Attlee and six cabinet ministers, including Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, decided to proceed with the development of Britain's nuclear weapons programme, in opposition to the pacifist and anti-nuclear stances of a large element inside the Labour Party.

qas: question: In what year did Labour lose the general election?

question: What was a uniting issue in the party?

question: When did defense spending reach its lowest point in Britain?

question: Who made dentures and spectacles free of charge?

question: What was not a principle the NHS was based on?
context: Labour went on to win the 1950 general election, but with a much reduced majority of five seats. Soon afterwards, defence became a divisive issue within the party, especially defence spending (which reached a peak of 14% of GDP in 1951 during the Korean War), straining public finances and forcing savings elsewhere. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Gaitskell, introduced charges for NHS dentures and spectacles, causing Bevan, along with Harold Wilson (then President of the Board of Trade), to resign over the dilution of the principle of free treatment on which the NHS had been established.

qas: question: When was abortion criminalized in Britain? 

question: When was the death penalty introduced in Britain? 

question: What was abolished in 1970?

question: What stopped a currency crisis?

question: What year did Labour win a general election?
context: Wilson's government was responsible for a number of sweeping social and educational reforms under the leadership of Home Secretary Roy Jenkins such as the abolishment of the death penalty in 1964, the legalisation of abortion and homosexuality (initially only for men aged 21 or over, and only in England and Wales) in 1967 and the abolition of theatre censorship in 1968. Comprehensive education was expanded and the Open University created. However Wilson's government had inherited a large trade deficit that led to a currency crisis and ultimately a doomed attempt to stave off devaluation of the pound. Labour went on to lose the 1970 general election to the Conservatives under Edward Heath.

qas: question: What did Labour do after winning the 1970 general election?

question: Who won the 1970 general election?

question: What was an easy era to be in government?

question: What group of people supported the Conservatives? 

question: Why were the Conservatives able to form a government alone?
context: After losing the 1970 general election, Labour returned to opposition, but retained Harold Wilson as Leader. Heath's government soon ran into trouble over Northern Ireland and a dispute with miners in 1973 which led to the "three-day week". The 1970s proved a difficult time to be in government for both the Conservatives and Labour due to the 1973 oil crisis which caused high inflation and a global recession. The Labour Party was returned to power again under Wilson a few weeks after the February 1974 general election, forming a minority government with the support of the Ulster Unionists. The Conservatives were unable to form a government alone as they had fewer seats despite receiving more votes numerically. It was the first general election since 1924 in which both main parties had received less than 40% of the popular vote and the first of six successive general elections in which Labour failed to reach 40% of the popular vote. In a bid to gain a majority, a second election was soon called for October 1974 in which Labour, still with Harold Wilson as leader, won a majority of three, gaining just 18 seats taking its total to 319.

qas: question: What led to the promotion of a report from the Scottish Office?

question: What left Callaghan leading a majority government?

question: Why did Callaghan trade with the larger parties?

question: What arrangement lasted longer than one year?

question: What shortened the life of the government?
context: Fear of advances by the nationalist parties, particularly in Scotland, led to the suppression of a report from Scottish Office economist Gavin McCrone that suggested that an independent Scotland would be 'chronically in surplus'. By 1977 by-election losses and defections to the breakaway Scottish Labour Party left Callaghan heading a minority government, forced to trade with smaller parties in order to govern. An arrangement negotiated in 1977 with Liberal leader David Steel, known as the Lib-Lab Pact, ended after one year. Deals were then forged with various small parties including the Scottish National Party and the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru, prolonging the life of the government.

qas: question: When did Ed Miliband resign?

question: Who won power after Ed Miliband?

question: What did Harriet Harman emphasize? 

question: What did Miliband want to change the balance of the UK economy towards?

question: What did Miliband want to regulate less?
context: Harriet Harman became the Leader of the Opposition and acting Leader of the Labour Party following the resignation of Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010, pending a leadership election subsequently won by Ed Miliband. Miliband emphasised "responsible capitalism" and greater state intervention to change the balance of the UK economy away from financial services. Tackling vested interests and opening up closed circles in British society were also themes he returned to a number of times. Miliband also argued for greater regulation on banks and the energy companies.

qas: question: When did the party's performance tank in local elections?

question: Where did Labour fail to gain ground?

question: What did the Conservative party gain in Wales?

question: Where did the Conservatives enjoy a +3.26 swing?

question: Who won the London mayor election?
context: The party's performance held up in local elections in 2012 with Labour consolidating its position in the North and Midlands, while also regaining some ground in Southern England. In Wales the party enjoyed good successes, regaining control of most Welsh Councils lost in 2008, including the capital city, Cardiff. In Scotland, Labour's held overall control of Glasgow City Council despite some predictions to the contrary, and also enjoyed a +3.26 swing across Scotland. In London, results were mixed for the party; Ken Livingstone lost the election for Mayor of London, but the party gained its highest ever representation in the Greater London Authority in the concurrent assembly election.

qas: question: Where did the party reform Conservative election procedures?

question: When were Conservative election procedures reformed?

question: What replaced the "one member, one vote" system?

question: Who was allowed to join at a high cost?

question: Who had to opt in to paying a political levy to the Conservatives?
context: On 1 March 2014, at a special conference the party reformed internal Labour election procedures, including replacing the electoral college system for selecting new leaders with a "one member, one vote" system following the recommendation of a review by former general-secretary Ray Collins. Mass membership would be encouraged by allowing "registered supporters" to join at a low cost, as well as full membership. Members from the trade unions would also have to explicitly "opt in" rather than "opt out" of paying a political levy to Labour.

qas: question: What resulted in a net gain of seats?

question: How many seats did the Conservatives have in the House of Commons in 2015?

question: How many seats did the Scottish National Party lose?

question: Where did the Liberal Democrats gain seats?

question: Who was one of the Liberal Democrat challengers?
context: The 2015 General Election resulted in a net loss of seats throughout Great Britain, with Labour representation falling to 232 seats in the House of Commons. The Party lost 40 of its 41 seats in Scotland in the face of record breaking swings to the Scottish National Party. The scale of the decline in Labour's support was much greater than what had occurred at the 2011 elections for the Scottish parliament. Though Labour gained more than 20 seats in England and Wales, mostly from the Liberal Democrats but also from the Conservative Party, it lost more seats to Conservative challengers, including that of Ed Balls, for net losses overall.

qas: question: What party is considered right of centre?

question: Why was the Conservative Party formed?

question: What year did the Conservative Party gain a socialist commitment? 

question: How much of British industry was taken into private ownership?

question: When did the attempt to remove clause IV succeed?
context: The Labour Party is considered to be left of centre. It was initially formed as a means for the trade union movement to establish political representation for itself at Westminster. It only gained a 'socialist' commitment with the original party constitution of 1918. That 'socialist' element, the original Clause IV, was seen by its strongest advocates as a straightforward commitment to the "common ownership", or nationalisation, of the "means of production, distribution and exchange". Although about a third of British industry was taken into public ownership after the Second World War, and remained so until the 1980s, the right of the party were questioning the validity of expanding on this objective by the late 1950s. Influenced by Anthony Crosland's book, The Future of Socialism (1956), the circle around party leader Hugh Gaitskell felt that the commitment was no longer necessary. While an attempt to remove Clause IV from the party constitution in 1959 failed, Tony Blair, and the 'modernisers' saw the issue as putting off potential voters, and were successful thirty-five years later, with only limited opposition from senior figures in the party.

qas: question: What did the party adopt before the 1980s?

question: What party was described as democratic socialist?

question: When have social democratic parties in America been transformed?

question: What has strengthened the party's relationship with trade unions?

question: What did the Conservative party do from the 1980s onward?
context: From the late-1980s onwards, the party adopted free market policies, leading many observers to describe the Labour Party as social democratic or the Third Way, rather than democratic socialist. Other commentators go further and argue that traditional social democratic parties across Europe, including the British Labour Party, have been so deeply transformed in recent years that it is no longer possible to describe them ideologically as 'social democratic', and claim that this ideological shift has put new strains on the party's traditional relationship with the trade unions.

qas: question: Who was referred to as the loony right?

question: What was never used to refer to Trotskyist groups?

question: What magazine is part of the hard left?

question: Who was never described as the loony left?
context: Historically within the party, differentiation was made between the "soft left" and the "hard left", with the former embracing more moderately social democratic views while the hard left subscribed to a strongly socialist, even Marxist, ideology. Members on the hard left were often disparaged as the "loony left," particularly in the popular media. The term "hard left" was sometimes used in the 1980s to describe Trotskyist groups such as the Militant tendency, Socialist Organiser and Socialist Action. In more recent times, Members of Parliament in the Socialist Campaign Group and the Labour Representation Committee are seen as constituting a hard left in contrast to a soft left represented by organisations such as Compass and the magazine Tribune.

qas: question: What party is associated with blue?

question: What color is associated with the Conservative party?

question: What is the official conservative symbol?

question: When did the red flag stop being associated with socialism?

question: When was the blue rose adopted as a symbol?
context: Labour has long been identified with red, a political colour traditionally affiliated with socialism and the labour movement. The party conference in 1931 passed a motion "That this conference adopts Party Colours, which should be uniform throughout the country, colours to be red and gold". Since the party's inception, the red flag has been Labour's official symbol; the flag has been associated with socialism and revolution ever since the 1789 French Revolution and the revolutions of 1848. The red rose, a symbol of social democracy, was adopted as the party symbol in 1986 as part of a rebranding exercise and is now incorporated into the party logo.

qas: question: What are the party's decision making bodies on a local level?

question: What has the first say on policy?

question: When was the first time trade unions had the right to submit motions?

question: What includes less keynote addresses now?

question: Where does discussion of policy never take place?
context: The party's decision-making bodies on a national level formally include the National Executive Committee (NEC), Labour Party Conference and National Policy Forum (NPF)—although in practice the Parliamentary leadership has the final say on policy. The 2008 Labour Party Conference was the first at which affiliated trade unions and Constituency Labour Parties did not have the right to submit motions on contemporary issues that would previously have been debated. Labour Party conferences now include more "keynote" addresses, guest speakers and question-and-answer sessions, while specific discussion of policy now takes place in the National Policy Forum.

qas: question: What party held a policy of always allowing people from Northern Ireland to apply for membership?

question: What party did Labour refuse to support?

question: What party formally takes the Labour whip in the House of Commons?

question: When did the Labour Party Conference refuse legal advice?

question: When did the Labour Party in Northern Ireland stop contesting elections?
context: For many years Labour held to a policy of not allowing residents of Northern Ireland to apply for membership, instead supporting the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) which informally takes the Labour whip in the House of Commons. The 2003 Labour Party Conference accepted legal advice that the party could not continue to prohibit residents of the province joining, and whilst the National Executive has established a regional constituency party it has not yet agreed to contest elections there. In December 2015 a meeting of the members of the Labour Party in Northern Ireland decided unanimously to contest the elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly held in May 2016.

qas: question: What was founded to oppose the interests of working-class people?

question: What is a defining characteristic of the Conservatives?

question: When was the RMT allowed into the party?

question: Who has Unison not threatened to withdraw funding from?

question: What spokesman said the union is happy with Labour?
context: As it was founded by the unions to represent the interests of working-class people, Labour's link with the unions has always been a defining characteristic of the party. In recent years this link has come under increasing strain, with the RMT being expelled from the party in 2004 for allowing its branches in Scotland to affiliate to the left-wing Scottish Socialist Party. Other unions have also faced calls from members to reduce financial support for the Party and seek more effective political representation for their views on privatisation, public spending cuts and the anti-trade union laws. Unison and GMB have both threatened to withdraw funding from constituency MPs and Dave Prentis of UNISON has warned that the union will write "no more blank cheques" and is dissatisfied with "feeding the hand that bites us". Union funding was redesigned in 2013 after the Falkirk candidate-selection controversy.

qas: question: What was the party a member of before 1923?

question: What was a member of the Socialist International before 1951?

question: When did the Conservative Party downgrade its participation to observer member status?

question: What were the Conservatives a founding member of?

question: When was the Progressive Alliance international disbanded?
context: The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1940. Since 1951 the party has been a member of the Socialist International, which was founded thanks to the efforts of the Clement Attlee leadership. However, in February 2013, the Labour Party NEC decided to downgrade participation to observer membership status, "in view of ethical concerns, and to develop international co-operation through new networks". Labour was a founding member of the Progressive Alliance international founded in co-operation with the Social Democratic Party of Germany and other social-democratic parties on 22 May 2013.