CHAPTER

PARTY GOVERNMENT

The Reason for a Party System
Capitalism and Socialism
The Conservative Party
The Labour Party
Right and Left
The Liberal Party
The Party System

,THE REASON FOR A PARTY SYSTEM.

The description of British Government so far given has
required frequent mention of political parties. The law does
not mention them; their nearest approach to official recognition
is in the rules for the formation of Committees of the House of
Commons, Yet without them the whole nature of the Constitution
would be changed, and many of its conventions would become
unworkable. The relations of Parliament to the Government
on the one hand, and to the people on the other, are governed
by the party system. The essence of this system is that people
who find themselves in agreement on major matters of policy
should unite in organised bodies to secure the return to Parlia-
ment, and to other elected assemblies, of Members who will
work for an agreed policy; and that these Members, sinking
minor differences, should vote and act together. Party politics
are' based on two undeniable facts. First, that where men and
women are allowed to think freely, they disagree: they are born
with different intellectual capacities; environment gives to
each his own experiences, prejudices and opportunities for
study. Their opinions are therefore based on varying amounts
of knowledge, mixed with various prejudices and applied with

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