Aditya Chakrabortty is right in locating the origin of Britain’s economic problems in the early 1920s (Discipline the poor, protect the rich – it’s the same old Tories, same old class war, 10 November). Before the first world war, the trade unions had benefited from cooperation between the newly created Labour party and the Liberal party, but Lloyd George’s decision to stay as prime minister at the end of the war using the “coupon election” left him in the power of a Tory majority in the Commons.
When the miners, faced with drastic wage cuts, appealed to him for help, he set up a royal commission. The Sankey report supported the miners and the nationalisation of the mines for the benefit of the national economy. However, the Tory majority refused to implement the report and slashed wages.
