Growth of Political Parties

The 19th Century was a time of revolution. The rotten boroughs changed the population and demographics in places such as Manchester and Liverpool. The Reform Act 1832 signaled a shift of representation towards the towns and towards the North. The repeal of the Corn Laws caused a shattering change as it was the end of the Tory Vs Whig system and the start of the Liberals and Conservative party. The working class got to vote in the second half of the 19th century due to electoral reform and steady increase of the franchise acts.  (Representation of the People)

Post WW1 brought about the rise of the Labour Party. The General Strike occurred in the year 1926.
The first 'proper' Labour government was established in 1945 after WW2. It had many social democratic reforms towards the NHS, Keynesian Economics and Trade Union rights. This was also a time where the British Empire began to decline.

William Beveridge promised national insurance "from cradle to grave", this was a golden moment for Labour. However, in 1970 disaster struck for Labour, which the British media titled as the 'Winter of discontent' (1978-9). This was a time of widespread strikes from many local authorities, such as grave diggers and train drivers, who were all demanding a pay rise.

In 1979 Margaret Thatcher won the general election and became Prime Minister. Thatcher attacked the miners; the miners strike was the biggest confrontation between unions and the Thatcher government. She was committed to reduce the power of trade unions and cure the nation from this "British disease", and this is what she achieved. The miners lost and returned to work humiliated in 1985. The unions declined drastically after realising the strength of the state, and lengths they were willing to go to to defeat them.

John Major then become Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party in 1990.  By the mid 1990s the Tories including MPs and Cabinet Ministers were involved in ongoing "sleaze scandals", this was a boom time for tabloids. This proved to be too much for Major and he resigned in 1995 and was re-elected as Party Leader. Defence minister, Johnathan Aitken claimed he would fix the twisted journalism and sort the newspapers out with his "sword of truth". The Guardian reported that he was taking bribes, however, he denied these accusations and was later sentenced to imprisonment for perjury and perverting the court of justice.

The rise of the "new" Labour was seen as a reformed leadership, Tony Blair was elected in 1997. Blair's government introduced the Human Rights Act and Freedom of Information Act, both of which are extremely significant for journalists. In 2007, Blair resigned and Gordon Brown took over power.

From 2010 to present we have a coalition government, which is formed by Tory David Cameron and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg.