The Flight from the Liberal Party: Liberals who joined Labour, 1914-31

From 1914 to 1931, many of those previously active
in Liberal politics defected to Labour. Why did so many Liberals switch their political allegiance
(‘almost like changing one’s religion’, as one
Liberal MP observed) and abandon their party, which had been in office, or coalition government, from 1906 to 1922, to enlist with the fledgling
Labour Party? And how far, if at all, did their presence influence Labour’s development during a
key period of political realignment in British
politics? Professor John Shepherd examines the history