How much do you know about United Kingdom politics [and history]

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Oh dear. I know all of these.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Oh dear. I know all of these.

Well, it's not gonna be a challenge for a Briton.

Should I point out that you're wrong about the number of elected Commie MPs?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well it can't be disputed that she was - and is - well known for being the minister that implemented the decision.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's only a quiz, you know. No need to get outraged about everything.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Haha, yes. Labour joined the government in 1915 and even got its first cabinet minister then (Arthur Henderson).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A good troll answer for question 26 would be Harold Wilson. Because everyone knows that Tykes don't speak English.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I don't think this is the best example if you want to mock me. I've checked out, and almost everybody (Xahar comprised) made the same mistake. Most of them didn't even get the year of McDonald's cabinet right.

I wasn't mocking you; technically the question-setter got it wrong as well

(question ought to have been: 'when did Labour form its first government', not 'when did Labour first enter government').

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'm surprised by Baldwin in 1931.

Outside South Wales that was a bad election of evilness.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Some questions of my own now...

Easy

1. Which party won the 1959 General Election?

2. Who was the first Leader of the Labour Party?

3. Name the constituencies of the leaders of the three largest parties in the Commons.

4. Who is the current Father of the House?


Shouldn't be so hard

5. What was the name of the constituency represented by Harold Wilson from 1950 until 1983?

6. What do Stoke-on-Trent and Bournemouth have in common?

7. Who were the following (points for each, I suppose)... Anthony Barber, Dai Grenfell, Cyril Smith, Cecil Parkinson, Billy Wolfe and Tony Crosland.

8. What connects T. Dan Smith, Andy Cunningham and Reginald Maulding? Bonus points for knowing who Cunningham was, because most people don't.

9. Only one constituency has elected members of four separate political parties since 1945. Name it.

Maybe slightly trickier. To do with candidates.

10. In which city did the Ted Dexter (captain of the England Cricket Team) unsuccessfully stand for the Conservatives in 1964? Bonus points for naming the constituency and the candidate that beat him.

11. Which future television playwright was the unsuccessful Labour candidate at East Hertfordshire in the same election? Bonus point for naming the work he wrote based on his experiences as a candidate.

12. C.B. Fry was a frequent candidate for which major political party during the inter-war period?

13. Bob Edwards was the leader of the ILP Contingent during the Spanish Civil War and later served as a Labour MP for thirty two years. To which constituency in the Black Country was he first elected for in 1955?

Fairly hard, I guess.

14. Which sleepy Cathedral City came within 51 votes of electing a Communist MP in 1922? Possible bonus points for a couple of related things.

15. Name the last Conservative MP for a Manchester constituency.

16. Who was Austin Donohue in Our Friends in the North based on? Actually this is pretty easy question if you've seen it.

17. Which Labour MP had a brief cameo in Edge of Darkness? Again, if you've seen it...

18. Who was Sir Herbert Manzoni?

19. Which future Prime Minister ordered troops to fire on striking Yorkshire miners?

20. Who was the MP for Meirionnydd when cult TV classic The Prisoner was filmed in the constituency in the late 1960s?

21. Who represented Hunslet when The Uses of Literacy was first published?

Very Important Question

22. Pronounce 'Gala' in the context of the Big Meeting.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I make that 15 out of a possible... er... variable number. Alas 'all corrupt' is true, but more detail is needed.

I don't think I've been clear enough with question six though; it's something unique to those two places. Unless I've fycked up, which is possible.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

For q9, are you excluding Northern Ireland?  East Belfast seems to qualify, and West Belfast has arguably had five.

Like adverts on television, Northern Ireland is not included.

Yeah, should have specified Great Britain.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Can I get a point for effort? I'm not British, I don't know so much UK.

Yeah, that seems fair enough.

I make it about five or so, out of a possible... some other figure.

Good answer for question six, even though it's wrong, btw.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Hunslet is a working class district in south Leeds, The Uses of Literacy is an extremely influential book on working class culture by Richard Hoggart (who grew up in Hunslet). It was published in 1957.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Uses of Literacy is an extremely influential book on working class culture by (some brit). It was published (somewhere around that).

There is a reason I didn't put any asterisks or italics on the phrase "the uses of literacy".

Yeah, I spotted that. Just felt like giving a clue

I was originally going to ask a question about the towns in Lloyd George's constituency after 1918, but thought better of it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

bangor, Caernarffon, Pwllheli, uh... a couple more.

Criccieth, Pwllheli, Nefyn, Caernarfon, Bangor, Llanfairfechan, Penmaenmawr, Conwy (including Deganwy and Llandudno Junction) and Llandudno.

It's that bit at the end that explains why it went Tory in 1945.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

republicanism gets two out of a possible four.

Hashemite gets minus twenty two million for getting question twenty two catastrophically wrong. But, actually, gets two and a half out of a possible something.

Refudiate gets nine out of a possible something or other.

Lewis gets six and a half out of a possible smaller number. I'm going to assume he said twenty two right.

And I get called a bastard for setting horrible questions.

Half points have been given sometimes when an answer is kind of close-ish, you know. It's also possible that proper points have been added wrong. I did basically fail maths at school, you see, and that's my excuse.

Anyway, should I post the answers in white type here or PM them to people who have answered already?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'm not even going to try, but is the constituency that has elected members of four different parties Fermanagh and South Tyrone?

Like adverts on television, Northern Ireland is not included.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Impressive; 24 out of a possible something or other.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sending out answers now. Except that I forgot to add who Billy Wolfe was. So I'll put it here instead, he was the leader of the SNP in the 1970s and is generally credited with turning the party into a proper political party, focused on elections. Never actually an MP despite leading the SNP into their best General Election to date (October 1974) as he always ran against Tam Dalyell rather than seek somewhere easier.