British socialism came a long way in the late nineteenth century, and the events that happened back then subsequently affected British politics to this day, as the Labour Party are currently in power. The beginning of the labour party dated back to Keir Hardie. .
Keir Hardie was a self educated, working class, socialist, who was the driving force behind the creation of the ILP (Independent Labour Party) in 1893. He was also chairman of the labour party in 1906 when there was 29 MP's elected. He was too a supporter of women's suffrage. His weak point however was his organisational skills, which he lacked considerably, but it is not to be mistaken that he was not a hardworking and decent man. .
Ramsay MacDonald was a dedicated member of the Fabians, and also had a poor background. He was the first secretary of the LRC (Labour Representation Committee), and the first Labour Prime Minister. He was elected to a Leicester constituency in 1906. .
Arthur Henderson was also a man who played a big part in the journey' of the Labour party. He was originally an iron moulder who became the secretary of the Iron Moulders Society. He gained government experience as a liberal councillor, and was later elected (in 1903) as an LRC candidate for Barnard Castle. He had many different posts in the committee such as chief whip, chairman, secretary, he was briefly in Lloyd Georges War Cabinet, and was in both MacDonald's Labour governments. He was an extremely hard worker, and in 1934 gained a Nobel peace prize for his work on disarmament. This shows he is a very influential and good man, as were all three of the people named above. These three people set up the Labour party, and without anyone of them the Labour party would be non-existent. .
British society was changing rapidly. There was class conflict, as well as industrial unrest and massive urbanisation. .
The working class had separate needs that were not being fulfilled.