Thatcher

Creation of consensus 1940-5

• WW2 saw shift to the left

• Paul Addison = all 3 parties go to polls with same policies

heyday consensus 1945-70

• principle of welfare

  • comprehensive

  • access based

  • entitlement not concession

  • state directs

  • CRADLE TO GRAVE

• nationalisation and mixed economy

  • relatively cautious

    • limited to failing industry and utilities

  • not controversial accept iron and steel

  • 1946 = aviation, wireless and cable, Bank of England

  • 1947 = coal, railways

  • 1948 = electric, gas and road haulage

  • 1951 = about 1/5th under state

• acts

  • 1946 NI act, 1946 NHS act

  • housing programme = 1.35 mil new houses

  • ministry of info from war rebranded = increased state role in everyday life

1951 CON gov

• denationalised iron and steel as well as road haulage

• reduced income tax

• talking of removing controls

  • but continued house programme and welfare state

butskellism

policies of Butler and Gaitskell so similar same person

post war consensus

• mixed economy

• keynes

• negotiates with TU

• high tax

• moderate redistribution of wealth

• welfare state

increased consumer spending and consumer boom

macmillan

Thorneycroft wants budget cuts but Mac refused

• knows public opinion will shift against them if budget cuts

• change to what people expect of gov

consensus under threat

• CON back 1970 = Heath

  • wants to curb TU power, cut direct tax and increase indirect which would hit WC more, reduce subsidies

• coal strikes end in disaster

  • industry crippled

  • only enough for 3 day week 1974

  • leads to hung parliament = LAB form ministry

• 1970s inflation and economic donwturn

inflation crisis 1970s

• 1973 arab-israeli war

  • oil prices rose, not much LAB can do but 27% inflation

    • solved by: rejecting TU demands, increase tax and unemployment LARGE SPEND CUTS

• 1976 = 1.3 mil unemployed

• Callaghan 1976

  • tries to get party to undertsand how bleak situation is

    • CANT SPEND WAY OUT

Stagflation

• begins to doubt keynesian economics

• rising unemployment and inflation at same time

• so monetarism = milton friedman

  • stop inflation by limiting money supply

  • class based approach = would affect WC more

  • increased TU militancy

  • 1972 most days lost to strikes since 1926 = 23.9mil lost but only 3mil in 1960

end of consensus

• monetarism

  • causes higher unemployment but had used it against LAB in campaign

  • changed how unemployment calculated so it understated by approx. 500,000

• reduced income tax

• 1976 IMF loan for $3.9bn

  • orders gov to make £2bn in spending cuts

  • split LAB

• radical left forms in LAB calling for:

  • withdraw from EEC

  • large firms = nationalised

  • nuclear disarmament

  • abolish HoL

  • higher tax for welfare

  • michael foot and tony benn

• defeat of TU

• inequalities

• privatisation

CON leadership challenged

• want Heath out and thatcher stood against saying they should vote her as a protest vote to embarrass him

  • thatcher won 130 vs 119 so heath steps aside

• thatchers supporters

  • no consensus

  • thought CON leaders betrayed CON values

  • increased after winter of discontent 1978-9

1979 election

shift to right?

• LIB = 13.8%, 11 seats

• LAB = 36.9%, 268 seats

• CON = 43.9%, 339 seats

not landslide but comfortable

defeat of TU

• TU = radical threat to society

• pit closures and gov stockpiling coal 1980s

• 1984-5 strikes

  • NUM

  • long bitter strike

  • gov wins

  • closed bulk of mines over next decade

  • police used as strikebreakers

inequalities tolerated

• incentive to work harder

• 1797-90 number in poverty increased by 1.6mil

• 370,000 homeless by 1987

• crime up 79%

• regional variations = northern england, scotland, wales and northern ireland do worst

  • south east and london

• people need to aspire to be affluent

privatisation

• not in 1979 manifesto but key part of thatcherism

• believed more efficient = better allocator

• can gain revenue

• can buy votes by undervaluing companies and creating a rush to buy shares

  • British telecom over £1bn undervalued

LAB wilderness years

• splits and schisms

  • some formed social democratic party 1981

• Landslide defeat 1983

  • also lost bad 1987 and 1992

• Blair landslide 1997

  • on right wing of party

  • doesn’t renationalise

  • introduced min wage 1999

  • windfall tax on private utilities

  • more spending 2001 onwards

  • slight break from T but new consensus?

  • abandoned clause IV

  • no attempt to restore TU power

  • tolerate high unemployment

  • doesn’t talk about class

  • courts right wing press

was there really a post-war consensus?

• 1960s and 1970s says there was e.g., addison

• thatcher says she was ending it

• kevin jefferies = parties still apart on social issues

how different was thatcherism

• there are contiunities

• presenting wc as clear stake in economic system as savers, tax payers etc

is thatcherism cohesive?

• thatcherism as term coined by rivals 1980s

• saw it as moral project

did thatcher transform society?

• racial protests

• manifestation = neighbourhood watch = called them her troops and 20% covered

• anti bomb protests

• womens rights protests

• gay rights protests

  • most social groups protest

  • section 28 bans talk in schools

• 1983 election

  • vote for = 13mil

  • vote against = 17.65mil

florence sutcliffe-braithwaite

concluded it is coherent

shirley letwin

• treats thatcherism as a cohesive political project which aimed to stop the national decline which thatcher thought was caused by increased dependence on the state

andrew gamble

some think thatcherism was ill-suited to conservative party

• one of paradoxes of thatcherism = she wants to reaffirm tory culture in an unconservative way

• Thatcherism as combination of neoliberal economic policy e.g., monetarism and neo-conservative social ideology e.g., strong central government

• he says “free economy and strong state“

leon campos maschette

tensions between thatcher as a neoliberal and a traditional tory

• thatcherism showed a conservative worldveiw and should be seen as part of conservativism

aled davies

there was no coherent, pre-formed neoliberal individual a thte heart of thatcehrism intentions were marred with inconsistencies

steven evans

many commentators said that the british people and thatcher had a relationshio which meant she articulated their attitudes to the point where there was a thatcherite ideological hegemony