Labour's Victory in 1945 and the Attlee Governments

Why did Churchill's wartime leadership not guarantee victory in 1945?

the country no longer needed a war leader

Which party handled much wartime domestic policy?

Labour

What happened to trade unions under Labour's wartime influence?

they were strengthened

What wartime electoral rhetoric did Labour promote?

the people won the war

Who wrote The Road to 1945?

Paul Addison

How did rationing weaken conventional capitalist privilege?

restricted advantages of superior spending power

Which wartime experiences increased interaction across social classes?

bombing, worker migration and conscription

What effect did wartime social mixing have on class divisions?

weakened them

What did wartime experience make more politically acceptable?

government intervention

How was Dunkirk reframed within the idea of a people's war?

ordinary people rescued government from its failure

What proportion did Mass-Observation estimate had changed political outlook by December 1942?

two in five

Which Churchill campaign speech benefited Labour in 1945?

Gestapo speech

Why did Churchill's Gestapo speech damage him?

it appeared desperate and exaggerated

Who argued in 2010 that the radical political temper of 1945 was misinterpreted?

Steven Fielding

What did Fielding argue the apparent radical mood primarily represented?

distrust of politicians

According to Fielding, what did the 1945 mood not necessarily indicate?

enthusiasm for socialism

How can Dunkirk support Fielding's interpretation?

it highlighted politicians' incompetence

How many seats did the Liberals contest in 1945?

less than half

How many Liberal candidates stood in 1950?

475

How many Liberal candidates stood in 1951?

109

What happened to the two-party vote share by 1951?

reached its highest level

What was Labour's 1945 manifesto called?

Let Us Face the Future

Why did Labour's manifesto emphasise the future rather than the past?

the past favoured Churchill's war victory

How did Labour's manifesto describe Britain's party system?

a country of two parties

What healthcare principle did Labour express through the phrase about money as a passport?

treatment should not depend on wealth

Whose phrase about hard-faced men did Labour's manifesto quote?

Stanley Baldwin

What did the hard-faced men criticism attack?

wartime profiteers remaining in power

How did Labour reverse Conservative rhetoric about order?

associated public control with order

What did Labour's manifesto claim about who won the war?

the people

What demographic change weakened the Liberals in the long run?

older Liberal voters died

What organisational trend strengthened Labour in the long run?

party organisation grew

Why can Labour's rise not be explained as steady long-term growth alone?

support rose sharply after the war

How did wartime rationing affect attitudes to economic planning?

made government planning more acceptable

Which report helped set the 1945 policy agenda?

Beveridge Report

When was Keynesian Demand Management introduced into the budget?

1941

Whose Treasury work helped introduce Keynesian Demand Management?

John Maynard Keynes

When was the Beveridge Report published?

1942

What did the Beveridge Report promise?

universal social security

What did the Butler Act 1944 provide?

free secondary education

What unemployment level was maintained under Attlee?

under 2%

Why were full-employment measures less necessary than expected?

labour shortages replaced unemployment

Which industries were nationalised by 1946?

Bank of England, civil aviation, cable and wireless, coal

Which industries were nationalised by 1947?

railways, electricity and road haulage

Which industries followed the 1946–47 nationalisations?

gas, iron and steel

When was the NHS established?

1948

Which two social-security measures were introduced in 1946?

National Insurance and family allowances

What Beveridge principle did Labour's social-security legislation fulfil?

cradle to grave

What external financial problem restricted Attlee's programme?

dollar gap

What gave Attlee's reforms electoral legitimacy?

support for the Beveridge Report

What five giants did Beveridge identify?

Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, Idleness

What parliamentary condition helped Attlee pass legislation?

large majority

What opposition condition helped Attlee pass legislation?

weak parliamentary opposition

Where had many Attlee reform ideas originated?

wartime coalition

Why were previously radical reforms easier to enact after 1945?

coalition parties had already accepted them

What type of wartime economy maximised production through state control without ownership?

command economy

What happened to the civil service during WWII?

it expanded

Why could temporary wartime civil servants promote unusually ambitious reform?

they were not constrained as career officials

Which two prominent reformers entered government service during wartime expansion?

Keynes and Beveridge

How did career civil servants respond to temporary reformers' planning?

developed their own state-planning proposals

What effect did wartime administration have on public attitudes to state planning?

normalised it

Whose conditions for joining the coalition forced Conservative concessions?

Ernest Bevin

What welfare condition did Bevin demand before joining government?

abolish the means test

What authority over labour relations did Bevin demand?

all labour relations including unions

How did the war contribute to Attlee's electoral mandate?

created support for radical manifesto reforms

How did wartime government provide structural advantages to Attlee?

planning machinery already existed

How did wartime consensus weaken resistance to Attlee's programme?

reduced policy disagreement

How did wartime experience alter socialist thinking about political change?

favoured community and consent over class conflict

Who argued socialist reorganisation was moving towards consent rather than conflict?

Brooke

What Marxist concept did consent-based socialism move away from?

class struggle

Which Orwell work combined socialism with patriotism?

The Lion and the Unicorn

What did Orwell's The Lion and the Unicorn argue were complementary?

socialism and patriotism

What did Gallup polling in 1944–45 show about nationalisation?

majority support

Which three nationalisations had majority support in the cited Gallup polls?

coal, railways and land

What happened to Labour's vote in the 1950 election?

fell

What happened to the Conservative vote in 1950?

rose

Which party won more votes in 1951?

Labour

Which party won more seats in 1951?

Conservatives

How did Labour's 1951 vote share compare with 1945?

higher

Why did Labour lose seats despite a higher 1951 vote share than 1945?

vote distribution

Why did Attlee's governments lose reform momentum?

major consensus reforms were already achieved

Why was Attlee's later governing task harder than initial reform?

managing institutions was harder than creating them

What economic difficulties restricted later Attlee governments?

payments deficits, dollar shortages, rationing, spending and inflation

What international burden added to Attlee's economic difficulties?

Britain's overseas commitments

How did Labour's parliamentary majority change from 1945 to 1950?

146 to 5

Why did a majority of five magnify Labour divisions?

rebels could block legislation

What NHS charges were introduced in 1951?

prescription and dental charges

What international conflict helped prompt the 1951 NHS charges?

Korean War

Who resigned over the introduction of NHS charges?

Aneurin Bevan

Why did Bevan resign?

he believed NHS principles were betrayed

Which two other ministers resigned alongside the 1951 dispute?

Harold Wilson and John Freeman

What Labour factions emerged from the 1951 dispute?

Bevanites and Gaitskellites

Why did Attlee call the 1951 election?

to seek a larger majority