Topic 4, Lesson 1: Why did Thatcher win the 1979 General Election?

Topic 4, Lesson 1: Why did Thatcher win the 1979 General Election?

The 1979 General Election Results

• Who represented the Conservative Party?

• Who represented the Labour Party?

• Who represented the Liberal Party?

• What percentage of votes did each candidate receive?

• How many MPs did each candidate receive?

• What is ironic about the combination of votes given to the Labour and Liberal party combined?

• After the 1979 general election, how many years would the Labour party be out of office for?

The 1979 General Election Results:

• Conservatives - M. Thatcher - 43.9% of total votes - 339 MPs

• Labour - J. Callaghan - 36.9% of total votes - 269 MPs

• Liberal - D. Steel - 13.8% of total votes - 11 MPs

Britain’s overwhelming population are largely middle to left-wing supporters. This can be seen in the sum of the percentage votes for Liberal and Labour is greater than the percentage votes for Conservatives.

After the 1979 general election, Labour would be out-of-office for 18 years.

Topic 4, Lesson 1: Why did Thatcher win the 1979 General Election?

Thatcher’s Leadership (‘Swamped’ Rhetoric)

• When did Thatcher use the phrase ‘swamped’?

• Why was her use of the word considered controversial?

• Which specific groups of voters did Thatcher’s rhetoric appeal to?

• The rhetoric was used in a 10 year living memory of which infamous speech given by Enoch Powell?

In 1978, as leader of the opposition, Thatcher was interviewed by Grenada’s TV about the Conservatives policy regarding immigration. Her response:

“People are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture”

The word ‘swamped’ was controversial and seen as a ‘dog whistle’ to racist voters including the mainstreaming of far-right rhetoric who were often associated with the British National Party (BNP).

Thatcher’s remark came within a 10 year living memory of Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech

Topic 4, Lesson 1: Why did Thatcher win the 1979 General Election?

The Conservatives Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising Campaign

• What did Saatchi and Saatchi teach Thatcher to do in order to appeal more to voters?

  What did this mimic?

• What famous billboard poster did Saatchi and Saatchi produce?

• What was the iconic message written on this billboard poster?

• What other election campaign might this poster be directly mocking?

Saatchi and Saatchi trained Margaret Thatcher to lower her voice (like a man) and wear traditional clothing and hair styles.

This appealed to voters because Thatcher’s appearance reflected that of a traditional housewife of the 1950s. This decade is remembered as one of affluence and a time when people ‘never had it so good’.

Saatchi and Saatchi also produced the famous billboard poster highlighting the iconic message: ‘Labour isn’t working’ which became the Conservative’s poster of choice for the 1979 General Election.

This poster can be seen to mock the election poster used by Wilson’s Labour government in 1966 which was entitled: “You Know Labour Government Works”.

Topic 4, Lesson 1: Why did Thatcher win the 1979 General Election?

Callaghan’s Miscalculations (Delayed General Election)

• When did Opinion Polls give Callaghan the opportunity to call a general election that would be in his favour?

• What did Callaghan decide to do?

• What event succeeded Callaghan’s failure to call a general election that resulted in his premiership being in ruins?

• Callaghan had the opportunity to call a general election in autumn 1978

• He decided to carry on and face the country after the economy had improved

• The ‘Winter of Discontent’ happened immediately after (1978-1979)

Topic 4, Lesson 1: Why did Thatcher win the 1979 General Election?

Stagflation (Rising Unemployment and Inflation)

• Where had Callaghan inherited his economic problems from?

• What had damaged Labour’s economic credibility going into the 1979 general election?

• What was the percentage of unemployed people in the years 1975, 1976 and 1977?

Callaghan had inherited the economic consequences of the 1973 OPEC energy crisis in the form of stagflation.

Stagflation = High inflation and unemployment

The need for an emergency withdrawal from the IMF in 1976 had severely damaged Labour’s economic credibility.

1975 - unemployment had risen to 4.1%

1976 - unemployment had risen to 5.7%

1977 - unemployment had risen to 6.2%

Topic 4, Lesson 1: Why did Thatcher win the 1979 General Election?

The Winter of Discontent

• When did it occur?

• What was the general themes seen within the Winter of Discontent?

• How did this impact Callaghan’s government?

The Winter of Discontent

1978-1979

A period of strikes (firefighters, ambulance drivers, grave diggers) and high unemployment

The government seemed as if it could not cope

Topic 4, Lesson 1: Why did Thatcher win the 1979 General Election?

The Support of the Right-Wing Media ‘The Sun’ and ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’

• Where did ‘The Sun’ newspaper coin the phrase: ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’ from?

• How did this remark portray Callaghan?

• In the wake of the Winter of Discontent (1978-1979), Callaghan was asked about the industrial crisis facing Britain.

• Callaghan denied such crisis.

• His remarks were exploited by right-wing newspapers such as ‘The Sun’ which ran the headline: “Crisis? What Crisis?”.

• This made Callaghan seem out-of-touch with public opinion and later became the basis of a Conservative political TV advert.

Topic 4, Lesson 1: Why did Thatcher win the 1979 General Election?

Callaghan’s Minority Government

• When did the Lib-Lab Pact collapse?

• Who did the Labour government now rely upon for their support?

• When was this support withdrawn?

• What was the outcome for the Labour Party after this support was withdrawn?

In autumn 1978, the Lib-Lab Pact collapsed.

Callaghan’s tiny majority was now practically wiped out and the Labour Party now relied upon the Scottish National Party for their support.

The SNP’s support was withdrawn when in March 1979, a Scottish referendum failed to provide a clear mandate for devolution.

Outcome: 28th March 1979, Callaghan’s government was defeated without its’ majority in a vote of no-confidence.

Topic 4, Lesson 1: Why did Thatcher win the 1979 General Election?

The Vote of No Confidence (1979)

• What is a vote of no confidence?

• What percentage increase in votes did the Conservatives gain on their 1974 General election in 1979?

• What majority did this give them over the Labour Party?

• What majority did this give them overall?

Vote of no confidence: A vote, called by the opposition, on whether the government is considered able to continue governing. If not, a general election must be called.

The Conservatives gained an increase of 8% in 1979 on the total number of votes they received compared to the 1974 general election. This equated to an additional 3 million votes.

The Conservatives now had a comfortable majority of 70 seats over the Labour Party and an overall majority of 43 seats.