The Affluent Society, 1951-63

Post-War Boom

With aid from the US via the Marshall Plan, the Conservatives managed to have strong economic growth and high rise in living standards

Bulletskellism

The coined term for the similarities between the Conservatives and Labours economic policy

Aims of Butskellism

Maintenance of full employment and economic growth
Continued development of the Welfare State
Maintenance of defence commitments and nuclear weaponary

Marshall Aid

The US economic policy which gave Western European nations economic aid to help recover from the war

British Issues with the Economy

Balance of Payment Issues - Imports > Exports (deficit)
Britain couldn’t afford to build a modern competing economy, develop welfare state, and maintain defence commitments
Industrial Relations - Inflations grew = workers demanding pay rises in excess of price rises
Britain’s debt increased year on year - 1957 = £540 mil, 1964 = £800 mil

“Never had it so good”

1957 - Harold Macmillans famous speech asserting that the British people “Never had it so good”
Largely true but: Consumer spending was on credit, unemployment grew - 1951 = 367,000, 1958 = 563,000

NEDDY (1961)

National Economic Development Council
Representatives of employers, unions, and government planned growth

NICKY (1961)

National Incomes Commissions
Regulated Wage Demands

Stop-Go Economics

The use of interest rates to control economic growth
Stop - Imports > Exports, Interest Rates increase, Wages freeze, demand falls, economy stalls
Go - Interest Rates decrease, Wages increase, Demand increases, rising imports, inflation occurs
Cycle repeated

1955 Give Away Budget

Rab Butler cut £134 million in taxes, allowing the Conservatives to have more support heading into the 1955 General Election (which they won)

1959 Consumer Boom

2% Unemployment, £370 million in tax cuts
Ignored underlying structural weaknesses

“Never had it so good”

1961 Balance of Payments Crisis

‘Stop’ phase of the economy

Growing awareness of industrial decline
EEC application

1961-63 - Economic Instability

EEC Rejection - Charles De Gaulle
NEDDY and NICKY approach
Rising tech gap
Structural Weaknesses

Hire Purchase

A system whereby a buyer pays a deposit on an expensive item and then pays in monthly instalments to hire an item over the length of the contract

Rising living standards - Evidence of Affluence

• Real wages increased - 1951 = 8.30 → 18.70

• Home ownership rose due to cheap mortgages

• Car ownership and consumer goods more widespread

• Unemployment remained low, never > 500,000 for most of the period

• 300,000 new houses/yr.

Rising living standards - Impacts

• Created a growing middle class

• Aspirational working class

• Consumer culture dominated

• Golden Age of social mobility (according to many historians)

Welfare State and NHS

Conservatives accepted the core of Labours 1945 reforms: NHS, National Insurance, Pensions
NHS spending increased - new treatments (antibiotics, surgery)
Some prescription charges reintroduced (Dental and Spectacle under Churchill)

Welfare State and NHS - Social Security

Expansions of benefits system helped families and elderly

Post war consensus meant little party division on Welfare in this period

Education - Key Developments

Tripartite System continued - Grammar, Technical, and Secondary Modern (Based on the 11+ exams)
Critics argued it entranced class divisions

Butler Education Act (1944) legacy continued with free secondary education

Education - Changes

Comprehensive Schools emerged in some Labour-run Councils
More children stayed in school longer and went into higher education

Women in Society - Mixed Progress

Many women returned to domestic roles after WW2

Married women faced pressures to stay at home: most left jobs after marriage or childbirth

By 1960 - 35% of women were in paid employment

Women in Society - Gender Roles

Advertisement and Media reinforced traditional gender roles - Housewife Ideal.

Some early signs of change:

More women in clerical and retail work
Access to labour saving appliances (Washing Machine) - reduced domestic burden

Class and Social Mobility - TV and the Arts

Rise of Kitchen Sink Dramas and Gritty Realism in literature and tv

Highlighted social inequality and youth frustration

Britain being a Class-Based Society

Accents, School, and Connections still determined opportunities

Welfare State and Economic Boom opened doors to Social Mobility
Grammar Schools offered opportunities to working class children

Youth Culture and Social Change

Higher wages and more leisure time = distinct youth culture

Teddy Boys - 1950s
Mods v Rockers - 1960s

Music - Elvis Presley , Cliff Richard, The Beatles
Fashion - Mini Skirt, Suits
Rebellion
All defined the 1950s and early 1960s youth

Immigration and Race Relations - Windrush Generation

Began in 1948 as the beginning of post war immigration (mainly from the empire/commonwealth)

By the late 1950s, growing numbers were arriving from the Caribbean, India, and Pakistan

Commonwealth Immigration Act, 1962

Restricted immigration from countries apart of the New Commonwealth (independence post-WW2)

Immigration and Race Relations - 1958 Notting Hill Riots

29th August - 5th September

White violence against black communities in London

Created tension between whites, African-Caribbean, and Police communities
Concern about integration and housing shortages

Immigration and Race Relations - Covert Racism

Where people refused the Black Community but weren’t ‘clearly racist’ towards them

E.g. “try round the corner”

Immigration and Race Relations - Nottingham Gangs

August 1958, Nottingham gangs of white youths went on what they called “N-Word” hunts after pub brawls and targeted Black People who may have done nothing

Racially Motivated and shouted slurs at those they targeted

1951 Election Results

321 Seats/48% Populous - Conservatives (Churchill)

291 Seats/48.8% Populous - Labour (Attlee)

Surprising victory for the Conservatives because most thought Attlee would win again after Labour success between 1945-51

1951 Election - Conservative Strengths

Reshaped since 1945

Showed flexibility and willingness to adapt

Post-War Consensus would continue

Promised 300,000 new homes each year

Improve Education

1951 Election - Labour Weaknesses

“Exhausted in mind, body, and manifesto”

Disillusioned with society due to ‘old men’ in charge

Wrong campaign focus - tried to ‘attack’ the Tories rather than provide for the populous

1951 Election - Uncontrollable Factors

Fewer liberal candidates in 1951 meant that voters turned to Conservatives as the Alternate to the Socialist Labour Party

Bad electoral systems Atlee won the Populus vote but FPTP meant Churchill won

Why did Churchill resign from PM in 1955?

He suffered a stroke in 1953 which left him with health concerns which forced him to resign in 1955 leaving his Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden to replace him

1955 Election Results

345 Seats/49.7% Populous - Conservatives (Eden)

277 Seats/46.4% Populous - Labour (Attlee)

Not to big of a shock because the Conservatives were doing well between 1951-55 under Churchill so expected, managed to increase Tory majority from 17 → 60

1955 Election - Factors enabling Eden’s success

Called a general election after the ‘Give Away Budget’ allowing them to have public support after tax cuts

Had always been thought of as a future PM so people supported him, enabling him to win more seats

Eden as PM

Not much in Domestic Policy, mainly built of Churchill continuing with many of the policies of the previous government and the Post-War Consensus
In terms of Foreign Policy, his most noteworthy action was the Suez Crisis in 1956 which he is remembered for the most

What caused Eden to resign from PM in 1957?

Eden resigned due to the humiliation he caused Britain to face in the Suez Crisis 1956

Also due to ill health as a result of the mental draining of the Suez Crisis

Replaced by Harold Macmillan

1959 Election Results

365 Seats/49.4% Populous - Conservatives (Macmillan)

258 Seats/43.8% Populous - Labour (Gaitskell)

Not too surprising as the Conservatives were still achieving success and public support, despite the Suez Crisis, also Labour’s internal weaknesses limited their popularity

1959 Election - Factors enabling Macmillan’s success

He was seen as a strong leader, and the best replacement to follow on after Eden

He had a strong, charismatic appeal to the public, especially as he was Housing Minister under Churchill helping build those 300,000 homes/yr.

Macmillan as PM

He began the process of decolonisation being more accessible and accepted by the government with his ‘Winds of Change’ speech in South Africa (1960)

He did have a strong economy (built by his predecessors) saying the British people “Never had it so good”

Macmillan - Foreign Policy

He worked closely with the US and had a good relationship with JFK, till the Profumo Affair occurred in 1963

Also was close with Western Europe, but that was weaker after the Profumo Affair

Did want to keep the Empire but after being booed in South Africa, he noticed its time was over and realised decolonisation was necessary

Macmillan as PM - Night of the Long Knives

1962 cabinet reshuffle

Macmillan sacked eight Ministers, including Selwyn Lloyd, totalling to 1/3^rd of his cabinet

Widely seen as a sign of panic, young Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe said of Macmillan's dismissals, "greater love hath no man than this, than to lay down his friends for his life".

Macmillan was openly criticised by his predecessor Lord Avon, an almost unprecedented act

Profumo Affair 1963

John Profumo (Minister of War) was having an affair with 19 year old dancer Christine Keeley

Keeley was also however dating Soviet Military Attaché Eugene (Yevgeny) Ivanov, posing a national security risk in the Cold War

Caused public faith to shift towards Labour over the concerns of the Conservatives favouring the Soviets > USA. Also occurring after the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) at the height of the Cold War dampened electoral success even further

How did the Profumo Affair force Macmillan to resign?

The Profumo Affair in 1963 left a mark on Macmillan’s government, much like the Suez Crisis did to Eden, and he felt it was best for the party if he resigned

Profumo left Macmillan suffering from ill health and was why he resigned

He was replaced by a former member of the House of Lords Sir Alec Douglas Home, who didn’t last long only serving till the 1964 election

Labour Weaknesses 1951-64

Seen as Directionless

Divisions on the Welfare State, Nuclear Weapons, Trade Unions

Gaitskell proposed removing Clause IV from the Manifesto

Struggled to sway the public due to being satisfied with the Conservatives → if they wanted to win, the Conservatives had to mess up

Labour Weaknesses 1951-64 - Nye Bevin

Minister of Health under Attlee

Architect of the NHS and Labour left hero

Resigned in protest against the introduction of prescription charges to the NHS in 1951

Initially opposed developing nuclear weapons, but opposed ‘unilateral nuclear disarmament’ in 1957

Labour Weaknesses 1951-64 - Hugh Gaitskell

Chancellor of the Exchequer for Attlee from 1950-51

Introduced the prescription charges that Bevin resigned over

Was right wing of Labour and replaced Attlee in 1955 as Leader

Wanted Party reform

Labour Weaknesses 1951-64 - Frank Cousins

Leader of the Transport and General Worker’s Union (TGWU) in 1956

Led an unsuccessful bus strike against Macmillan’s government in 1958

Opposed Gaitskell’s leadership in 1960

Lasted well into the 1970s

Labour Weaknesses 1951-64 - CND

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Many Left Wing Labour MPs joined the CND and created a link between Labour and the CND which swayed voters away and towards the Conservatives

Trade Unions began to turn on Gaitskell and bitterness grew when Cousins became leader of the TGWU

Special Relationship and Cold War

Britain remained firmly aligned with the US during the Cold War
Supported NATO and the Truman Doctrine (containing communism)
British troops fought alongside the US in Korea

Maintained US nuclear bases in the UK, strengthening ties but also increasing US influence on British foreign policy

Highlighted Britain’s dependency on the US and gradual decline as an independent world power

Special Relationship - Times of Strain

US didn’t share nuclear secrets with Britain after WW2, but did again after 1958

Burgess and Maclean Affair - 2 high-profile MI6 officials defected to the USSR with secrets in 1951

Suez Crisis 1956

Britain’s European Position

Europe and the EEC

Britain was initially reluctant to join the EEC when founded in 1957
Preferred the Commonwealth as it saw itself as a Global not just a European power

Formed the EFTA in 1960 - a rival trade bloc with smaller European Economies

Europe and the EEC - Application 1961

Macmillan’s government in 1961 realised the issue with economic isolation and applied to join the EEC
Vetoed by De Gaulle in 1963 - doubted Britain’s commitment and feared US influence via Britain
Revealed Britain’s economic decline and political weakness

Decolonisation

Shifted the Empire to a Commonwealth under conservative governments.

Realisation that maintaining the Empire was economically and militarily unsuitable for the UK

Decolonisation - Impact

Managed with less violence than in other European Empires, but still conflict (Mau Mau Rebellion, Kenya)

Reflected Britain’s changing role as a post imperial power and focused more on trade than territory

Decolonisation - Examples of Independence

Sudan - 1956

Ghana - 1957

Nigeria - 1960

Kenya - 1963

Nuclear Policy and Military Power

Britain developed its own nuclear weapons

Maintained nuclear status to appear strong and modern on the global stage

Joined the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) with the US and USSR

Nuclear Policy and Military Power - Impact

Reflected Britain’s desire to remain in the top tier of global powers

Nuclear weapons were expensive - arguably weakened Britain’s conventional forces

Suez Crisis 1956

Eygpt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal, threatening British and French control

Britain, France, and Israel launched a ‘secret’, coordinated military invasion to regain control

US strongly opposed the invasion over risks of it pushing Nasser closer to the USSR

Britain was forced to withdraw under American economic pressure

Suez Crisis 1956 - Impacts

Huge blow to British prestige: showed Britain could no longer act independently of the US

Marked the end of Britain’s role as a World Superpower, now dominated by USA and USSR

Strengthened Nasser’s position and began the dissolution of the British Empire into the New Commonwealth