Britain 1970-1979 (The end of the post-war consensus)

heath's cabinet positions

cheif whip for eden, lord privvy seal for macmillan, chancellor for home

edward heath

conservative prime minister 1970-1974

"i am not a product of privilege. i am a product of opportnity"

edward heath, 1974

heath response to being ousted from office

never forgave thatcher, never served in thatcher's cabinet

1970 general election results

30 seat conservative majority

Selsdon hotel meeting

january 1970, formulating 1970 general election manifesto, resulted in free market principles being key

selsdon group

formed 1973 in response to government's abandonment of free market policies

tory establishment response to selsdon group

attacked members, policies had success though under thatcher and major

lame duck industry

industry requiring government support to survive, would not be supported in 1970 tory manifesto

decimalisation

1971, agreed in 1965

stagflation

combination of inflation and unemployment, happened following barber boom

Barber boom

reduction in public spending and taxes by anthony Barber to encourage spending

Heath's U-turn

1971-1972, following nationalisation of Rolls-Royce

OPEC

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

purpose of OPEC

to protect interest of members by fixing production levels to maintain steady prices

Yom Kippur War

October 1973, in middle east

effects of yom kippur war

OPEC oil embargo, caused oil prices to rise to 4x normal levels

NUM

national union of miners

NUM demanding pay rise

november 1973

nationalisation of rolls royce

1971

bloody sunday

30th january 1972

deaths from bloody sunday

13 killed, 14 injured

18th january 1972

Faulkner banned all parades and marches in region around Derry

9th august 1971

internment without trial introduced in NI

Consequences of Bloody Sunday

british embassy in dublin burnt, IRA support increase

heath suspended stormont

march 1972

widgery report published

18th april 1972

findings of widgery report

demonstrators fired first shot at british army, those fired upon were armed

NI response to widgery

didn't accept report, contentious in peace process

bias of widgery report

widgery was conservative peer, held in unionist town, lack of consideration for demonstrators testimony

strongest criticism of soldiers on bloody sunday

"firing bordered on the reckless"

key republican assassinations 1979

airey neare, lord mountbatten

percentage of interned which were catholic

95%, 1971-1975

IRA about internment

"one of the best recruiting tools the IRA ever had"

sectarian explosions 1972

1382

sectarian shootings 1972

10628

sectarian killings 1972

480

sunningdale agreement

1973, heath and whitelaw negotiated power-sharing agreement in NI

IRA

irish republican army

INLA

Irish National Liberation Army

UDA

Ulster Defense Association

UVF

Ulster Volunteer Force

UUP

Ulster Unionist Party

DUP

Democratic Unionist Party

Alliance party

non-sectarian unionism

SDLP

Social Democratic and Labour Party, popular nationalist party

Sinn Fein

political wing of republican movement

support for sunningdale agreement

British government, some parties in NI

opposition to sunningdale agreement

Sinn Fein, IRA, Thatcher

brian faulkner

chief executive of power-sharing agreement, UUP

gerry fitt

deputy chief executive, SDLP

austin curry

minister for housing, SDLP

basil mcivor

minister for education, UUP, determines funding to local authorities so prioritises protestant areas funding

UUP leave sunningdale agreement

1974 following pressure from UVF and UDA

harry west

replacement for faulkner in 1974

northern ireland election results 1974

11/12 constituencies elected a candidate opposing the agreement

unemployment in 1973

down to 300000

january 1974

NUM called national strike

industrial relations act

1971, established industral relations court opposed by TUC and CBI

industrial relations court

determined legality of strikes

CBI

confederation of british industry

industry act

1972, proposed involving government, TUC and CBI in determining wages, opposed by tory right e.g. powell

1st miners strike began

9th january 1972

state of emergency declared

9th february 1972

wilberforce committee

examined miners' demands and established 3 day week

3 day week

in response to miners' strike to save electricity and created balance of payments crisis

pay increase given to miners

21%

working days lost to strikes under Heath

23,909,000

21st july 1972

5 dockers arrested by national industrial relations corps, led to national dockers strike in solidarity

subsidies granted to upper clyde shipbuilders

£34m, part of U-Turn

equal pay act

1970, not enforced until 1975, work done by barbara castle and labour government, influenced by ford dagenham act

strikes in 1971

228

strikes by 1973

2,873

results of general election on 28th february 1974

hung parliament with minority labour govenment, formed lib-lab pact

results of general election on 10th october 1974

3 seat labour majority

local government act

passed in 1972 and 1973, introduced by peter walked, reshaped structure of local government

peter walker

environment minister, introduced local government act

britain joins EEC

1973, alongside Ireland and Denmark

reasons for acceptance into EEC

de Gaulle was dead, Pompidou and others saw Britain’s worth in EEC

3rd EEC application

1971

Labour MPs voting for EEC

69

MPs abstained from EEC vote

20

EEC referendum

1975, labour campaign promise

results of EEC referendum

17m yes, 8m no, unified labour party in favour with EEC

reasons for Yes win in referendum

better funded by big businesses, better figureheads such as Heath and Jenkins

october 1973

US wanted to use NATO bases for airlifting supplies, Europe said no due to oil supply needs

Kissinger

attempted to use Britain as link into European market

wilson and callaghan USA view

pro-atlantic alliance

replacement of polaris with trident

1979

nixon visited Mao

february 1972

britain and china ambassador exchange

march 1972o

october 1979

Hua Guofeng (Chinese premier) visited Britain

Heath and China

won ‘People Friendship Envoy’

effects of sino soviet split dispute

exploited by west to improve relations with china

heath visits to China

26 times, first in may 1974

Miss World Protests

1970 competition, Women’s Lib protested against objectification of women

march 1971

protests in liverpool and london, demanding 24 hour nursery and equal pay for women

battle of the sexes

1973 tennis match, billie jean king vs. bobby riggs

billie jean king

advocate for civil rights and equal pay for women in sport

separatist feminist

more radical believes women are oppressed by patriarchal society so should be separate to be free