britain 2

Who were the Prime ministers 1951-1997?

Churchill - 1951-1955
Eden - 1955-1957
Macmillan - 1957-1963
Douglas Home - 1963-1964
Wilson - 1964 - 1970 (Labour)
Heath - 1970-1974
Wilson - 1974-1976 (Labour)
Callaghan - 1976-1979 (Labour)
Thatcher - 1979-1990
Major - 1990-1997

What is the structure of an essay question?

Introduction
factor 1
factor 2
factor 3
conclusion

How long did the conservatives dominate for?

13 years

Why did the conservatives win the election of 1951?

Labour weaknesses
Conservative strengths
electoral system

What were the Labour weaknesses that allowed the Conservatives to win the 1951 election?

Labour was divided
They were associated with austerity, rationing and high taxation
They struggled financially post war
They took Britain into the Korean war in 1950-1953 which only brought about financial problems
They were divided over the NHS, they had to cut spending as it was going on defences and had to begin to charge for dental care and glasses

What were the conservative strengths that allowed them to win the election in 1951?

The conservatives in their election campaign were organised and look stronger
Their earlier defeats allowed them to become stronger and regain organisation
They recovered
Lord Woolton reformed party finances which allowed them to be stronger to challenge Labour
Their promises beat Labours - labour promised 200,000 houses so conservatives promised 300,000
'more red meat' after rationing was a slogan
Churchill was seen as a war hero
they fully committed to the welfare state

How did the electoral system help the conservatives to win in 1951?

First past the post - this means that a candidate is elected if they win more votes than any other in their constituency
This meant Labour although for more votes gained less seats
Labour had to win 2% more of the popular vote to gain the same amount of seats this is due to the boundary change
The fall of Liberals helped conservatives to win the Labour marginal seats as many turned to the conservatives

what % of votes did the Conservatives get and how many seats in 1951?

48% of votes
321 seats

what % of votes did Labour get and how many seats in 1951?

48.8% of votes
295 seats

What was the economy like in 1951?

There was a lot of economic growth
There was an increase in trade after the Korean war
Countries had more money to spend on goods rather than defence
They maintained a strong sterling area as the government prioritised investments overseas - this was criticised

What change was there in living standards? 1951

There was a rise in living standards and it was a sign that austerity was over
Labour-saving devices were being purchased
prosperity led to social change
Buying your own house or renting was made easier

What change was there in wages? 1951

wages rose faster than prices which meant that people were able to buy more with their money
by 1964 the wage had risen to £18.35 a week
income tax had been cut this helped to increase the amount of money people had to spend
these factors improved the 'feel-good' faction within Britain

What change was there in Housing? 1951

There was a housing boom
the government promised to build 300,000 houses a year
because of the housing boom the rent act waiting list declined
the number of people who owned their own houses rose to 44%

What was credit?

credit allowed people to borrow money and pay it back in small instalments
this helped lead to a housing boom but also meant that people could buy more such as housing or labour saving devices

How did the social change affect the Conservatives popularty 1951

It meant that people did not have a reason to vote for Labour because the conservatives were seen to be the better party
Conservatives were seen to bring an end to austerity and deliver prosperity
They increased social stability which made people favour them as they looked powerful
Made Labour seem weaker

What did the conservatives do for education? 1951

they expanded education
6,000 more schools were built
grammar schools which were created under the Butler act (1944) meant children from a lower income family still had opportunities
helped a middle class expansion
Comprehensive schools were put in place and gave greater fairness to all children - the 11+ test often favoured more middle-class families
University education increased
the state was generous to those in higher education
education policies won them many votes

What was the economic policy during conservative domination?

Butskellism
The conservative economic policies were similar to Labours - this was noticeable under Butler
The welfare state saw increase in spending
health, education and housing expenditure rose
they aimed for full employment
this got the name because it was the similar policies of Gaitskell from Labour and Butler from conservatives
This continued under Macmillan

What was the 'stop-go' policy?

The conservative party was accused of using this policy
it meant that if the economy needed to be boosted then they would lower interest rates and cut taxation so that there was more money to spend
if the economy grew too much and inflation began they would increase interest rates and taxation, this would take money out of the economy and prices would fall

What were successes of the economic policies? 1951

High level of employment
some industries expanded such as cars
more credit available so that a better standard of living could happen - this also helped manufactures produce goods
growth in infrastructure
road transport developed

What was a failure of the economic policies?

The rate of economic growth was behind other countries in Europe
A lot of money went into defence rather than the economy
failure to modernise traditional industries (coal)
Britain did not join the EEC this meant that they did not benefit from the expansion of the European economy
stagnation and inflation were problems
exports lagged behind imports so there was a balance of payments deficit.

Who was R.A Butler?

He was an influencial conservative politician who had similar policies to the leader of the labour party - Gaitskell
He became deputy prime minister and was forgien secretary for some of his time

What was a problem with the 3 tier education system?

It reinforced class divisions

What was Churchill like as prime minister after the war?

he was respected by many and had a good reputation from his previous time
He was now 77 and was struggling to lead the country effectively - lost energy and passion
He became ill
Butler dominated over Churchill in domestic affairs

How effective was Eden as a prime minister? (1955-57)

He replaced Churchill in 1955
he was seen to be charming and a personable figure
He made a massively bad decision concerning the suez crisis in 1956
Eden because of this bad decision was forced to remove troops and he resigned in 1957

What was the bad decision that Eden made in 1956?

He was angry at Egyptian leader Nasser for wanting to nationalise the Suez Canal
Eden formed a pact with France and Israel and ordered an invasion
this made Eden seem out of touch with public and being focused on the empire
Nasser ended up blocking the canal
USA were annoyed that they were not consulted
Most of the British public was opposed to the operation

How effective was Macmillan as a prime minister? (1957-63)

Macmillan had to face a disastrous time after the Suez crisis but due to him being calm and organised he managed to gain popularity both home and abroad
He was prepared to move with the times
He moved towards ending the death penalty
Macmillan declared that the people ' never had it so good' this is because Britain was turning quite prosperous
He regained a good relationship with USA and tried building bridges with USSR

What did Macmillan want to be dismantled?

The empire - he believied that those who wanted to gain independence should be able to, this caused tension and disagreement within the party but he said there had been a 'the wind of change' through Africa

Why was Macmillan named "super mac" and "mac the knife"

'super mac' was a mocking term used but he managed to use this to his advantage by making the comment of 'never had it so good'
'mac the knife' was due to the cabinet reshuffle where he sacked 7 of his cabinet ministers and 9 other ministers, this became known as 'night of the long knives' this was in 1962

super mac soon turned to mac the knife

What were 3 factors that damaged the conservatives image in Macmillan's time?

1) cabinet reshuffle
2) foreign affairs - closely involved in the cold war and cuban missile crisis and Britain was no longer a major power
3) series of scandals such as the Profumo affair

How effective was Home as prime minister? (1963-64)

After Macmillan's resignation he advised that Home took over
He was chosen by a small group of senior conservatives
some people such as Enoch Powell did not want to serve under him
He was not in power long
He was beaten by Wilson (Labour) after just under a year of his reign

What was the Profumo affair?

Senior figure John Profumo (defence minister) had a relationship with a prostitute, she also had ties with the Soviet military. (1963)

What 4 factors led to Labours disunity?

1) Their principles (internal disputes) - some wanted to modernise the party and some people wanted to expand the welfare state and focus on redistribution of wealth
2) Socialism - people on the left of the party believed that Britain should be truly socialist and there should be far more state controlled industries. However those on the right wanted more social equality rather than economic change
3) Nuclear disarmament - Left of the party wanted disrmament so that more money could be spent on social reforms, those on the right wanted to keep the arms so that they had a nuclear deterrent. In 1960 there was a vote to disarm
4) Attitudes to Europe - Labour was opposed to Britain joining the EEC and this did not give a look of modernising

What were the results of the 1959 election?

Conservatives won - 49.4% of votes
Labour lost - 43.8% of votes

What allowed the conservatives to win the 1959 election?

Labour disunity
Attlee was becoming ill and older
They were negative towards Europe and EEC

What year were the conservatives defeated?

1964

What factors led to Conservatives popularity declining?

Economy - the economy was worsening (balance of trade deficit) and Britain lagged behind other countries
Night of the long knives - this cabinet reshuffle caused some problems as they were as unified
Scandals - Profumo affair
Social problems - class barriers began to break down. race riots broke out 1959-59

Why did the conservatives lose the 1964 election?

Loss of popularity - they seemed out of touch
The appeal of Labour - the new Labour leader was seen to be fresh and that he was going to help modernisation
Other factors - people felt a want for change, younger voters wanted a change from conservatives, the world was changing and Labour seemed to keep up with this

What number of seats did labour and conservative get in the 1964 election?

Conservative - 304
Labour - 317

How affective was Harold Wilson as prime minister?

Wilson faced a number of problems when he came into power but he did also manage to achieve a lot

What problems did Wilson face when he came into power?

Labour only had a majority of 4
party promises needed to be fulfilled
senior figures in the party disliking each other
stagflation in the economy was a massive problem
defence cost was high and investments were low

What did Wilson achieve?

Social reforms - race relations made discrimination illegal, voting age lowered 21-18, equal pay, abortion legalised
Education - comprehensive schools expanded, number of unis increased
Economy - balance of payment deficit was improving, developments in roads.

What did Wilson fail to achieve?

The economy - unemployment remained a problem, lack of economic progress, devaluation of the £ this is because overseas confidence lacked
BRITAIN STILL HAD NOT JOINED THE EEC WHICH MEANT THEY DID NOT PROSPER FROM IT
Trade unions - there was a number of strikes, in times of inflation trade unions threatened strikes, trade union membership fell

What was a way to get rid of the 'balance of payment deficit'?

Deflation - tax rises/cuts in expenditure, this takes money out of the consumers which means that import and export gap decreases
Devaluation - reducing the value of the £ this means that products will be cheaper so exports will be boosted

What was Wilsons view on deflation?

He did not want to do this
he thought it would take money from people who had worked hard to get it
It destroyed other governments
it was seen as 'the easy way out'
It would make it hard for America as they had the same problem

What was the national plan? 1965

Wilson thought that better planning would help make industries more competitive
He created the DEA this helped to modernise and improve the economy
It showed that the party had ideas to help
The national plan set out target for industries to meet to help boost the economy

What were the targets set for British industries from the national plan?

an annual growth rate of 3.8% over 6 years
an increase in exports of 5.2% each year

Why did the national plan not work?

The treasury would not work with the DEA
The NBPI had no power to enforce its choices

Why did Britain have to devaluate the £?

there was a number of economic problems
Strikes threatened the pound so this was seen as the only way out
high unemployment put the pound under pressure

How successful was Labour economically?

They did not solve long term economic problems
unemployment was high
They spent a lot of money on defence expenditure
There was a lack of investment

How did the government deal with industrial relations?

Wilson hoped to improve the relations and win support of trade unions
Wilson thought that strikes contributed to the inflation and that relations needed to be more tightly regulated
it was difficult for them to reform the relations

What did the trade unions argue to the Government?

government investment was to blame for the lack of competitiveness
the governments attempt to limit wage increase was unfair and penalised those on a lower wage

Who supplied Labour with most of its money?

Trade unions

What was 'in place of strife' ?

proposals written by Barbra Castle which were:
If the strike was going to threaten national interest the government could call a ballot
employees had a legal right to join a trade union
workers who got unfairly dismissed were in right to compensation or their job back

when was 'in place of strife' introduced?

1968

Why did 'in place of strife' fail?

over 50 Labour MPs rebelled
the TUC argued that putting in legal sanctions 'taints criminality into industrial relations'
This did not get a good reception
There was a lot of resistance to this
The failure to this led to the fall of Labour

What were success of Wilson?

Hard working
wanted compromise not conflict
Due to his leadership style the government got a majority of 96
'man of the people'
pushed for technology development
expansion in education

What were failures of Wilson?

DEA Vs treasury - would not work together
'in place of strife' make unions angry and led to labour rebellion
lost the general election
high unemployment
had too many different economic policies
race relations - there were many riots
strikes

Why was the general election called in 1970?

The economy was improving
Labour was expected to win as they were ahead in the polls
Wilson wanted to gain another 5 year term

Why did the conservatives win the 1970 general election?

Labour weaknesses
Conservative strengths
Economic problems

What were the Labour weaknesses that allowed Conservatives to win in 1970?

Wilson was relaxed throughout the campaign as he thought he would win
Membership of the party fell so many Labour supporters did not vote
Trade unions became too powerful
THERE WAS SEEN TO BE A SHIFT IN IDEOLOGIES - MOVING MORE RIGHT
too much money spent on defence - not enough on welfare
Working class made poorer - less likely to vote
They abandoned their traditional socialist roots

What were the conservative strengths to win the 1970 election?

They were seen to be the stronger party
Edward Heath was seen to be a modern figure who was a good leader
they wanted to reduce the number of strikes
less state intervention
Britain would join the EEC
They promoted industry competition

How did Heaths style of leadership help the conservatives to win?

He relentlessly attacked the economic record of Labour
He had the backing of the press
Heath was seen to be popular and wanting to help the people

What were the economic problems which meant that Conservatives looked stronger? 1970

Labour had not helped the economy much
unemployment was high
The government did not control inflation
Wilson lied to the people about devalutation

How many seats did conservative and labour get in the election of 1970?

Conservative - 330
Labour - 287

What were the aims of Edward Heath?

Strengthen the economy
curb inflation
wanted to transform industrial relations
create 'one nation'
apply to the EEC

What problems did Heath face?

Inflation was difficult to control
British exports became more expensive because of the fall in the $
There were some unfavourable terms joining the EEC

What was the industrial relations act? 1971

This was set up to give a 60 day cooling off period before a strike was called
they also had to hold a ballot if there was going to be a potential strike

Why did Heath need industries to be competitive?

So they would benefit from the opportunities that joining the EEC raised

Why did the industrial relations act fail?

The act was unpopular with a lot of union members as it was similar to 'In Place of Strife'
The TUC wanted to make the act unworkable so they told people to de-register and defy the national industrial relations court

Why was there a miners strike in 1972?

The miners were working a dangeruos and dirty job for a very low pay
The miners wanted a 47% increase in their pay

What impact did the miners strike have on the government?

The government had to surrender to the miners
it weakened the government strategy to reduce inflation
it encouraged others to strike if they wanted higher pay
government looked weak
emphasised the failure of the industrial relations act

How was the miners strike successful?

Scargill organised flying pickets this meant that groups of miners went to different stations and persuaded other miners to join the strike
They prevented supplies of fuel from leaving the depot
The fact they did this in the winter meant that people needed the coal miners so the government want not prepared to deal with this

What was the 'U turn' policy?

Heath initially began by saying he wanted to stop so much state intervention - this did not last long
In 1971 the aircraft division in rolls-royce was nationalised as they were facing bankruptcy
Heath was not prepared to allow unemployment to rise so he increased state intervention
He provided aid to industries that needed it

What impact did the 'U turn' policy have?

It made him appear unsuccessful as he needed to intervene in industries

What was the oil crisis in 1973?

Two states - Egypt and Syria - went to war with Israel to try to recover lost land
The Middle - Eastern oil producing countries were angry so they cut back supplies and quadrupled their prices

How did the oil crisis affect Britain?

Britain relied on oil as 50% of its energy needed it

What did the miners do because of the oil crisis?

The miners went on strike and began an overtime ban
Heath tried to negotiate but this did not work
Heath got told that the strike was the bring down the conservatives

What were Heaths options to the strike?

accept it and risk making inflation worse
leave negotiations to the national coal board
introduce emergency power

What option did Heath go with as a result of the strikes?

Heath decided to introduce emergency power
This was going to be on a three day week
To cut down on petrol he introduced a 50mph speed limit
to save electricity TV stopped broadcasting at 10:30
As a result of this Heath decided to hold an election

When did Heath call an election?

February 1974

Why did Labour win the 1974 election?

They looked like the stronger party after the failures of the conservatives
Heath was seen to have lost control and was not working effectively

What problems did Labour face?

split in the party and relations with trade unions - left and right wing
The party was divided in the entry to the EEC so a referendum was held
Labour found it hard to deal with trade unions due to previous times
Inflation and stagnation were still a problem

What was the industrial relations like with Labour?

They introduced the social contract
this led to the unions co operating in control of wages
the government promised to provided improved welfare benefits

Was the social contract a success?

it did not solve economic difficulties
wage increase continued to exceed inflation rate
However, it did show that the trade unions and the government had shared objectives

What were economic problems that Labour faced?

The pound beginning to fall - people lost confidence in the pound and national bankruptcy was threatened
Inflation - this was still a massive problem for the party as inflation was still there, they tried to cut back on spending so that money was taken out to lower prices. Although it did lower for a bit the economy did not recover
production - there was poor production and high costs

What was the Lib-Lab pact?

Labour were working off a minority government, this meant that they did not have loads of control
Callaghan negotiated with the new leader David Steel (liberal)
This negotiation meant that the 13 Liberal MPs agreed to support the Labour government
This gave them a bigger majority

What was 'the winter of discontent'?

This was a name that the newspaper gave to a series of industrial disputes:
Inflation rose and wages were frozen at a 5% increase and unions pushed for a larger wage increase
There were strikes in the winter 1978-79 this was in the public services such as rubbish men as they demanded a 30% increase - rubbish began to pile up in the streets
Callaghan was seen to be out of touch
The government failed to keep its promises
this made labour look as if they couldn't control the economy or unions

What promise did Labour fail to keep?

Devolution in Scotland and Wales this meant that they would have some self governing

When was the end of the Labour government?

1979

What three elections did Thatcher win?

1979
1983
1987

Why did the conservatives with the elections? (thatcher)

Conservative strengths
Labour weaknesses
Thatchers personality
In essay write about social, political, economic

Why was Thatcher able to win the 1979 election?

Thatcher was seen to be someone who was going to bring about something new
she was popular with voters
she gained the popularity from traditional labour voters

Why was Thatcher able to win the 1983 election?

She gained respect after the Falklands war
People had confidence in her
Labour weaknesses allowed her to win
The conservative party looked stronger

Why was Thatcher able to win the 1987 election?

She did things that the people wanted such as selling out council houses
she appealed to the people
Thatcher was a stronger leader
The new labour leader (Kinnock) was criticised

What were the Conservative strengths in the elections?

Thatcher was seen to be a strong leader
Due to the falklands war- 1982 Thatcher gained respect and confidence
She appealed to the people - selling of council houses

What were the Labour weaknesses in the elections?

Due to not dealing with the problems; inflation, unemployment, they were being punished
The votes they did not get went to the conservatives
They were divided
Didn't have a plan

How did Thatchers personality affect the elections?

She was charismatic
she was a strong and purposeful leader
she had a growing international reputation and had a strong hold over her colleagues

What did Thatchers control see an end of?

Consensus politics

What positive impact did Thatcher have on Britian?

The Falklands - Thatcher sent troops to the Falklands to regain the island from the Argentinians this victory gained her respect and made Britain more confident
Selling of council houses - this appealed to the people and allowed people who worked hard to own their home, this increased homeownership in britain
The rise of the pound - this made Britain more stable but also overseas it meant people were more confident

What negative impact did Thatcher have on Britian?

economically she did not help industries that were struggling this meant that unemployment rose because businesses began to fall
poll tax - this was an introduced on people to vote (over 18) this meant with rising unemployment people did not have as much money
Direct - indirect tax meant that people could not buy as much as they did not have as much money
constrictive politics and she helped those on a high income and didn't those on a low income
she only followed her aims
by the end of her time there was massive division in her party