political environment

opportunities and setbacks after ww1

Economic:

• Increased female employment (esp. in traditionally men’s fields)

• Men returning back to their jobs

• Union movements starting up

Social:

• 1.1 mil deaths

• Need for welfare (e.g insurance, healthcare)

Political:

• Suffrage movement

• Labour established as a political party

• Criticisms of war-time gov — ‘lions led by donkeys’

• Extension of the franchise; voting

Extension of the franchise — ‘representation of the people act’ March 1918 passed by the liberal party. Right to vote now awarded to:

• All men 21+

• Wealthy women 30+

decline of the liberal party

• Rep. of the people act 1918

  • Greater electoral involvement = less liberal votes

    • Wealthy women voting for conservatives, working class men voting labour

• Pre-1918 problems

  • 1915 coalition with conservatives

    • Abandoning principals?

  • 1916 military conscription

    • Removing free choice?

  • Suffrage campaigns against liberal gov

• Party split 1916

  • Asquith and other liberal members disagreed with Lloyd George’s coalition, split the party into two and divided voters

• ‘Cash for honours’ 1922

  • Lloyd George’s scandal over selling knighthoods

  • 1,500 knighthoods and 100 peerages sold

• Rise of labour

  • Labour began as a union for workers, guaranteed support by members when they got the right to vote

  • 1 mil affiliated members by 1906

  • Liberal gov created wages for MPs in 1911, allowed for there to be more working class politicians

labour failing to become the dominant force

• 1924 election victory as minority gov with controversial liberal party

• MacDonald ‘vote of no confidence’ — decision if he is fit for office or not

• Red scare spun by media

  • Campbell case: socialist newspaper ‘worker’s weekly’ accused of inciting mutiny (“turn your weapons on your oppressors”)

  • Zinoviev letter: forged letter published in the Daily Mail that presented Labour as preparing for revolution with Russia

national gov 1931-45

During the great dep, George V called for a coalition between political parties to recover Britain’s economy and living standard. It was led by Macdonald and contained members of many different parties, after the collapse of the government. Many didn’t like the labour party because they thought they were putting their own and union’s interests before the country, while Macdonald was the national gov’s leader, conservatives had the majority of the seats.

• Gov implemented spending cuts to alleviate the economic crisis which led to a naval mutiny (in Invergordon), as well as tariffs and the end of the gold standard which eventually stabilised economy

• Labour’s new leader Attlee eventually recovered from the voting slump of 1931 during 1935 general election

• Fascism on the rise, British union of fascists lead by Mosley had 50,000 members by 1934

  • Public order act 1936 banned uniforms and demonstrations which meant the party soon died out

• Rearmament under Baldwin — Navy and Army were expanded and reorganised, RAF increased to 40 squadrons

  • Labour was divided on rearmament, left-leaning members believed it would make war more likely because it was provocative and centre-leaning members like Attlee believed that collective security would make war impossible

• Appeasement under Chamberlain — negotiations with Hitler, Munich agreement 1938 allowed for annexation with Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia

  • Chamberlain can be presented as spineless by historians but he was conscious of Hitler and the threat of war and saw the rearmament in 1935 as vital

• Churchill leads the country during the war

• Post-ww2, parties all agree to fix the economy and establish a welfare state

consensus 1945-79

Beveridge report 1942:

• Sets out vision for state welfare

• ‘Five evils’ — squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, disease

• Popular with public

• Labour’s manifesto 1945 inspired by the report, promises of improving housing and ect.

Labour and conservative parties agreed on post-war action — political consensus 1945-79:

• Maintain ‘full employment’

• Mixed economy with nationalisation of heavy industry

• NHS and welfare state

• Co-operation between government, industry and trade unions

After war, labour landslide under Attlee. Churchill was a war hero but he had spoken against welfare so public trusted that labour would be able to put systems in place. Churchill was also out of favour due to the hardships faced previously under conservative governments and accusing labour of wanting to set up a ‘gestapo’.

• Set up the NHS

• Created National insurance and housing

• Education act

• Investment into nuclear weapons

During the 1950s, embourgeoisement of the working class meant less people were likely to vote for labour. The continuing of rationing (especially on bread, which only started being restricted after the war) and 1949 taxation (45%).

1951 general election:

• Most of Attlee’s ministers got ill or died while in office, including Ernst Bevin and the resignation Stafford Cripps

• Military spending on Korean war and Gaitskell’s austerity budget (prescription charges for glasses and dentistry) lead to resignation of Aneurin Bevin

• Due to Attlee’s lack of authority, he called an election in 1951 and lost to conservatives

conservative dominance 1951-64

• Conservatives won next to general elections in 1955 and 1959

• Butskellism policies for welfare and economy

• Eden comes to power in 1955

  • Lowest unemployment in recent history, only 215,000 out of work (1% of workforce)

  • 1956: Suez canal (under British and French control) became occupied by Egyptian president Nasser, his relationship with USSR made Britain worried

  • Britain agrees to invade with France and Israel because Eden wanted to have a strong image and not be humiliated by Nasser

  • Eisenhower reacted with anger when he found out about Britain’s part in the invasion because he hadn’t been consulted

  • Eisenhower threatens to sell US reserves of British currency to collapse the value of the point, in order to prevent economic crisis, Britain withdraws

  • Eden resigns in 1957

• Macmillan replaces Eden

• his government was very popular due to high living standards/wages, low unemployment and declining social inequalities

• 1959: 3 members of Macmillan’s government resign, including chancellor Thorneycroft

  • They believed Macmillan was overspending, which would lead to economic problems for the future

  • They believed inflation was a higher threat than unemployment and proposed cuts and higher taxation to take out excess money they believed was causing the inflation

  • It was an embarrassment for the gov, but didn’t make a big impression on the public, who were living comfortable lives

• 1962: conservative party popularity was declining because they were viewed as old, privileged men

  • Macmillan and other members were upper-class and privileged (35 former Etonians in his government)

  • The conservatives were seen as being out of touch, removed from the lives of regular people and said by Labour’s Gaitskell and Wilson to be holding back Britain and came to power through their connections, not ability

  • Macmillan sacked 7 ministers in ‘the night of the long knives’ and replaced them with younger men

  • This broke away from the stereotypical image of conservatives

  • JFK as a president also made youthful politicians popular

• During the height of the cold war, there were 3 spy scandals including the Profumo scandal (Secretary of state for war admitted to having an affair with Christine Keeler who had been in a relationship with a Russian attaché) which made the conservative party less trusted by the public

• Macmillan resigns in 1963 and is replaced by Douglas-Home, who was ridiculed for formerly being an Earl, conservatives were out of favour with the public

government during 1964-79

• Wilson won the general election in 1964 after 13 years of conservative dominance

• His government achieved significant social and educational reforms, such as:

  • Building new universities

  • Changing laws on abortion, homosexuality and the death penalty

• However, there were still many economic problems within his government and the end of the 60s saw growing unemployment and striking

• In 1970, conservative Heath defeated Wilson, he wanted to bring radical political change by breaking consensus on size of state and commitment to full employment, proposing tax and spending cuts and Wilson’s income policy (where government set wages)

• Striking during Heath’s government lead to his defeat to Wilson winning with a minority gov with liberals (lead to divisions within the party)

• Callaghan became prime minister after Wilson resigned, he was pragmatic and made decisions to abandon aspects of consensus in order to stabilise the economy

• Callaghan had been popular but after striking, he lost to Thatcher in 1979