1 A Changing Political And Economic Environment

Question 1

What was the 1918 Maurice debate

Answer 1

-Caused more bitterness between Asquith and DLG
-general Maurice wrote a public letter accusing DLG of lying about the number of British troops on the western front
-Asquith left the attack on DLG when discussed in parliament

Question 2

What was the coupon election 1918

Answer 2

-the coupon was a latter issued by DLG and Tory leader Andrew Bonar law, to parliamentary candidates who stood for the coalition
- the tories who hadn’t won an election since 1900, felt they needed the prestige of the man who won the war to boost their votes, and DLG needed Tory support because many liberal MPs stayed loyal to asquith
-the liberals were divided into two camps

Question 3

What was 1918 ROPA

Answer 3

-all men over the age of 21 were allowed to vote, with no wealth or property restrictions
-allowed some women to vote in a general election for the first time as a reward for their wartime contribution
-until 1928, there were several restrictions on which women could vote, they had to be 30 or over

Question 4

How did 1918 ropa affect the electorate

Answer 4

-From 7.7million yo 21.4 million
-the industrial working classes now made up 80% of the electorate

Question 5

How could it be argued that the Labour party didn’t actually benefit from the ex[anded electorate

Answer 5

• only a small increase in the working class majority, from 76% to 80%
  -this is because the removal of residency restrictions affected men of all classes rather than just manual workers
  -working class women were more likely to vote conservative because they stood for stability and family values

Question 6

What happened at the Leamington party conference

Answer 6

In may 1920, asquith liberals voted to eject DLG supporters because DLG had made unsuccessful efforts o convert the temporary liberal conservative coalition into a permanent anti labour centre party

Question 7

What happened with cash for honours

Answer 7

• honours, usually titles or lords, are granted in exchange for political donations or direct cash payments to politicians
  -DLG had gathered a huge political fund through this but refused to share any of it with the liberal party until they started to follow his ideas
  -without this money, the liberals could not maintain an effective local party machine

Question 8

When did DLG eventually agree to hand over the money

Answer 8

-When Asquith stepped down as leader in 1926
-thr party then put forward some impressive policies but by this point, it was too late, labour had replaced them as the preferred party

Question 9

What was the 1922 Chanak incident

Answer 9

• the Turks wanted to force the Greek British and French troops out pop occupied positions in turkey
  -when Turkish troops marched on British positions, DLG and Churchill wanted war
  -army generals and the public opposed war and a negotiated settlement was agreed
  -this led most tories to eventually reject the coalition and DLG forced to resign as PM and led a much smaller group life liberal MPs

Question 10

How did the first past the post system affect politics

Answer 10

• favoured a two party contest
  -despite sizeable electoral support, the liberals failed to convert this into parliamentary sears and remained a small third party in the 1930s and beyond
  -the failure of the liberals to explore a revision of the fptp system in 1917-18 made it very difficult for them

Question 11

How did labour fare in the 1923 election

Answer 11

Gained more votes than the liberal party and, in 1924, Ramsay macdnald became the first labour MP

Question 12

How were Labour different to the liberals

Answer 12

• they emerged united at the end of the war

Question 13

What did the war lead to, that helped the Labour Party

Answer 13

• huge growth in trade unpin membership - the unions funded party from membership fees and provided the vast bulk of party membership
  -thanks to union banking, labour ran a successful local political machine and fielded similar numbers of candidates to the tories in the 22,23,24 elections

Question 14

How was the liberal split important for thr Labour Party

Answer 14

• Asquith backed a minority Labour government after the 1923 election because he thought it would do a bad job and would be forced to rely on liberal support
• asquith made a mistake, macdonald ruled with economic caution and impressed everyone with his conduct of foreign affairs

Question 15

What was the Campbell case

Answer 15

• left wing journalist, Campbell, had written an article in a communist newspaper, workers weekly, calling on working class soldiers not to shoot at fellow workers on the other side
  -when Campbell was threatened with prosecution for inciting mutiny, macdonald had the case dropped
  -macdonald now faced a vote of no confidence and his resignation resulted in general election

Question 16

What was the zinoviev letter

Answer 16

-four days before the general election where macdonald resigned, the daily mail printed a letter supposedly written by zinoviev, a leading soviet politician, to the British communist party
-it said that labour had promoted communism by recognising the Soviet Union

Question 17

Who did Benjamin Disraeli rebrand the Conservative Party in 1872

Answer 17

-he promoted the conservatives as a one nation Tory that views society as organic and value paternalism and pragmatism, things that appealed to many working class voters

Question 18

Why was Stanley Baldwin an usual leader for the tories

Answer 18

-he was from a wealthy family, who owned a steel company

Question 19

How did Baldwin govern the tories

Answer 19

-he pioneered the use of radio to talk directly to the people and had a reputation for calling a spade a spade (not beating around the bush)
-he ran his factories fairly and was keen to promote harmony between workers
-he promoted class based politics

Question 20

How did Baldwin win over DLG’s remaining supporters during the 1922 Carlton club meeting

Answer 20

-he adopted protectionism (the use of import taxes to make foreign goods more expensive than domestic ones) in 1923, then dropping it in 1924 when voters rejected it
- in doing so, Baldwin removed the one issue that had reunited the liberals, free trade

Question 21

Why did many view Baldwin to be dull

Answer 21

• safety first slogan in 1929 election
• however many working class people respected his financial capacity.
  -his aim to attract remaining wealthy middle class liberals to the Tory party as the best defence against Labour succeeded

Question 22

What happened at the 1922 Carlton club meeting

Answer 22

A meeting of Conservative Party MPs in order to discuss whether the conservatives should stay in the coalition with dlg’s liberals
-Baldwin and bonar law spearheaded the opposition to the coalition and the opposition won by 187 votes to 87
-conservative ministers who had served in the coalition and votes against it resigned from government, triggering dlg’s resignation
- bonar law became prime minister

Question 23

How did the conservatives fare in interwar elections

Answer 23

• until 1948 representation of the people act, the plural vote allowed Oxford and Cambridge univisites and city of London to return 14 MPs, almost always tort, between them. Because of a loophole, graduates who resided for part of the time in their uni town were able to vote in more than one constituency.
  -the first past the post system with the uneven distribution of votes benefited the tories w

Question 24

What was the national government

Answer 24

A coalition government, especially one subordinating party differences to the nation interest in time of a crisis

Question 25

Why did Baldwin decide to join the coalition with macdonald

Answer 25

• Baldwin saw that macdonald would bear the blame for unpopular economic measures, leaving the day clear for a conservative triumph when the situation improved

Question 26

Why did Baldwin effectively serve as pm from 1931

Answer 26

Macdonalds health began to fall
-when macdonald resigned in 1925, Baldwin was elected for a third time

Question 27

How did Baldwin third time in office get off to a rocky start

Answer 27

He had a plan to appease racism italy by giving them 2/3 of Abyssinia
- Baldwin and foreign secretary hoare had to abandon the plan and pledge to work with the League of Nations to achieve peace in Abyssinia because the plan was so unpopular

Question 28

How did people attack Baldwin over rearmament

Answer 28

-someone wanted rapid rearmament to face the growing threat of nazi germany, others wanted disarmament and clear cooperation with the League of Nations

Question 29

How had Baldwin been accused of appeasing hitler after the second wold war

Answer 29

-in 1935, Baldwin said britain would increase spending on rearmament to fulfil any military requests from the League of Nations
- no one in 1935 could predict the course of events that culminated in the outbreak of ww2 in 1939, but Baldwin was still attacked

Question 30

Who replaced Baldwin

Answer 30

Neville chamberlain

Question 31

Why was Neville chamberlain popular with the public

Answer 31

• was well linked for his successful creation of new homes and for his assured, personable, performances on cinema newsreels as a chancellor of the exchequer
  -his attempts to find peace in our time were hugely popular

Question 32

What did Neville chamberlain do in 1938

Answer 32

-flew three times to meet hitler to resolve a crisis brought on by Hitler expansionism
-chamberlain thought he had been successful but Churchill was critical of chamberlains appeasement of Hitler

Question 33

Who was chamberlain replaced by

Answer 33

Churchill

Question 34

Why was Churchill appointed

Answer 34

-thanks to his backing among labour and liberal MPs

Question 35

Why did the national government last for 14 years, despite only meaning to be temporary

Answer 35

-it held the centre ground while extreme political parties failed to attract support

Question 36

Who was Oswald Mosley

Answer 36

-had been a promising Labour MP before he became disillusioned with the lack of innovation in tackling the economic crisis
-he founded the new party to promote his own ideas about the 1931 election, but only gained 0.2 % of the vote
-1932, formed British union of fascists

Question 37

What was the aim of the British union of fascists

Answer 37

-aim of emulation the Italian dictatorship of Mussolini
-the BUF was racism and anti semitic
-on October 1936, a BUF march through east London , turned into a violent clash that became known as the battle of cable street

Question 38

What made Mosley and the BUF so unpopular

Answer 38

-the struggle against racism in the Second World War
-Mosley was imprisoned for three years and the bUF was banned

Question 39

Were the communist party of Great Britain popular

Answer 39

-gained one mp in 1924 and 1935 and two in 1945
-however with a maximum of 0.4%of the vote, it was clear that British voters rejected the CPGB

Question 40

Why did voters reject the CPGB

Answer 40

-due to the strengths and traditions of the trade union and labour movements

Question 41

Why did some people support the CPGB

Answer 41

-due to the role of soviet Russia, the only communist states in defeating nazi Germany UNTIL HITLER ATTACKED RUSSIA IN JUNE 1941

Question 42

-How did the CPGB infiltrate politics

Answer 42

-a few inner city councils and through entryism into the Labour Party
-communist would conceal their true loyalities and infiltrate the Labour Party to try and steer national politics further to the left

Question 43

What is total war (ww2)

Answer 43

A war which is unrestrictive in terms of weapons used, the territory or combats involved or the objectives pursued, especially one which the accepted rules of war are disregarded

Question 44

What was the 1940 emergency powers act

Answer 44

Gave wide ranging powers over the British people to the government

Question 45

What was churchills role during ww2

Answer 45

• prime minister and minister for defence
  -he oversaw the home front and played a leading role in military strategy

Question 46

What were churchills most significant successes

Answer 46

• in the maintenance of domestic morale - his speeches were inspirational, as was his will to win and dynamic leadership

Question 47

Why did Labour win the 1945 election, despite Churchill having won the war

Answer 47

• conservative defeat was due,voters had memories of Tory failure of homes fit for heroes after ww1 or solve the 1930s depression
  -lacklustre campaign by Churchill, criticised for tarnishing labour as a dangerous party who might use secret police to enforce radical change
  -Attlee worked hard to secure votes, far more in tune with the demands and expectations of British people- promised to implement 1942 beverage report
  -Attlee had served with distinction as deputy pm
  -Ernest Bevin, trade union roots, successfully minimised strikes and maximised output as minister for labour, became foreign secretary

Question 48

What was nationalisation (post war consensus)

Answer 48

-the process by which governments take over the ownership and running of private firms

Question 49

Which industries were nationalise after the war

Answer 49

-coal mining and creation of NHS

Question 50

Despite tories being in power for 17 years between 1945=79, why did they not argue with labour

Answer 50

-labour reforms were not as radical or socialist as they might have been

Question 51

What did labour want to do after their 1945 win

Answer 51

-Attlee and his colleagues wanted to create a mixed economy, or middle way to prevent failures and curbs the excesses of capitalism that had caused misery in 1930

Question 52

Who was Anthony Eden

Answer 52

• pm 1955-57
• was a one nation Tory, care for the poorest sections of society as a father cares for his children
  -he also called for them to build positive relations with the poor based on shared identities such s national greatness

Question 53

Why did Attlees government nationalise Bank of England, gas and iron and steel

Answer 53

-to improve the efficiency of failing industries and save jobs
-to improve worker employer relations in industry
To put the needs of the community above profit, such as through the creation of a national transport system that provided a service for remote settlements

Question 54

What is a period of austerity

Answer 54

A hard and disciplined approach in order to restore economic stability after the Second World War

Question 55

How was austerity introduced

Answer 55

-wartime rationing on several foods was extended until 1951, such as tea sugar and butter, even foods such as bread (1947-48) which hadn’t been rationed during the war
- building materials were only allocated to essential reconstruction projects and industrial recovery
-controls were placed on maximum levels of rents and profits and nterest rates

Question 56

Why did the government receive criticism for austerity

Answer 56

• from the right, for too much interference and spending
  -the left who thought there was not enough planning or real change
  -by 1950-51, from Marshall aid, enabled some remarkable reforms in welfare provision at a time of severe economic difficulty

Question 57

How much political consensus was there in 1979

Answer 57

-Britain voted for an end to post war consensus
-thatcher wanted to kill off creeping socialism in the Tory party in britain

Question 58

Why did many Britons reject post war consensus

Answer 58

-the Keynesian economic policies- governments should borrow in a time of recession to spend and stimulate demand and growth in the economy, went against the view that governments should aim to balance the books and not interfere too much
-Edward heath, tory pm 1970-74, had tried but failed to break the post war consensus
-it took a winter of discontent in 1978-79 before British electorate opted for thatchers tough solutions

Question 59

how did the first world war affect loss of trade

Answer 59

• before 1914, worlds leading trading nation, the war led to a collapse in trade largely because all available shipping had been used in an attempt to import essential war supplies
  -economic rivals like the USA and Japan filled the gap left by the decline in British exports

Question 60

how did ww1 affect debt

Answer 60

• once Britain had spent its reserves of gold and sold its overseas assets, it was forced to borrow £850 million to fight the last two years of the war

Question 61

how did ww1 affect the value of the pound

Answer 61

• before the war, the value of the pound, was fixed to the price of gold
  -this guarded against inflation as governments could not simply print money
  -the cost of the war meant that Britain had to abandon the gold standard in 1914 and no longer circulated gold coins
• instead printed more paper money

Question 62

how did ww1 affect inflation

Answer 62

• invreased to 25% by 1918

Question 63

how did ww1 affect technological development

Answer 63

-accelerated it, with major advances in the aircraft industry, radio communications, car industry and medicine
-wider use of machine tools and assembly line techniques, which encouraged the employment of unskilled workers

Question 64

why did traditional industries such as mining and steel suffer

Answer 64

-struggled to compete with new international rivals
-british investors were slow to back new industries and continued to seek overseas opportunities for investment, as they had done before the war

Question 65

how did ww1 affect trade unions

Answer 65

-had never been larger or more powerful
-up from 4 million members in 1913 o 6.5million in 1918
-they were able to secure reduced working hours from 57 to 47 per week, without pay cuts

Question 66

how did britian try to tackle tax, spending and balancing the budget

Answer 66

-taxes were raised each year after 1919 from £18 per capita in 1919 to £24 per capita in 1922
-government spending cut dramatically
-1922 Geddes Axe- cuts in spending on education, pensions, unemployment benefits, housing and health from £206M to £182M. also prompted cuts in defence from £190M to £111M

Question 67

how did the government try to tackle interest rates and the value of the pound

Answer 67

-high rate of interest to reduce inflation and to encourage foreigners to buy pounds
-this increased the valued the pound against other currencies
-return to the gold standard in 1925
-high interest rates made it more expensive for businesses to borrow and invest and made people more likely to save than spend
-high exchange rates made british exports more expensive
-contributed to the end of the brief post war boom

Question 68

how did the government tackle protectionism

Answer 68

-baldwin tried to do a more general programme of tariffs and protection, but this was rejected by an electorate who feared more expensive food imports
-unemployment, never fell below 1 million between the wars, and rose to 23% during the worst years of the slump 1932-33
-regional variations - 60% unemployment in shipbuilding areas and 49% in iron and steel

Question 70

What caused economic decline in the 1930s

Answer 70

The Wall Street crash led to a collapse in tradeand meant that many European nations were unable to repay debts to Britain
British banks especially began to panic about the loss of money loaned to Germany

Question 71

What was the trigger for the change of economic policy following the Wall Street crash

Answer 71

The mutiny of 12,000 sailors in opposition to pay cuts at invergodron, Scotland.five days later, Britain left the gold standard and the pound was allowed to float against other currencies and it quickly depreciated in value

Question 72

How did Britain leaving the gold standard in the thirties lead to to economic success by the mid 1930s

Answer 72

British exports became 25% and more competitive
Interest rates could be cut from 6 to 2 %
Then rate of long term government borrowing was cut from 5 to 3.5 years which slashed the cost of government debt repayment and allowed for increased spending in areas such as a restoration of unemployment benefits in 1934
Availability of cheaper mortgages fuelled a boom in house construction
Employment was boosted by huge expansion of rearmament in 1935, a further 15% of workers found jobs in old industries such as steel, iron and shipbuilding
All of this meant that americas Great Depression wasn’t as hard on uk as rest of continental Europe

Question 73

What was the economic situation like 1931-59, national government

Answer 73

Registration for employment was made compulsory in 194, government issued 8.5 million essential work orders. By 1945, 3.2milliob people had work in munitions, 4 million in other war work and 5.5 million conscripted
The war also lent weight to the theories of Keynes, who before 1939 argued that rather than to aim to balance the budgets in hard times, the government should borrow and spend more money to stimulate a recovery

Question 74

what repsonses were there to economic challenges 1951-79

Answer 74

Butskellism- the conservatives accepted labours post war reforms and subscribed to the same Keynesian approach

Question 75

What issues was butsjellism unable to solve

Answer 75

Inflation - raising taxes and limiting pay icreases worked in the short term but they were unable to prevent the build up of inflationary pressure
Unemployment - conservatives also pledged to maintain full employment but were accused of using popular ‘go’ strategies before elections, putting political gain ahead of economic stability
Slow growth = grew at a slower rate that its competitors, only 2.3% a year.this was due to lack of o investment in development in other areas than defence

Question 76

How did we fail to cope with stagflation 1964-79

Answer 76

Attempts were made to improve planning and increase investment of new tech, failed to make a substantial impact due to continuing inflation unemployment and slow growth
Instead of planning, labour responded to problems with the same stop go measures as the tories before them. However the most damaging lack of consistency was over the value of the pound
In November 1967, Wilson was forced to cut the value prof the pound and suffered a huge loss of credibility
Opec raised oil prices by 70% in relatiation for American support of Israel during the Yom Kippur war. By 1974, oil prices had risen 400% which contributed to more general inflation which was as high as 25% in 1976 due to increased cost of energy
Labour then tried to cap prices and wages and to cut spending which was unpopular with voters and trade union backers, unemployment doubled 1974-76
These issues together with mounting trade union anger, led to the winter of discontent 1978-79 which finally blew consensus politics apart

Question 77

How did industrial relations change 1918-39

Answer 77

-traditional industries fared worse, such as areas like Durham and Lancashire, heavily reliant on exports and during the Great War lost their share of the market as rivals were able to fill the gaps when British cotton and steel were unavailable. European factories forced to buy new machinery because factories destroyed
-london and the West Midlands did better even during the ‘hungry’ 1930s
-the Great Depression further decline in demand for ships,steel coal and textiles, unemployment rose to 3 ,million 1932-33. In 1932, the people who had been unemployed for a year rose to 16.2 percent

Question 78

Causes of the general strike?

Answer 78

-miners felt underpaid for their vital work
-miners federation of Great Britain represented 1 million miners - the 1919 sanky commission,set up by government to investigate wages working hours and nationalisation of the coal industry, miners handed back to private owners in 1921
-pay soon failed to keep up with prices, unlike German and polish rivals, many owners had not invested in mechanisation and 80% of British coal was still mined with a pickaxe
-mine owners increased the working day by one hour to eight hours, government t subsidised miners wages for nine months, only to prepare for the inevitable clash
-1926, the Samuel commission recommended radical restructuring of the coal industry but also a pay cut for miners
-miners rejected with the slogan ‘not a minute on the day, not a penny off the pay’ and called for TUC who supported the strike.
-tuc prepared to negotiate with the government but Baldwin used a strike by printers at the daily mail to declare a state of emergency
-tuc then followed through with its threat of a general strike, three million industrial workers went on strike on sympathy , yet 9 days later it was all over

Question 79

Why did the general strike fail

Answer 79

Not all workers went on strike in sympathy, only those in printing, heavy industry energy textiles and transport
Government had been preparing for a strike since July 1925 and had created the organisation for the maintenance of supplies
-Churchill put in charge of a government newspaper the British gazette which turned public opinion against the strike with its hostile propaganda
-tuc tried to limit violence so easier to handle for government
-Herbert Samual, liberal, Samuel memorandum- national board of wages to be set up, wage subsidies and no pay cuts before the restructuring of mining which the TUC accepted

Question 80

Changing working opportunities 39-79

Answer 80

-total numbers of workers increased despite rises in the school leaving age and a fall in the average age of retirement
-huge falls in the numbers of miners and shipwrights
-marked growth in white collar industries

Question 81

Reasons for growth in white collar work

Answer 81

-high disposable income- increased demand for goods and services such as restaurants
-increased government spending on services such as health and education

Question 82

What impact did the shift in employment have on industrial relations

Answer 82

• managerial structures in white collar firms were far less distant than in industry
  -white collar firms less likely to be unionised and less likely to strike
  -the decline in the overall importance of masculine blue collar employment gave more work opportunities to women

Question 83

Why were there persistent limits to women employment

Answer 83

-until the 1980s, most were traditionally blue collar male jobs
-until 1972, most working class girls left school at 15 or took classes in childcare or hairdressing
-almost a third of all women were still teenagers when they got married
-employers not prepared to hire mothers

Question 84

How did situations for women in the workplace begin to change

Answer 84

-ww2 fuelled female desire to work even tho Jon’s were tedious or dangerous
-nu,her of white collar jobs increased
-social changes in 60s and 70s - successful strike by female sewing machinists at ford in Liverpool and east London closed factories for three weeks, and won a pay deal of just over 90% of the men’s rate

Question 85

What acts were passed to help women in the workplace

Answer 85

• equal pay across 1970, remained voluntary for business Inuit 1975, many still claimed that the work men and women did was different
  -sex discrimination act 1975, made it illegal to treat workers of one gender less favourably that the other, in practice it was difficult and expensive for women to bring their discrimination claims to court
  -the employment protection act 1975, made it illegal to sack women because they were pregnant, gave them the right to maternity leave and pay and to return to their jobs if they wished

DESPITE THIS, women were still disporopoatiantely employed ion lower paid, lower skilled and part time work, women were under represented in senior management positions, known as glass ceiling

Question 86

Industrial reations during and after ww2

Answer 86

-wartime full employment
-strengthened thre bargaining positions of trade unions
-led to the inclusion of trade unionists in many government decision making bodies, eg the appointment of Bevin (transport and general workers union) as minister for labour and national service in 1940
-

Question 87

Industrial relations before 1972

Answer 87

-economy failed to grow as rapidly as rival economies abroad. Jobs were lost as a result. Occasional serious strikes throughout this period , including a national seamen’s strike in 1966
-Barbara castles 1969 white paper ‘in place of strife’ would have undermined union strength, but never implemented due to its unpopularity
-heath tried but failed to curtail union power because unions were not forced to sign up to the national industrial relations court which would have judged the legality of strike action

Question 88

Industrial relations 1972-79

Answer 88

-1971, national union of miners, demanded a 43% pay increase, and the government only offered 8%. The NUM called for 280,000 workers to go on strike and th government declared a state of emergency and a three day week. Called off after the government offered a 27% pay rise
-despite a pay board to examine wage deals and a price commission to limit price increases, teachers, hospital staff, train drivers, ford workers and gasmen went on strike
-1973 oil crisis, the NUM demanded a further 35% pay increase and 81% of miners voted to go on strike, but heaths general election slogan who governs Britain defeated the miners
-1979, oil tanker and lorry drivers went on strike, ttankers got a pay rise and went back to work but lorry drivers held out for 6 weeks, where they refused to deliver goods but picketed ports to stop supplies reaching industry
-1,5 million public sector workers went on strike, almost all. Schools shut and public sector buildings - hospitals only able to treat emergency cases. Huge piles of rubbish began to pile up. Liverpool hravediggerd went on strike. Government accepted defeat and and allowed pay increases of 10-15%