1979-1990 Flashcards
what are 5 facts that give an overview of thatcher
-a ‘conviction politician’ (strong opinions, acts out or principle rather than political expediency)
-strong aversion to consensus politics (devoid of principle/lack of political conviction)-believed in ‘new right’ conservatism
- the ideas of freidrich hayek and keith joseph led her beliefs
-middle class-father was a grocer/methodist upbringing
-went to oxford/studied law
what were freidrich hayeks beliefs
-critic of Keynesian economics shown in his book ‘the road to serfdom’ and supported free market and believed it was the best guarantee of economic/poltiical liberty and he had a distrust of unions because their power caused unemployment and lost democratic freedoms
what were thatchers main 5 beliefs
-the welfare system created a dependency culture, the hard working were subsidising the work shy-wanted individual accountability
-the state was too big (welfare/universal healthcare amounted to 31% of public spending-fuelled high prises)
-unions were too powerful
-britain was facing moral decay
-britain was hooked on borrowing
what did she believe were the principle solutions to her beliefs
-privatisation
-reform unions
-cut public spending
-tax cuts
-her gov-‘rolling back its froniters’
what was her majority after the 1979 election
43-allowed radical change
who was in thatchers cabinet
-norman tebbit (trade secretary)
-sir geoffrey howe(c of e 79-83 foreign minister 83-89)
-nigel lawson (c of e 83-89)
-willie whitelaw
-keith joseph
-jim prior (employment minister)
-micheal heseltine (leading cons politician-resigned 86)
-she was described as a ‘cabinet dictator’
how did thatcher increase her majority from 1979 to 1983
-personal ideology
-poor electoral performance of labour
-falklands
what were the 5 initial economic problems thatcher identified
-high gov spending=too much borrowing/tax/inflation
-gov unnecessarily interfered in economy,didnt agree with full employment (wanted free market)
-growth of bureaucracy meant civil servants/officials intruded peoples lives
-powerful unions created continual increase in wages but a decrease in productivity
-needed to reverse the ‘harmful trends’ successive govs had allowed to develop(stop go)
what is monetarism
theory associated with milton friedman, root cause of inflation was gov spending so gov needed to restrict money in circulation and reduce public expenditure (aligned with institute of economic affairs which was set up to show the growing power of the state was a threat to individual liberties)
between 1979-1983 how did she handle the economy
- 1979 and 1981 budgets she cut gov spending/froze benefits to reverse PSBR defecit (won’t subsidise industries)
-increased interest rates to 16% to keep pound strong/prevent borrowing
-wanted redistribution of wealth
what was her economy like 79-83
-initially inflation fell from 19% to 5% then there was a recession it increased to 18% in 1980
-unemployment rose from 1.2mil to 3mil
-industrial output fell by 11%
-£ rose to £2.45 vs the dollar (bad for export based industries eg engineering)
what was the consequences of her bad economy 79-83
-social unrest (opinion polls declined significantly)
eg april 1981 brixton, black youths ran riot, burning shops, looting property
eg more riots july st pauls region(bristol), moss side (manchester),totem area(liverpool)
-gov took a tough approach and norman tebbit urged thatcher not to allow the riots to deflect her from her policies
-scarman report on inquiry into riots highlighted problems of racial disadvantage and inner city decline (found indiscriminate use of sus law)
why was there social unrest 79-83
-unemployment (poor job prospects in deprived inner city areas), the south was doing better
-alienation of young black people/discrimination eg in april over 6 day period the ‘sun’ law was used on over 1000 people
-unemployment in brixton=55% for black youths
what is a quote from the cons part conference 1980
‘the ladys not for turning’
what was the context of the falklands
-legal ownership/sovereignty of the islands complicated between argentina and britain
- falklands legally been a british dependancy since 1833 and in 1982 98% of the pop wished to remain under the british flag but argentina also claimed them who calls them ‘las malvinas’
-initially when thatcher came to power nicholas ridley (minister at the foreign office) proposed a ‘leaseback’ where britain would have ultimate sovereignty but argentina could administer the region as it own (a settlement but was ignored)
what happened with the falklands
-2 april 1982 general galtrieri (argentina dictator/president of military junta) ordered 4000 troops to invade/seize the falklands and they resisted the garrison of 80 royal marines (condemned by britain)
-8 april 1982 british forces sailed from portsmouth to southampton/ south georgia was recaptured
-1 may air strikes against argentine forces
-2 may start of british naval campaign (placed a 200 mile exclusion zone around the islands)
-argentine cruiser belgrano sunk by british submarine (controversial because it was sailing out of the exclusion zone?done deliberately to stop UN sec general negotiating a settlement)
-21 may british troops landed
-14 june liberation of the capital, port stanley and argentina surrendered (established permanent garrison)
what were the consequences of the falklands
-showed her commanding conduct/demenaour
-presented her as an outstanding war leader-thatcher ‘rejoice, rejoice’, seen to inspire the nation in wartime
-1983 won overwhelming victory as it helped weaken opposition who opposed military action eg micheal foot but supported the winning servicemen eg labour vote drop by 3mil
-resurgence of national pride in britain,better international position
-media role helped her eg the headline ‘gotcha’ had a tangible impact
what did thatchers majority increase to from 79-83
43-144
who were Margeret thatchers foreign secretaries
The Lord Carrington 5 May 1979 (resigned because of falklands)
Francis Pym 5 April 1982
Sir Geoffrey Howe 11 June 1983
John Major 14 June 1989
who was the governor of the falklands at the time of the invasion
sir rex hunt
who were the gang of 4 that formed the sdp split and what formalised it
roy jenkins
Shirley williams
david owen
bill rodgers
-(and 28 other MPs)
-limehouse deceleration jan 1981
why was there labour division after the 1979 election
-left/unions antagonised/unhappy with wage restraints/voted conserv
-right isolated/disilusioned by failure of party revisionist policies/too radical eg anti eec/domination of unions/tony benn thought labour weren’t left enough
-signified takeover of extremist groups eg militant tendency urging socialist policies over capitalist
what caused the sdp split
-labours defeat in 1979 (eg domination of unions seen as cause of their bad image/industrial strife)
-election of micheal foot in 1980 (was a left wing unilateralist-beat obvious candidate denis healey)
-constiutional changes in labour that made them more left (after 1979 election left eg Tony benn thought they needed even more socialist policies, led a campaign requiring all MPs to seek reselection by their constituencies)-good for left because they had disproportionate influence among ordinary votes over numbers in party
-1981 Wembley conference hostility to speakers by left convicted the moderates labour had been aken over by extremist left groups
what was the significance of the sdp
-forced the party ‘back to sanity’ by bringing realisation of how unelectable labour was
how did the sdp split do
-won by elections eg shirley williams won conservative safe seat of crosby in nov 1981
-formed sdp liberal alliance-won 25% of vote at 83 election
-over 50% in opinion polls
why was the coal industry becoming less important
-more costly/running at a loss
-importing more coal (75% in 1984)
-gov refused to spend money on a failing industry and delay the inevitable by giving redundancy settlements
why were mines so important to miners
-believed with investment they had profitable future
-they were a way of life in northern(colliery) towns/ communities dependant on it
-social consequences would be catastrophic
who were thatchers minister for employments (responsible for union reform)
james prior ( a wet/delicate)
norman tebbit (hard line thatcherite)
what 2 unions represented public sector workers
COHSE and NUPE
how did thatcher weaken unions
-Prior employment act 1980, outlawed secondary picketing and made closed shop require high level of agreement
-Tebbit act 1982, outlawed closed shop, made unions legally liable for infringements, made employers able to fire for strike action, made action illegal unless had a formal ballot
-25th jan 1984 a ban on union membership was imposed on GCHQ employees in return for £1000 (mass protests-14 sacked for refusing)
what caused the miners strike 84-85
-frustration of how employers were treating employees eg Australian press baron rupert murdoch tried to reduce power of print unions after failed strike at murdochs wapping plant in jan 1986 over working conditions
-constrained by new laws
-economic reforms aroused hostility eg in public sector (NUPE/COHSE)
what happened in the miners strike 84-85
-1981 NCB warned of the need to close 23 pits /1984 Scargill claimed there was a secret plan to close 70 pits after they said they needed to close 20 more and plans to shed 20,000 jobs
-april 19th 1984 NUM sheffield conference declares strike as national over post closures(rejects a national ballot-rules on simple majority)
-june 18th battle of orgreave 6500 pickets and 3300 police clash in the worst violent dispute (tried to prevent stock filled lorries leaving the coke plant)-93 arrests,51 strikers/72 police injured including scargill (NUM defeat)
-Thatcher refuses to end democracy by giving into mob rule and the ‘enemy within’ , over 9500 strike related arrests made costing yorkshire police £8mil
-13th august first yorkshire miner goes back to work(many more in 1985)
-3rd march 1985 NuM vote to return to work by a majority of 98-91 as it had lost support
why did the miners strike fail
-SCARGILL- alienated unions eg nottinghamshire miners continued working/formed break away union, refused to hold ballot/undeomcratically forcing, abrasive manner, thatcher demonised him in press as dangerous revolutionary
-GOV made prep (energy minister peter walker stock piled coal / secured alternative sources of energy/drafted emergency plans)
-LABOUR conflicted, kinnock condemned violence but also sympathised, inconsistent attitude to miners
-POLICE had new equipment, experience,tactics to get lorries through picket lines (critiqued for politicalisation of police)
-COAL declining industrial important over oil/gas
what was the impacts of the miners strike 1984-85
-unions less power(NUM lost half membership), aided anti union campaign=thatcher advantage
-media divided 65% support for gov 35 for miners(maj no longer relied on industry?)
-led closures to go ahead quicker=job losses(200,000 employed to 60,000), social disruption
-employers began to resist union demands/convert workers to modern ways
-1991 yorkshire police paid £425,000 compensation to miners for assault,wrongful/malicious arrest
who was the NUM and its leader
national union of mineworkers-arthur scargill(extreme left winger)
who was the NCB and its leader
national coal board-ian mcgregor(tough industrialist)
who were thatchers 3 c of e
geoffrey howe 79-83
nigel lawson 83-89
major 89-90
what was the westland affair
1986
-a cabinet disagreement over what to do with failing british helicopter company (lack of orders from british military)
-defence sec micheal heseltine said save it by making it part of a european consortium with british aerospace but leon Brittan industry sec wanted a takeover by us company sikorsky
-letter was leaked saying department of industry was putting pressure on aerospace to withdraw the consortium and hesletine resigned and Brittan later was forced too, thatcher was critiqued for her lack of hard honest decision making
what is supply side economics and when was it emphasised
theory that says that increasing the supply of goods and services in circulation and ensuring people have the money to spend is vital for economic growth
-1986 budget
