1979-1990 Flashcards by Will Jones

What were the election results of the period?

1979 - 43
1983 - 144
1987 - 102

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What was Thatcher’s attitude towards the post-war consensus?

She was dismissive of it

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What was Thatcher’s background?

Middle class
Grammar school educated
Her father was a grocer
She studied Chemistry at Oxford
She had been a lawyer

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What was Thatcher’s ideology

Rejected Keynesian economics in favour of monetarism and free market principles
Blamed the post-war consensus for Britain’s economic decline
“Who is society? There is no such thing as that”

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Who were some key dries?

Howe
Lawson

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Who were some key wets?

Whitelaw
Prior

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Example of Thatcher not getting on with wets

Prior demoted from Minister of Employment to the Northern Ireland Office and was replaced by Tebbit as he was too friendly with the unions

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

When was the SDP created?

1981

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Who was the Gang of Four?

Roy Jenkins
Shirley Williams
David Owen
Bill Rodgers

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Why did MPs join the SPD from Labour?

They felt it was being taken over by extremeists

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

How many MPs joined the SDP from Labour?

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

When did the SDP and Liberals collaborate?

1983 to 1987

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Why did the SDP and Liberals stop collaborating?

Disagreements between Owen and Steel

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

How did Kinnock make Labour more electable

Took them away from the far left approach:
Expelled Militant Tendency in 1986
Criticized Arthur Scargill for not taking a strike ballot

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What were the aspects of Labour’s undesirable manifesto in 1983?

Unilateral Disarmament
Withdrawal from the EEC
A ban on fox hunting

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What was Labour’s 1983 manifesto known as?

“The longest suicide note in history”

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What did Labour’s return to moderate socialism do for the SDP?

Made them redundant of purpose
Many MPs returned to Labour and David Owen resigned

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What were the events in Northern Ireland?

1981 - Hunger Strikes ended
1984 - The IRA bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton, killing 5
1985 - Anglo-Irish Agreement which saw intergovernmental cooperation between Britain and Ireland

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What was inflation and unemployment like by 1980?

Inflation at 15%
2 million unemployed

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What did Thatcher do to the tax rates?

Top rate fell 40%
Standard rate fell 25%
VAT rose to 15%

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Example of a council that opposed Thatcher’s changes to the tax rates

Liverpool

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

When was BT privatised?

1984

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

When was British Gas privatised?

1986

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What was the campaign surrounding the Privatisation of British Gas?

“Tell Sid”

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What was the change in people owning shares under Thatcher?

Rose from 3,000,000 to 9,000,000

What did Macmillan describe the privatisation as?

"Selling off the family silver"

How did the government bring about deregulation?

The Enterprise Allowance Scheme which encouraged the unemployed to start as business by granting them £40 per week to help start

When was the Big Bang?

1986

Details on the Big Bang

Deregulation of the City of London Allowed foreign banks to act as stockbrokers London became a leading global financial centre GDP rose 4.8%

What did inflation peak at?

22% in 1980

What was unemployment at in 1983?

3 million

How high was unemployment in some areas of Liverpool by 1983?

75%

Where were there riots in 1981?

Liverpool, Chapeltown and Birmingham

What were the reasons for the 1981 riots?

The Scarman Report found that the issues were poverty and race

What were the issues with the Sus Law?

Blacks and Asians were disproportionately stopped and searched

When was Right to Buy introduced?

1980

What were the discounts offered within Right to Buy?

33%-55% Based on how long the person had lived in the property

How many council houses had been bought by 1988?

2 million

What were the drawbacks of Right to Buy?

There was a shortage of council houses as profits had to be used to repay debts, not build more houses Only nice one were bought

Who did the Right to Buy scheme appeal to?

C1 and C2 classes

How many coal pits did the NCB announce it needed to close in 1984?

How many jobs were set to be lost from the closure of the coal pits?

30,000

How many coal pits did Arthur Scargill claim to see plans for the closure of?

70 In 2014, the paper was released, showing that it was actually 75

Who broke away from the NUM?

The UDM Nottinghamshire Miners who opposed Scargill's lack of strike ballot

When was the Wapping Dispute?

1986

Details on the Wapping Dispute

Rupert Murdoch The Sunday Times Strike collapsed after 13 months and failing to disrupt any newspaper production

Details on the Battle of Orgreave

Miners Strike Thatcher criticized for the politicalisation of the police

How many were employed in mining by 1990?

60,000 from 200,000

What was union membership down to by 1990?

2/3 of 1979 levels

When was the Poll Tax introduced?

1990 Was trialed in 1989 in Scotland

How many were non-Poll Tax payers in some areas?

30%

How many protested at Trafalgar Square regarding the Poll Tax?

200,000 5,000 were injured and there were over 300 arrests

How was Thatcher opposed in Pop-Culture?

Madness Boys from the Blackstuff

What was Faith in the City?

1985 The Church of England called for the government to do more for deprived areas

When did Greenham Common Women set up their base?

1981

When did the missiles arrive to Greenham Common?

1983 70,000 protesters formed a human chain to Aldermaston to oppose this

When was the Falklands War?

1982

What were the key newspaper headlines about the Falklands?

The Empire Strikes Back Gotcha

How many died on the Belgrano?

323

Which British ship was sank?

HMS Sheffield

How did other nations help Britain amidst the Falklands invasion?

USA - Use of the Ascension islands Chile - Providing sensitive information about the Argentine strategy France - Stopped providing Argentina with Exocet missiles

How was the Special Relationship strong?

Ascension Islands Use of British bases for Libya bombing in 1986 Thatcher instigated negotiations between Gorbachev and Reagan

When was the US invasion of Grenada?

1983

Who was the leader of Grenada?

Maurice Bishop

How many people marched with the CND to oppose nuclear weapons in 1983?

200,000

When was the Reykjavik Agreement and what did it achieve?

1986 Nuclear disarmament In 1987, both sides disarmed due to the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

Where did Thatcher secure the EEC rebate?

Fontainbleau Conference

When was the Channel Tunnel Agreement?

1986

Who was the French leader that Thatcher was friendly with?

Mitterand

When was the Single European Act?

1986

Which Conservative opposed the Single European Act?

Enoch Powell

How much was the EEC rebate worth?

£1 billion

When did Heseltine resign and over what?

1986 Westland Affair Thatcher backed the US company over the European one

What rate of inflation did the Lawson Boom lead to?

10.8%