1990-1997 Flashcards

1
Q

describe John major as pm

A

-appealed to ordinary people eg worked his way up
became mp 1979 then became foreign sec then c of e in 1989 (only in cabinet 3.5 years before pm)
-stolid likeable figure
-never went to higher education

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2
Q

how did satire target major

A

-become one of most public forms of public criticsm - TV created a satire boom period for mocking public figures
-programmes eg itvs spitting image portrayed major as a grey figure boringly consumed with the unimportant details of his life and bbcs yes minister was gentler but showed civil service establishment running rings round gov ministers , guardian cartoonist steve bell caricatured him as a grey superhero
-however didnt always hit targets?1996 spitting image stopped when quality declined

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3
Q

how did major handle his first term in office (pre 1992)

A

-1991 withdrew poll tax in favour of a new council tax, wanted classless society
-introduced the ‘citezens charter’ which his gov would base approach on (watered down thatcherism?)
-conservs jumped ahead in opinion polls/national press was positive
-satire/scandals lingered
-fought the 1st gulf war, supported president bush in removing the Iraqis from kuwait, ended march 1991
-made speech saying wanted to see britain ‘at the heart of europe’ - signed maastricht treat dec 1991 committing britain to greater integration in europe and negotiated special agreement allowing gb to opt out of social chapter/some aspects of economic policy

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4
Q

why did labour loose the 1992 election

A

-neil kinnock led poor campaign after thinking they’d win, initially 41% in opinion polls
-ill conceived rally in sheffield 1 april the week before the election (razzmatazz style of us politics/labour put on extravaganza of blaring music/announcements/spotlights-neil kinnock bounded up to rostrum repititvely shouting like he was at an american convention) - premature triumphalism
-john smiths presented an ‘alternative budget’ that threatened large increase in taxation and national insurance contributions(cut in disposable income) , major exploited by standing on a soap box and suggested only conservs could be trusted with economy (fear of a labour victory)

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5
Q

why did major win the 1992 election

A

-sun switched support from labour to cons (main voice of labour popularity), ‘it was the sun wot won it’
-conservs good campaign, old fashioned ‘soap box’ politics, speeches on street eg luton, safe party?
-daily express-‘it was john major the voters knew they could trust’-more likeable than kinnock who was seen as too extreme
-popular capitalism eg house sales/shareholders/tu decline more attractive to voters
-decline of working class, increasing affluence/opportunities detached traditional voting habits (35% 1992)

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6
Q

how far was labour ahead in opinion polls before the 1992 election

A

41%

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7
Q

what overall majority did conservatives have after the 1992 election

A

21even though they lost 40 seats
-42.8% of vote

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8
Q

what scandals decreased majors gov reputation

A

-david mellor (heritage minister) 1992 had an affair with a spanish actress-involved wearing chelsea shirt whilst having sex
-tim yeo (environmental minister) resigned in 1994 after having affair with conservatives local councillor and had a child
-stephen milligan (promosing young conserv mp) 1994 throttled himself to death while engaging in sexually stimulating self-strangulation
-cash for questions affair!!! - neil hamilton (corporate affairs minister) 1994 accused by the guardian of receiving envelopes stuffed with money from mohamed al fayed (controversial owner of harrods) who wanted special commercial favours, in 1997 election martin bell (BBC correspondent) stood against hamilton in a public libel case to highlight the lack of probity in gov circles and won a maj of 11,000 and hamilton still refused to resign
-arms to iraq scandal!!! - scott enquiry set up by gov 1994 to investigate illegal arms dealings proved gov ministers had been ‘economical with the truth’ in letting arms company ‘matrix churchill’ supply arms to iraq weapons programme, 2 leading conservs jeffrey archer/jonathon aitken convicted off perjury (lied in court)

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9
Q

what was majors economy like before 1992

A

-1991/92 unemployment 1.6mil-2.6mil
-in the lawson boom of the 1980s house prices increased rapidly, many did everything they could to buy a home, when prices decreased home owners trapped in ‘negative equity’ (having to repay mortgages that were higher than the current value of their homes so many had to sell their home/have it repossessed)- 1992 300,000-900,000 in negative equity
-major implemented high public spending before the election, meant huge borrowing

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10
Q

what economic situation did major inherit

A

-declining manufacturing output
-high interest
-rise in unemployment

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11
Q

when did britain join the erm

A

october 1990 (meant britain had to maintain a fixed rate of exchange with few fluctuations)- foreign speculators would buy/sell currency and if they sell it it falls in value

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12
Q

what was black Wednesday

A

-wed 16th sep 1992 currency under pressure, there was a wave of speculative selling of the pound,run on the pound, interest rates increased to 12%-15% to persuade foreign investors to buy pound and b of e spent its reserves in buying up pounds,refused to devaluate=failed
-gov forced to withdraw from the ERM and devalue the currency, 7pm norman lamont announced on tv to leave

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13
Q

what were the impacts of black Wednesday

A

P-economy stabilised, realised erm prevented britain (allowed exchange rates to float downwards, which helped british exporters), unemployment slowed, housing market picked up(less negative equity) , economy benefiting from deregulation and flexible working practices, consumer spending up eg car ownership, business was supportive of gov policies
C-politically damaging, electoral asset of conservatives being trusted with economy went away
C-drop in opinion polls, major authority weakened ‘beginning of the end’
C-‘feel good factor’ of the economy was missing so major didnt get credit for the mainly positive economy

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14
Q

who were john majors chancellor of the exchequers

A

norman lamont 1990-1993
kenneth clarke 1993-1997

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15
Q

what companies did major gov privatise

A

coal industry 1994 (continued pit closures eg hesletine announced closure of 31 pits but outcry from nottinghamshire miners=u turn)
railways 1996
introduced PFI (private finance initiative), public-private partnerships

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16
Q

what is pfi

A

A private finance initiative (PFI) is a way of financing public-sector projects through the private sector. PFIs alleviate the government and taxpayers of the immediate burden of coming up with the capital for these projects.

Under a private finance initiative, a private company handles the up-front costs instead of the government. In return, the government authority makes payments to the private company over the long term.

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17
Q

what was the citizens charter

A

-announced 1991, promised to increase accountability and responsiveness in the public sector, give public sector users more quality services by providing info about the standards they should expect, successes in meeting targets would be granted ‘charter marks’

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18
Q

how did major reform health and education

A

-reorganised NHS as an internal market to improve efficiency and reduce costs
-reforms in education removed bureaucracy eg reduced power of local authorities over schools, introduced published performance league tables,1994 teacher training agency created to provide training to teachers to ensure they were kept up to date with changes in educational policy

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19
Q

what was the council tax

A

-introcued march 1991 micheal hesletine
-based on property values/paid by everyone

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20
Q

what were same random policies introduced by major

A

-home sec micheal howard reduced freedom of judges by in producing fixed and minimum sentences- 1993 claimed ‘prison works’
-1993 introduced national lottery, donated large sums to arts/heritage/sport
-1993 cons part conference announced ‘time to get back to basics’-made sleaze even more significant

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21
Q

what was the situation in ni by 1990

A

-public appetite for resolution
-escalation of violence eg on mainland britain/’professional’ attacks (cant be ignored)
-1993 gov recieved secret messages hinting sinn fein were ready to discuss peace agreement

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22
Q

what happened with ni at the start of majors reign

A

-2 months in office ira fired mortar bombs at downing street from a parked van (followed by sustained ira bombing campaign)
-2 children killed, 50 injured by bombs left in bins in warrington
-1 killed, 40 injured by bomb from lorry in London (also caused over a billion pounds worth of damage)
-peace rallied in london/belfast/dublin
-ira recognised their loss of support and blamed british police for not acting on warnings eg phone calls they gave them before attacks

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23
Q

what was the usas involvement in ni under major

A

-jan 1994 clinton (president) granted gerry adams a 48 hour visa to visit the us (ended international isolation of sin fein)
-nov 1995 clinton became the 1st us president to visit ni
-senator george visited the following year and major welcomed his proposals for a way forward by setting up an international commission

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24
Q

what was the downing street declaration

A

15 dec 1993- albert Reynolds and john major delivered outline of a plan hoping for peace and multi part talks, argued for self determination on the basis of consensus for all the people of ireland (agreement had to be based on the rights of both parts of ireland)
-recognised 3 sets of relationships needed addressing: north and south of ni, political and constitutional relationship between ni and republic, political relationship between dublin and london
-gov said their role was to ‘encourage, facilitate and enable’ the peace process
-irish gov recognised that a significant minority (eg protestants) couldnt be forced into arrangements they opposed

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25
Q

what were the reactions to the downing street declaration

A

-hardliners furious eg ian paisley called it a sell out to dublin
-moderate ulster unionists prepared to consider, party leader (UUP) james molyneaux said it posed no threat to the union because changes required maj of ni support
-sinn fein said it would be hard to sell the plan to the ira
(maj accepted-never going to get hardliners/full support)

26
Q

what was the legacy of the good friday agreement

A

clear foundations for how the 2 govs were prepared to approach ni
irish accepted cant force prots to join ireland (reynolds declared the irish republic accepted the right of the majority in ni to decide its future-south prepared to drop its claim no was in the republic
brit accepted they cant force a decision/accepeted it was the peoples decision

27
Q

when and what was the ni ceasefire

A

august 1994 -ira declared ceasefire
-unofficial contracts between gov and sinn fein convinced the ira the declaration recognised republican and nationalist positions of ni and britain was not committed to indefinite control of the province (willing to allow ni to determine status)
(in october loyalist units announced their own ceasefire too after major assured no intentions of forcing north into united ireland)

28
Q

what events show the ni ceasefire didnt hold

A

1996-1998 outbursts of violence (parliamentaries didn’t trust each other) eg ira bomb attacks damaged the financial district at canary wharf and destroyed the centre of manchester in 1996
-9 feb 1996 ira planted huge bomb in londons docklands, injured more than 100, £85m damage

29
Q

what was the mitchell report

A

jan 1996 american senator presented a report laying down principles on which peace might be developed
-total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations (decommissioning)
-agreement by all parties to accept any agreement reached by an all party negotiation (peace had to be seen as politically profitable as violence)

30
Q

who was the irish pm under major

A

albert Reynolds

31
Q

what were the results of the 1997 election

A

-heaviest defeat of any gov in 20th century
labour-418 seats
cons-165 seats

32
Q

what were conservative divisions under major

A

-right wingers wanted more radical social policies
-poiliticians with leadership ambitions saw a chance to advance their claims
-euroscpetics saw opening to push gov to edges of europe, or out of it (thatcher encouraged them to demand referendum on europe/maastricht caused revolt-46 tory rebels opposed )
-sleavze/scandals
-press speculation about possible challengers for leadership eg micheal portillo and john redwood (right wing press hostile-called for a strong party to ‘save the party’, 1995 major called for a leadership election so that he could berelected to his own job(insecure, silence his critics) -won ballot against redwood by 66% but 89 cons ops voted against him

33
Q

how did blair mock major

A

prime ministers question time- ‘i lead my party, you follow yours’ (after leadership election)

34
Q

who replaced kinnock after the 1992 election and what were opinions on him

A

john smith (kinnock had resigned 4 days after)
-trusted figure
-good with the economy and had ministerial experience
-popular/respected figure

35
Q

john smiths legacy

A

-set up a commission for social justice which modernised policies
-1993 introduced ‘one member, one vote’ (got ride of unions being able to block vote)
-died from a sudden heart attack may 1994

36
Q

who succeeded john smith as labour leader

A

-tony blair (avoided a divisive leadership contest with gordon brown (a fellow moderniser, seen as a more experienced candidate) by agreement at granita restaurant that blair would stand as leader and work in close partnership with brown)-to avoid splitting the moderniser vote
-blair then won comfortable victory over margaret beckett and john prescott

37
Q

what did blair do from when he became leader in 1994 to being elected 1997

A

-campaign oct 1994, remodel labour ‘brand’ by promoting ‘new labour-new britain’ (dramatic shift in policy)-appeared fresh and vibrant
-march 1995 persuaded NEC to approve to rewrite clause IV and following month it was approved by special party conference (after collapse of communism socialism as a philosophy was dead so wanted to drop socialist ideas and embrace capitalist ones) -gained 65% of party members
-gordon brown promised labour would follow cons spending plans (get rid of perception of tax and spend party)

38
Q

why did labour win the 1997 election

A

-blair as leader was skilful communicator, won over ‘middle england’ and women by having all women shortlists
-attitude of national press-eg blairs press secretary alastair campbell won over press and media (previously won of cons biggest advantages), campaign was run by a ‘spin machine’ that effectively dealt with media and press led by peter mandelson, courted traditional media foes eg rupert murdoch,campaign hq set up in mill bank tower (media savvy),chose modern pop song ‘things can only get better’ for 1997 election campaign
-vote winners eg devolution for scotland/wales (discussed possibility of a coalition with lib dems), minimum wage, following cons spending plans, policy messages
-anti cons tactical voting
-labours discipline/organisation,spokespeople always ‘on message’ with up to date info

39
Q

why did cons loose the 1997 election

A

-labour party no longer easy to attack/ cons message confused
-accusations of tory sleaze, martin bells campaign for clean politics against neil hamilton dominated news bulletins
-divions over maastricht and europe, the referendum party set up by sir james goldsmith kept cons splits in the news (lost cons marginal seats eg david mellor in putney)
-mem of black wednesday/poll tax/erm

40
Q

what were the results of the 1997 election

A

-1/2 cons mps lost seats eg micheal portillo/david mellor/norman lamont
-cons=31% vote
-lost every by election since 1990
-labour gained 146 seats

41
Q

what lgbt pressure groups emerged in the 90s

A

-outrage started by human rights campaigner peter tatchell used direct action by threatening to out gay clergy and MPs
-stonewall challenged the unequal age of consent and the ban on homosexuals in the armed forces

42
Q

what were the attitudes towards homosexuality late1980s/90s

A

-identificiation of aids increased hostility, referred to as ‘gay plague’(first case 1981), looney left councils accused of promoting homosexuality by funding support groups, tabloid outcry(increased homophobic repression?)
-gov set up prevention campaign in 1985, princess diana challenged prejudices by shaking hands with aid patient at royal Middlesex hospital
-1987 tory conference thatcher attacked right to be LGBT, section 28 passed which banned promotion of homosexuality by local authorities 1988
-1994 age of consent lowered to 18, 2000 equality achieved by lowering to 16
-1988 LONDON pride, 30,000 marchers (double previous years)

43
Q

when was majors back to basics campaign

A

1993(implies wanted social liberalism)

44
Q

what moral panics were there in the 1980/90ss

A

-divorce rates hit record highs/perecentage of babies born to unmarried parents doubled from 12% to 30%, more illegitimate births from unmarried couples
^family campaigners panicked, the child support agency was set up in 1993 to ensure absent parents paid maintenance
-concern about under age sex in victoria gillicks campaign against availability of contraceptives to under age girls without parents consent
^high court agreed but 1985 lords overruled that this advice had to have consent
-mary whitehouse influenced passing of video recording act 1994 ensuring videos had british film classifications, coined phrase ‘video nasty’
-mass resignation of tory MPs
^caused by scandals

45
Q

what was anti establishment culture

A

-major wanted classless society (more deference to estbalishment )
-decline in the ROYALS-3/4 queens children marrages broke down,details of affairs eg phone calls in tabloids,public disquiet about financing the restoration of Windsor castle after fire = queen agreed to pay tax on private income/reduce the civil list, 1997 diana death trough of public support (queen accused of not caring/she recieved bad treatment?)
-ARTS-YBA led by damian hirst challenged normal ideas eg created art from dead animals/ephemeral detritus, sensation exhibition 1997 inspired by charles saatchis collection of the work
-YOUTH-1988/89 nicknamed ‘second summer of love’, raves/free parties, ecstasy use=moral panic
^criminal justice and public order act 1994=gave more powers to police to break them up
-ENVIRONMENTAL-growing direct action, protests against road developments eg twyford down m3 extension 1992/newbury bypass (delay/block work eg climbing/chaining themselves to trees)
-CHURCH-attendance 55%-4%

46
Q

what was the position of women in the 80/90s

A

-‘third wave feminism’ (more emphasis on breaking stereotypes)
-underground riot grrrl movement , female bands eg bikini kill sang about feminist issues
-‘girl power’ mainstream idea led by spice girls (thatcher labelled as ‘first lady of girl power’ but thatcher said ‘i owe nothing to womens lib’1982
-first female speaker in commons (betty boothroyd), first female head of MI5 (stella rimmington) 1992
-1994 rape within marriage criminal offence
-1993 68% women in employment (better pay but still only 80% of mens/married women could be taxed separately introduced by nigel lawson)
Jm only 2 women in cabinet?

47
Q

what increased muslim tensions under major

A

-tension between british society and muslim beliefs =increase in asylum seekers fleeing from violent upheavals eg afghan and immigrants from new commonwealth were mainly muslim which raised concerns
-salman rushdie published ‘the satanic verses’-seen as blasphemous, leader of iran issues a fatwa urging muslims to kill him,1989 anti rushdie march through Leicester
-gulf war, western troops fighting a largely muslim army
-unrest in balkans, muslim pop in bosnia were victimised and there was a lack of western response to defend them

48
Q

what were race relations like 80/90s

A

-more comfortable with multiculturalism
-1991-92 riots from oxford to Newcastle mainly involved you white men on deprived council estates
-1987 election 4 non white MPs elected
-more tensions with the police eg murder of Stephen lawrence 1993, police failed to investigate properly-macpherson report ‘institutionally racist’, no convictions for 20 years

49
Q

arguments about society major

A

more diverse society, intolerance had become socially unacceptable

50
Q

who were 3 key eurosceptics and europhiles under major

A

eurosceptics
micheal portillo
john redwood
iain duncan smith
europhiles
ken clarke
chris patten
geoffrey howe

51
Q

when was the maastricht treaty and what was it

A

agreed 1991,signed by eec leaders feb 1992
designed to set up new structures to deal with the expansion of the eec(build on single european act)
changed it to the EU and set up for a single currency
(majors diplomatic skills allowed him to secure opt outs for britain from the monetary union and the social chapter)
-july 1993 rebel MPs defeated a key bill necessary for the treaty to come into effect (had to be ratified to be binding on britain)(major won by threatening a vote of no confidence, if they voted against it it would’ve brought down gov and was ratified after 18 months-britain being forced into european integration?/no democracy)
^major described opposition as ‘bastards’

52
Q

what was the social chapter

A

part of the Maastricht treaty aimed to regulate working conditions eg max hours for working, cons opposed because they favoured deregulation

53
Q

why and what was the opposition to europe under major

A

-anti federalist league set up 1993
-sir james goldsmith set up the referendum party 1994 to fight for a referendum
-euroscpetics continued to oppose major

54
Q

why did the soviet union collapse

A

-soviet economy in trouble
-ussr no longer strong enough to compete
-repudiation of the brezhnev doctrine,soviets no longer got involved in domestic affairs of communist states eg when poland announced it would hold free elections they didnt intervene and anti communist trade unionist won the presidency

55
Q

what events showed the end of the cold war

A

-reegan/thatcher hardline-gorbachev realised couldnt compete but also willing to compromise which meant a peaceful end (their successors george bush senior and major saw it)
-june 1987 usa/ussr agreed to limit ballistic missiles
-feb 1989 ussr withdraws from Afghanistan
-nov 1989 fall of the Berlin wall
-dec 1989 gorbachev/bush announce end off cold war at the malta summit
-aug 1990 ussr/usa work together to end iraqi invasion of Kuwait (saddam hussein sent forced to conquer rich state of kuwait in arabian gulf)
-dec 1991 ussr officially dissolved/gorbachev resigned

56
Q

what did the collapse of communism cause

A

-crisis in yugoslavia, 1989 president slobodan milosevic transformed from communist leader to serbian nationalist (wanted greater powers for serbia) and threatened violent action against albanian pop in kosovo
-1991 GULF WAR slovenia/croatia declared indépendance followed by macedonia and bosnia and state of yugoslav began to break up=clashes between largest republics serbia/croatia
-war in bosnia began april 1992(muslim in east driven out by ‘ethnic cleansing’ of bosnian-serb paramilitaries-milosevic)

57
Q

what was britains recation to the initial balkans problems

A

-eu/un diplomatic efforts to maintain peace, foreign sex douglas hurd optimistic international mediation would be effective
eg 1992 major hosted joint EU/UN conference in london and a un peacekeeping force was put in place and the vance-owen plan (un representative and former foreign sec) set a framework for a lasting settlement
=ineffective, serb aggression continued,sarajevo seiged,srebrenica massacre, us still reluctant to intervene

58
Q

when and what was the massacre at srebrenica

A

(big event in balkans)
1995 bosnian serb forces entered(albanian muslim maj demanded to be treated sd a member republic not as part of serbia), there was a small force of dutch un peacekeepers who were ordered not to intervene (failure of un peacekeeping missions)
7000+ bosnian men massacred, worse atrocity since ww2

59
Q

what was the results of the srebrenica massacre

A

-britain turned to us and nato and Clinton was persuaded to intervene (central command/military power of nato essential)
-american air strikes on serb forced led to peace conference in ohio=peace treaty signed in paris dec 1995 (guaranteed Bosnian independence/protected by un force)

60
Q

what was the legacy of the conservatives in 1997

A

-people sick of thatcherite conservatism
-jm uninspiring leader, called for moral improvement but sleaze gave disreputable shadow over party
-party divisions eg europe (undemocratic ratification, public distaste)
-withdrawal from the erm, not party of financial management
-cons been in power 15 years, low morale, had very small majority (obliged to do deals with minority parties eg ulster unionists to survive)