80s - Thatcher as Leader

Question 1

What did Thatcher describe herself as?

Answer 1

A conviction politician - personal views were ancillary, following the Party line and Party policy came above everything.

Question 2

What attitude did her middle-class childhood help to generate?

Answer 2

Self-reliance and self-improvement were core to a successful life - she placed the people’s ability above the government’s often.

Question 3

Where was she educated, yet how did she differ from previous Cons ministers?

Answer 3

She did Law at Oxford, but she was dismissive of traditional Tories.

Question 4

What was her famous quote in 1981 that was mocking previous Cons PMs?

Answer 4

The Lady’s not for turning.

Question 5

Which main ideologies influenced Thatcher?

Answer 5

The New Right - whose analysis of the British economy meant they rejected Keynsian economics in favour of monetarism and free-market economies.

Question 6

What did Thatcher view economic decline a result of?

Answer 6

The failings of post-war governments and the PWC.

Question 7

What did Thatcher think was integral to a successful society?

Answer 7

The family - a threat to the traditional nuclear family was a threat to British society.

Question 8

What was the most important element of her 1979 manifesto?

Answer 8

To be tough on law and order.

Question 9

Who were wets in the party, and which one was in Thatcher’s first cabinet?

Answer 9

Those who didn’t support Thatchers positions on the economy and foreign policy mainly, and Willie Whitelaw was her Home Secretary.

Question 10

Who were the two dries who held the positions of Chancellor and Minister of Industry?

Answer 10

Geoffrey Howe and Keith Joseph.

Question 11

Who was the employment minister, and why did Thatcher and him butt heads?

Answer 11

Jim Prior - they disagreed over anti-union legislature as Thatcher saw him as overly friendly with them and not as combative as she was. Prior was moved to the NI office to be replaced by Norman Tebbit.

Question 12

What event in 1983 consolidated Thatcher and marginalised the wets?

Answer 12

The General Election, off the back of the Falklands victory.

Question 13

What was the Westland affair?

Answer 13

Heseltine stormed out of a meeting over whether or not Westland would be taken over by the US company Sikorsky, or by a European consortium. Thatcher was in favour of no action, and blocked any discussion about it.

Question 14

What was the result of the Westland affair?

Answer 14

Thatcher nearly resigned, and Heseltine became a focus for anti-Thatcher dissent.

Question 15

What was the main reason behind Thatcher’s victory in 1983?

Answer 15

The Falklands War, her ability to act boldly and decisively, and ultimately successfully meant that she had earnt some trust to do the same at home.

Question 16

What was the issue with Labour in the 1983 election?

Answer 16

Foot couldn’t control the divisions within his own party and was weak on television.

Question 17

What was the issue with the 1983 Labour manifesto?

Answer 17

It was full of unfulfillable left-wing promises, such as disarmament, EEC withdrawal and the abolition of fox-hunting. It was called the ‘longest suicide note in history’.

Question 18

What was the splintering of opposition that the Cons benefitted from?

Answer 18

The anti-Cons vote was actually 3m larger than the Cons vote, however it was split between the Lib/SDP and Labour, so the Cons had a 144 seat majority.

Question 19

What was Thatcher’s campaign in 1987 based on?

Answer 19

Strong defence, a growing economy and lower taxes.

Question 20

What had Kinnock managed to do by 1987?

Answer 20

Reduce some of the opposition in the Labour Party, reduce some divisions, and establish some sort of political credibility.

Question 21

What was the cause of the loss of momentum for the SDP-Liberal Alliance?

Answer 21

David Owen and David Steel had irresolvable ideological differences - a simple opposition of Labour and Cons was not enough to keep them together.

Question 22

What % of the vote did the Alliance get in the 1987 Election?

Answer 22

24%, a significant decrease from the 40% they polled to get in 1982.

Question 23

Why did some MPs drift towards Labour?

Answer 23

Kinnock had made the party less of an embarrassment, so it was not seen as necessary to be in the SDP, a Labour-opposition party.

Question 24

What formed out of the Alliance?

Answer 24

The Liberal-Democrat Party in 1988, as the third major party.