ADV INFO - 1951 General Election

Question 1

how many seats did the conservatives win

Answer 1

321

Question 2

how many seats did Labour win

Answer 2

295

Question 3

How many votes did the Conservatives win

Answer 3

13.72 million (48.0%)

Question 4

How many votes did Labour win

Answer 4

13.95 million (48.8%)

Question 5

What acts were passed in 1948 and 1949

Answer 5

the representation of the people acts

Question 6

what did the representation of the people acts do

Answer 6

abolish plural voting and also the separate university seats
they abolished two-member constituencies
they substantially redrew constituency boundaries much to Labour disadvantages

Question 7

What was the issue with the introduction of postal voting for the Labour party

Answer 7

according to Herbert Morrison, these were cast 10-1 in favour of the Conservatives.

Question 8

what were the three principles Attlee considered central in politics

Answer 8

morality, morality and morality

Question 9

What was the average age of the Labour government in 1950

Answer 9

60

Question 10

who were the young leaders in the Labour cabinet

Answer 10

Harold Wilson (born 47 years after the cabinet’s oldest member)

Question 11

What was happening to the size of the working class

Answer 11

it was shrinking - 78% of British society identified themselves as working class in 1931 but only 72% by 1951

Question 12

What did Labour lose due to the parliamentary reforms of 1949

Answer 12

many of their safe seats

Question 13

what had happened to Labour internally

Answer 13

they became riven by ideological and policy disagreements

Question 14

What caused dissatisfaction within Labour

Answer 14

taxation - the standard rate of taxation in 1949 was 9 shillings in every pound (45%) and the top rate of graduated tax for high earners was 90%

Question 15

What were divisions in the Labour party over

Answer 15

Morrison wanted consolidation whilst Bevan and Labour fundamentalists wanted further bold reforms, such as nationalisation

Question 16

what did Bevan resign over

Answer 16

the imposition of health service charges (for glasses and dentistry)

Question 17

what was economically limiting on the Labour government

Answer 17

the Korean war

Question 18

Where was the Labour government humiliated

Answer 18

the nationalisation of the Abadan refinery in Iran

Question 19

What rationing continued during peacetime

Answer 19

food and fuel continued during peacetime and some items such as bread not rationed during the war were rationed during peacetime

Question 20

What was the country still in under Labour

Answer 20

an age of austerity

Question 21

what did the Conservatives accept in their manifesto

Answer 21

the majority of labour reforms

Question 22

what did the conservative manifesto say

Answer 22

they would “maintain and improve the health service”
they would free “the productive energies of the nation from the trammels of overbearing state control and bureaucratic management”

Question 23

What did the Conservatives promise to do

Answer 23

build 300,000 houses per year

Question 24

What charters did the Conservatives accept

Answer 24

the industrial charter, which was adopted at the 1947 annual conference, drawing from Anthony Eden the statement that ‘we are not a party of unbridled, brutal capitalism and never have been’

Question 25

Who were the political heavyweights in the conservative party

Answer 25

Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Rab Butler, Oliver Stanley and Oliver Lyttelton

Question 26

What did Churchill do to capture the public mood

Answer 26

he promised ‘more red meat’ and his reputation as a statesman was appealing as the Korean War started

Question 27

How old was Churchill in 1950

Answer 27

76

Question 28

What was established in 1946

Answer 28

the young conservative movement and it grew rapidly at the grassroots level

Question 29

What was conservative party membership in the 1950s

Answer 29

3 million

Question 30

who supported the Conservatives

Answer 30

the great majority of newspapers

Question 31

How many people qualified as constituency agents for the party

Answer 31

300

Question 32

who helped revitalise the Conservatives grassroots and what did he do

Answer 32

Lord Woolton. He helped by setting local party workers the energising task of raising £1 million

Question 33

what did the spectator say

Answer 33

that the tories of 1950 are not the tories of 1935

Question 34

what happened to the conservatives in 1945

Answer 34

despite being defeated their popular vote was virtually 40 per cent

Question 35

who were the conservatives appealing to

Answer 35

they attracted large donations from businessmen

Question 36

why had the labour government become unpopular

Answer 36

due to continued rationing and housing shortages, combined with an extended period of austerity, meaning that the public was ready for change

Question 37

why did the conservatives have a wider appeal than they did in 1945

Answer 37

the party promised 300,000 new houses

Question 38

How did the Liberals benefit the conservatives

Answer 38

they only stood in 109 constituencies. In the other seats, Liberal voters tended to vote Conservative rather than Labour

Question 39

what did Reinglad Maudling do in 1947

Answer 39

he prepared an industrial charter, which announced the party’s commitment to a mixed economy and a corporatist approach to the industry.