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History > Britain 1951-1964 > Flashcards

Britain 1951-1964 Flashcards

1
Q

What majority did Conservatives reach in the October 1951 election?

A

17 seats

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2
Q

What electoral system did Britain use in 1951?

A

First-past-the-post

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3
Q

How many votes did the Labour party recieve in October 1951 election?

A

13.95 million

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4
Q

What was the theory that meant that a movement in one party’s favour would be corrected at the next election?

A

Natural swing

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5
Q

In what election did the Conservatives increase their majority to 60?

A

May 1955

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6
Q

In October 1959, what majority did the Conservatives have in the election?

A

100

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7
Q

What word meant the increasing middle class electorate?

A

Embourgeoisement

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8
Q

What were the four Conservative leaders after 1951?

A

Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home

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9
Q

At what age was Churchill when he came to power in 1951?

A

76 years of age

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10
Q

What role did Eden take on three times in parliament?

A

Foreign Secretary

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11
Q

What phrase was Eden widely associated with?

A

‘A property owning democracy’

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12
Q

How did Macmillan improve his social status?

A

He married a daughter of the Duke of Devonshire

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13
Q

What was significant about Macmillan in his leadership?

A

He had a good rapport with the less well off in society, which was uncommon for most Conservative MPs

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14
Q

What years was Macmillan in power?

A

1957 to 1963

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15
Q

How many days were Home in office for?

A

363 days

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16
Q

Which prime minister of the four opted to attend Harrow instead of Eton?

A

Churchill

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17
Q

Which Chancellor of the Exchequer was an unapologetic appeaser?

A

R. A. Butler

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18
Q

Which law formed the basis of post-war schools policy?

A

Education Act 1944

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19
Q

What mainly damaged Butler’s chances of the premiership?

A

A tendency to sit on the fence

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20
Q

What was moderate centre ground politics also known as?

A

One Nation Conservativism

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21
Q

What was the Robot scheme?

A

A plan to abandon the pound’s fixed exchange rate

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22
Q

What were the most likely consequences of the Robot scheme?

A

Rise in unemployment

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23
Q

What was the monthly average figure of registered unemployed in 1955?

A

232000 (1% of the workforce)

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24
Q

When was the Bank of England nationalised?

A

1946

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25
Q

When was coal nationalised?

A

1947

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26
Q

When were the railways nationalised?

A

1948

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27
Q

When was steel nationalised?

A

1951

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28
Q

What two other industries were nationalised by Labour?

A

Electricity and gas

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29
Q

What industry was privatised by the Conservatives?

A

Steel

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30
Q

What describes both public sector and private sector working together in the marketplace?

A

Mixed economy

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31
Q

Who was Butler’s Labour predecessor?

A

Hugh Gaitskell

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32
Q

Who did Churchill appoint as Minister of Housing?

A

Harold Macmillan

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33
Q

How many houses did Churchill promise Tory administration would build in a single year?

A

300,000

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34
Q

What law of 1957 lifted controls over the rents of 400,000 houses?

A

Rent Act

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35
Q

What was the main difference between Conservative and Labour housing policy?

A

Tory- Private, Labour- Public

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36
Q

Who was appointed in 1951 to the Ministry of Labour?

A

Walter Monckton

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37
Q

Which Conservative spokesman hinted that the party would introduce legislation limiting trade union power?

A

David Maxwell-Fyfe

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38
Q

What nickname did Monckton receive after he maintained industrial peace?

A

‘Oilcan’- lubricating away potential strife

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39
Q

When was the NHS created?

A

1948

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40
Q

When did Labour bring in additional charges to the NHS and for what?

A

1951, false teeth and spectacles

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41
Q

Which committee concluded that the NHS was good value for money?

A

Guillebaud Committee

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42
Q

What was the name of the Health Minister who in the early 1960s started a programme of hospital building?

A

Enoch Powell

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43
Q

Which three ministers resigned over the introduction of NHS charges?

A

Aneurin Bevan, Harold Wilson and John Freeman

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44
Q

What was the main reason for Labour’s loss in the 1959 election?

A

They committed themselves to too many policies and expenses that weren’t realistic to pay

45
Q

Which Labour MP was likened to President John F. Kennedy and for what reason?

A

Harold Wilson, he was dynamic and progressive, contrasting the Conservatives leader Home who was more privileged.

46
Q

Who was Chancellor between 1960-1962?

A

Selwyn Lloyd

47
Q

What was the night where Macmillan dismissed a third of his cabinet?

A

‘Night of the Long Knives’ July 1962

48
Q

What did EEC stand for?

A

European Economic Community

49
Q

Who personally vetoed Britain’s first application to join the EEC and when?

A

General Charles de Gaulle, January 1963

50
Q

What happened in the Vassal Case in 1962?

A

A homosexual British spy was linked with a junior minister.

51
Q

What happened in the Vassall Case in 1962?

A

A homosexual British spy was linked with a junior minister.

52
Q

Which Minister of War was linked to a prostitute that was also in a relationship with a Soviet official?

A

John Profumo

53
Q

What was the name of the prostitute and Soviet official?

A

Christine Keeler, Captain Ivanov

54
Q

Why was Douglas-Home seen to lack legitimacy as the leader?

A

He was unknown from the House of Lords and then became Conservative leader

55
Q

Which two senior ministers refused to serve under Home?

A

Iain Macleod, Enoch Powell

56
Q

What had successive governments spent the nation’s wealth on rather than long-term reconstruction of British industry?

A

Short-term consumerism

57
Q

Which event had lead to a dramatic fall in world raw material prices?

A

Korean War, 1963

58
Q

By 1953, how many more imports could Britain buy for the same value of exports?

A

13%

59
Q

How much did the ‘Balance of Payments’ gain as extra spending power per annum?

A

£400 million per annum

60
Q

What speech was delivered by Macmillan in July 1957 at Bedford Football Ground?

A

‘Never had it so good’ speech

61
Q

Who were Macmillan’s chancellors?

A

Peter Thorneycroft, Derick Heathcoat-Amery, Selwyn Lloyd, Reginald Maulding

62
Q

What caused Thorneycroft to resign in January 1958?

A

Increased tension with Macmillan, and he refused to back proposed spending cuts

63
Q

To tackle inflation, what might the government have needed to sacrifice?

A

High employment, high living standards that had been secured since 1945

64
Q

What did Mauldling’s ‘dash for growth’ cause?

A

Exacerbating the balance of payments and increasing future inflation

65
Q

What did Macmillan do to chancellors who questioned his priorities?

A

Fired them

66
Q

What did Macmillan write to Selwyn Lloyd to show the Conservatives adopted a more interventionist approach?

A

‘So far as I am concerned I have no fear of greater state direction because these are the policies that I recommended before the war.’

67
Q

What two policies and two organisations were introduced by Conservatives in the 1960s that were more expected from Labour?

A

Incomes policy, regional policy, National Economic Development Council and National Incomes Comission

68
Q

Who backed the policies and organisations?

A

Federation of British Industries

69
Q

What common names were given to these two organisations?

A

National Economic Development Council (Neddy) and

National Incomes Comission (Nicky)

70
Q

What common names were given to these two organisations?

A

National Economic Development Council (Neddy) and

National Incomes Commission (Nicky)

71
Q

What two qualities were Macmillan’s answer to maintaining growth and employment?

A

Restraint and common sense

72
Q

What did the government do in order to stop balance of payments crisis?

A

‘Stop-go’ policy

73
Q

What was the order of ‘stop-go’ economics starting with balance of payments crisis?

A
  • Government controls high interest rates and wage freezes (stop) - demand falls (stop) - output increases (stop) - controls removed (go) - increase in demand (go) - rising imports (go) - balance of payments
74
Q

What is monetarism?

A

Limit wage increases and cut the money supply

75
Q

In which year did Thorneycroft propose drastic spending cuts that Macmillan didn’t approve?

A

1958

76
Q

With an expansion of the economy in April 1959, what value were the tax cuts given?

A

£370 million

77
Q

What were the government forced to introduce in 1961 to hold down wage inflation?

A

‘Pay pause’

78
Q

Which report recommended massive cuts in Britain’s rail network?

A

Beeching Report, 1963

79
Q

What percentage of railways closed as a result of the report?

A

30%

80
Q

What was the increase of motor cars on the roads between 1951 and 1955?

A

2.5 million to 3.3 million

81
Q

What percentage of families still lacked a car by 1960?

A

80%

82
Q

At what age was a test given to decide what education children would be put in?

A

11 years old

83
Q

What schools were middle class children much more likely to go than working class children?

A

Grammar schools

84
Q

What fraction of working class children that attended grammar schools left before sixth form?

A

1/3

85
Q

Which women established the difference between language used by the upper class and working class and what did she call it?

A

Nancy Mitford, U and Non-U speech respectively

86
Q

What percentage of the population objected to the BBC cancelling programmes for ten days after George VI’s death?

A

59%

87
Q

Why was Harold Wilson appealing to the public?

A

He was a meritocrat

88
Q

Who was the agony aunt who said that ‘most women once they have a family, are more contented’?

A

Evelyn Home

89
Q

How much did the percentage of women in the workforce rise between 1951 and 1961?

A

26% to 35%

90
Q

Why was Margaret Thatcher turned down as MP for Orpington?

A

She had two young children

91
Q

What act in 1948 allowed mass immigration inadvertently?

A

British Nationality Act

92
Q

Where had Empire Windrush come from and how many passengers was it carrying?

A

Jamaica, under 500

93
Q

When was it decided by the Labour government to not introduce legislation limiting migration?

A

February 1951

94
Q

When Conservatives took office, how many immigrants had arrived from the New Commonwealth, mainly West Indies?

A

5000

95
Q

How many immigrants arrived from Jamaica in 1953, 1954 and 1955?

A

2000, 11000 and 27000

96
Q

Which Lord was convinced that the only way to get rid of future racial strife was through new restrictions?

A

Lord Salisbury

97
Q

What did a lot of people think was the reason (attraction) for the ‘sudden influx of black people’?

A

Introduction of the welfare state

98
Q

Which Lord wrote a 1957 report expressing concern for the local towns and cities due to expanding immigration?

A

Lord Hailsham

99
Q

Which law introduced by Butler in 1961 meant that people had to have a work permit or employment voucher to migrate to Britain?

A

Commonwealth Immigrants Bill

100
Q

When did Bishop Barnes of Birmingham suggest that, in districts where there were significant
foreign elements, ‘neither moral standards nor social behaviour are satisfactory’?

A

June 1952

101
Q

Who introduced the documentary in January 1955 that showed extreme racial prejudice?

A

Robert Reid

102
Q

When did the trouble in Notting Hill start and why?

A

1958, competition in housing

103
Q

Which word introduced in America in 1930s came into popular use, carrying disapproving connotations?

A

‘Teenager’

104
Q

By 1960, how many teenagers were there in Britain?

A

Five million

105
Q

When was the end of the National Service?

A

1960

106
Q

Name two American rock and roll artists that started the movement

A

Bill Haley and Elvis Presley

107
Q

Name three British musicians who were important in the new pop music movement

A

Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard

108
Q

Which film by Bill Haley raised concerns over violence and vandalism?

A

The Blackboard Jungle

History (3 decks)

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