Britain: Major Flashcards
Major
. Chosen by Thatcher - thought he’d be like him
. Actually compromised
. Quickly seen as boring, grey, in contrast w Thatcher
. Wanted to unify party and brought Heseltine back into cabinet
Initial tasks for Major
. Foreign: First Gulf War March 1990 and Europe
. Political: getting rid of Poll Tax (Nov 1991: replaced by Council Tax)
. Weak economy: unemployment 2.6mil early 1992; negative equity hurting middle class; high interest rates; inflation 10.9% in 1990
- Major resorted to high gov spending
1992 Election
. Opinion polls: Lab 41% and Cons at 29%
. In reality Cons won - surprise due to weak economy:
. 336 seats for Cons, 271 for Lab
. Major got more votes than any other post-war leader (in part due to population boom)
Factors working against Lab 1992
. Kinnock: ‘unelectable’: ginger, Welsh, working class
- Sheffield Rally: seen as triumphalist, “We’re alright, we’re alright!” union jacks everywhere
. The Press: The Sun, “If Kinnock wins today will the last person in Britain please turn out the lights.”
- “It was the Sun wot won it”
. Still belief that Lab couldn’t be trusted w economy
. Major: campaigned on wooden soap box, seen as trustworthy, an ‘everyman’, not a traditional Tory
Black Wednesday
. Britain part of ERM to control inflation 5 Oct 1990
. £ = 2.95DM
. Economic crisis led to leaving ERM 16 Sep 1992
. George Sorros put fund together to attack £, knew the value was abt to go down - shortselling
. Chancellor Lamont raised interest rates from 10% (already high) to 12, then 15 to persuade foreign investors to buy pounds again
. By afternoon Bank of England had spent £15bil to protect it
Consequences of Black Wednesday
. Ken Clarke replaced Lamont as Chancellor
. Economy improved, stabilised: exchange rates floated down which helped British exporters, unemployment fell, housing market began to pick up
. Disastrous for Cons, no longer trusted with economy, went down in opinion polls
. Weren’t given credit for improved economy
Sleaze and scandal
. 12+ sex scandals in Major’s cabinet: David Mellor + Tim Yeo resigned over extra-marital affairs
. Jonathan Aitken accused by the Guardian as dodgy, sued them for libel
. Made his wife + daughter testify for him in court, they all lied + he went to prison for perjury
. Cash for Questions: MPs accused of accepting £ in return for lobbying on behalf of Harrods owner
. Made Major’s gov ripe for satire: Spitting Image presented him as dull and boring
Policies
. Coal industry privatised 1994
. British rail privatised 1996
. 31 Nottinghamshire pits closed by Heseltine 1991: outcry as they’d stood against Scargill
. ‘Mad cow disease’ led to British beef being banned in Europe: potential threat to humans in 1996
. Citizens Charter 1991: gave public service users opportunity to say the standard they expected
- ‘Cones hotline’ used for satire
Northern Ireland - gov
. Banned organisations believed to support terrorist activities from broadcasting in Britain
. Accusations of ‘shoot to kill’ policy after 3 IRA members killed by SAS in Gibraltar in 1988
. Miscarriages of justice: The Birmingham Six freed in 1991 after arrest in 1975 for bombing 2 pubs killing 21
- Guildford Four freed in 1989 after false arrest in 1975 for bombing 2 pubs killing 5 people
Northern Ireland - continuing atrocities
. March 1988: 3 killed at funeral of a Gibraltar victim by loyalist Michael Stone at Milltown cemetery
. May: 2 off duty soldiers killed at funeral of one killed at Milltown by IRA mob
. 1991: IRA bomb back of Downing Street
. March 1993: Warrington IRA bomb killed 2 children
Major in Northern Ireland
. Had a good relationship with Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds
. Rumours from 1993 that Sinn Fein were willing to negotiate a peace agreement
. President Clinton got involved, they went public in 1993 with their joint Downing Street Declaration
Downing Street Declaration
. December 1993
. N.I. decide own future without interference from London or Dublin govs
. N.I. part of a 32 county Ireland if majority wanted to
. 1994: IRA then Loyalist ceasefire
. Strong war weariness on both sides
. Didn’t last: IRA began bombing again - centre of Manchester 1996 + financial district in Canary Wharf
Conservative Divisions
. Howe’s resignation after being moved from Foreign Office to lesser post: complained about Thatcher’s leadership in speech, compared it to going to bat and “bats…broken before the game by the team’s cap”
. Europe: divided party
Conservative Divisions - leadership challenge
. Right wing press hostile to Major, he called a leadership election in 1995 “back me or sack me”
. An insecure move
. He won 218 votes vs 89 for John Redwood
. His gov only won by small majority in 1992 so this wasn’t a resounding success
. Blair mocked him at PM’s Question Time: “I lead my party. You follow yours.”
. Thatcher seemed to support Blair>Major
