Chapter 1.1 - Conservative Governments, Labour Divisions and Conservatives Fall

Question 1

What were the results of the 1951 election

Answer 1

-Conservative party won the most seats
-Conservatives won 48% votes and 321 seats
-Labour won 48.8% votes and 295 seats
-Liberal won 2.5% votes and 6 seats
-Others 0.7% and 3 seats

Question 2

Why did Conservatives win the 1951 election

Answer 2

-Churchill had a great reputation from leading Britain through WW2
-First-past-the-post system

Question 3

Outline the prime minister 1951-55

Answer 3

He had been a cabinet minister and became PM during the war. Labour saw him as tired and old.

Question 4

Outline key politicians in the Conservative government 1951-55

Answer 4

-Eden was talented and played key role as foreign secretary and was acting PM in Churchill’s absence
-R.A. Butler was Chancellor
-Macmillan was housing minister

Question 5

What events occurred during the Conservative government of 1951-55

Answer 5

-Bevanite Quarrel
-Churchill spent time abroad
-Tension between Macmillan, Eden and Butler

Question 6

What were criticism of the government 1951-56

Answer 6

-Churchill was ill and old. He also was more invested in international affairs so spent more time abroad.
-He was absent so often left acting prime minister
-There were tensions due to Eden, Butler and Macmillan’s rivalry
-Churchill didn’t believe in party politics
-Critical Conservative for post-war consensus had limited roles in his government

Question 7

What was the result of the 1955 election

Answer 7

-Conservatives won 345 seats (49.7% votes)
-Labour won 277 seats and 46.4% votes
-Liberals won 6 seat and 2.7% votes
-Others won 2 seats and 1% votes

Question 8

Outline the prime minister 1956-59

Answer 8

-Eden became prime minister in 1955 but resigned in 1957
-After 1957 Macmillan became prime minister

Question 9

Outline key politicians involved in the Conservative government 1956-59

Answer 9

-R.A Butler was seen as possible party leader after Eden’s fall
-Macmillan was foreign secretary before becoming PM

Question 10

Why did Conservatives win the 1955 election

Answer 10

-High hopes for Eden and his Conservative party
-Eden wanted Churchill to step down

Question 11

What events occurred during the 1956-59 Conservative government

Answer 11

-Suez Canal Crisis
-Tried to move Macmillan from foreign office to Treasury in October 1955 but it was delayed till December (pre 1956- same gov)
-Party not unified

Question 12

Criticisms of the government 1956-59

Answer 12

-Anxious about decision making mainly due to lack of economic knowledge
-Seen as too conciliatory with trade unions
-Suez Canal was a diplomatic, economic and political crisis and Eden came under heavy attack from Labour and the press. (Lied to House of Commons)
-Pressure from US exposed Britain’s financial weakness.

Question 13

Result of the 1959 election

Answer 13

-Conservatives won 365 seats and 48.8% votes
-Labour won 258 seats and 44.6% votes
-Liberals won 6 seats and 6% votes
-Others won 1 seat and 0.6% votes

Question 14

Who was prime minister 1959-64

Answer 14

Macmillan became PM in 1957 and resigned in 1963 and was replaced by Lord Home

Question 15

Who were key politicians in the 1959-64 Conservative government

Answer 15

-R.A Butler was seen as possible party leader when Macmillan resigned and was home secretary

Question 16

Why did the Conservatives win the 1959 election

Answer 16

-People saw Macmillan as the safe option as he had few enemies and Butler’s reputation was damaged due to tax cuts
-Macmillan was more popular in the party, and they chose the PM.

Question 17

What events occurred during the 1959-64 Conservative government

Answer 17

-Economic prosperity and party unity was restored
-Macmillan was loved by the media
-NIGHT of the Long Knives

Question 18

Criticisms of the 1959-64 Conservative government

Answer 18

-Weakened by WW2 AND Great depression repercussions
-Profumo Affair
-Macmillan lost his touch in July 1962 and reshuffled his cabinet - sacking 1/3

Question 19

What was the post-war consensus between political parties in Britain

Answer 19

-Belief in mixed economy and both sides are and private enterprise
-Support for NHS and welfare state
-Wish to ensure full employment and to avoid the mass unemployment of the 1930s
-Working both with trade unions and employers
-Sometimes called ‘Butskellism’ Butler and Gaitskell

Question 20

What was the Conservatives housing policy 1951-64

Answer 20

-Conservative Manifesto promised to build 300,000 houses a year. This would rebuild housing stock destroyed ruing the war and replace the slums people had used before it.

Question 21

What was Labours policy in housing 1945-51

Answer 21

-High demand for housing after war
-Demand couldn’t be met due to large exports
-Licensing limited amount of private housing
-Council house renting increased after war
-200,000 houses built in 1950
-1,000,000 built 1945-50
-Better after 1918 but lower than expected

Question 22

Labours education policy 1945-51

Answer 22

-Attlee’s government introduced acts of 1944 and 1945 which provided free education with tripartite system
-Family Allowances Act 1945 provided weekly payment of 5 shillings for every additional child after the first.

Question 23

Conservative education policy 1951-64

Answer 23

-Tripartite system = grammar schools, technical school and secondary modern
-Children would take a test to see which they’d go to
-Financial restraints meant more secondary and grammar schools were built. Eden tried to promote technical schools during his short time.

Question 24

Labours social reform policy 1945-51

Answer 24

-National Insurance Act created system of universal government, employee and employee contributions to provide against unemployment, sickness, maternity, widowhood and retirement.
-The National Assistant Act dealt with poverty
-The industrial Injuries Act provided cover for workplace accidents
-NHS act brought free medical treatments that was funded through taxation and National Insurance

Question 25

Conservatives social reform policy 1951-64

Answer 25

-Clean Air Act 1956 aimed to prevent smog of the early 1950s
-Housing and Factory Acts aimed to improve living and working conditions
-Butler was a liberal home secretary and took on Controversial issues like homosexuality and the death penalty
-Homicide Act 1957 restricted the death penalty
-Wolfenden Comission 1957 recommended homosexuality should no longer be illegal

Question 26

Why did splits within the Labour Leadership damage its election prospects in the 1950s?

Answer 26

-Gaitskell and Bevan differed in views about how the party should be run as Bevan was left-wing and wanted a more socialist approach. He resigned in 1951 to protest against the prescription charges Gaitskell introduced.
-Gaitskell was right-wing
-This showed the party didn’t all have the same goals causing the party to be weaker and put voters off

Question 27

Who was leader of the Labour party after 1955

Answer 27

Gaitskell after he defeated Bevan

Question 28

Why were nuclear weapons so divisive for the Labour party?

Answer 28

-Unilateralists wanted nuclear disarmament for Britain. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was attracted to the left of Labour as they wanted a more socialist party.
-Left-wing Frank Cousins was the leader of a powerful union (Transport and General Workers Union) and he led fierce opposition to Gaitskell over Britain’s nuclear weapons.
-In 1960 Cousins opposed Gaitskell’s leadership, over nuclear weapons
-This may have damaged Labour’s prospects after WW2 and the Cold War

Question 29

Why did things worsen for the Labour Party in the 1950 (party conference and 1959 election)

Answer 29

-Relations with the Trade Unions got worse as Gaitskell suggested abolishing Clause IV which committed the party to nationalisation. The opposition from the left wing and union leaders was fierce and Gaitskell backed down.
-The splits put off voters after left wing Labour joined the CND and due to conflicts between Cousins and Gaitskell
-There was a large defeat for Labour in the 1959 election which was a big surprise and disappointment

Question 30

What happened in 1961 that damaged the Conservative party

Answer 30

-Britain applied to the EEC
-George Blake convicted as SU double agent

Question 31

What happened in 1962 to damage the Conservative Party?

Answer 31

-Macmillan shuffled his cabinet to rejuvenate it, sacking 1/3 of it and weakening it. He became seen as out-of-touch and old fashioned due to his aristocratic marriage.
-John Vassall was a civil servant discovered to have been blackmailed due to his homosexuality to pass information to the SU

Question 32

What happened in 1963 to damage the Conservative Party?

Answer 32

-Profumo Affair - Macmillan’s Secretary of State for war was lying in statements to parliament and PM about his actions and was a big headline for weeks. (Spy affair)
-Macmillan got ill and had a major operation and he resigned in October
-Divisive struggle for leadership and strong opposition to the two most obvious candidates, Butler and Lord Hailsham. Lord Home emerged as the leader as a compromise candidate.

Question 33

Outline Sir Alec Douglas-Home as PM

Answer 33

-Was foreign secretary under Macmillan and Heath
-When chosen as Party leader in 1963 he gave up his peerage so he could sit in the House of Commons rather than the House of Lords. This meant it was a surprise he became PM.
-Introduced elections for the Conservative leadership as a formal system hadn’t existed before 1965

Question 34

What was the reaction to Douglas-Home becoming PM

Answer 34

-Iain Macleod was unhappy with the “emergence” of Home as PM and refused to serve in his government
-Reginald Maudling tried to get butler to refuse to work under home but eventually agreed to serve
-The election increased people’s belief that the Conservatives were out-of-touch and old fashioned