Chapter 9

Question 1

What was Edward heaths background

Answer 1

Was born into a working class/ lower-middle class he attended a grammar school so was the only prime minister from the Conservative Party post war to not attend eton or harrow. Heath gained an organ scholarship to Oxford where he achieved a second class degree in ppe

Question 2

What was Edward heaths career in pollitics before prime minister

Answer 2

-he was elected leader of the Conservative Party 1965(5 years before 1970 election)
- was mp for bexley Kent from 1950 - 2001
- served as chief whip under Eden and shadow chancellor under sir Alec Douglas home

Question 3

What was heaths leadership like

Answer 3

-He was perceived as stiff and prickly in dealing with people.
- didn’t get involved in plots
-he was regarded as to honest for his own good
- policies not pollitics
- he knew eec policies inside out

Question 4

What was the selsdon park conference

Answer 4

Held In the January before the 1970 election, this conference would aid to form the conservative party’s manifesto at the election

Question 5

What where the key features of the selsdon park policy program

Answer 5

Tax reform
Better law and order
Reforms to trade unions
Immigration controls
Cuts to public spending
End of public subsidy of lame duck industries

Question 6

What reforms took place during heaths premiership

Answer 6

School leaving age was raised to 16
Local goverment was recognised
British currency went decimal

Question 7

What is decimalisation

Answer 7

Came into force in 1971
The new British currency would have 100 pence in the pound Rather than 144 pennies bringing it more in line with the currencies of other European countries

Question 8

What was the barber boom

Answer 8

Anthony barber was made the new chancellor, he initially introduced cuts in public spending, he introduced tax cuts to try and encourage investment. This caused a rapid rise in inflation known as the barber boom

Question 9

What is stagflation

Answer 9

The unusual combination of inflation and stagnant economic growth ( which often produces unemployment) at the same time. It is unusual to have increased unemployment at the same time as inflation.

Question 10

What was heaths u turn

Answer 10

The prestigious engineering company rolls Royce was nationalised in 1971, money was also poured into preventing upper cycle shipbuilders going bankrupt.

Question 11

What was progress was made by 1973

Answer 11

The investment the goverment had put into modernising industry seemed to be working. Unemployment had fallen back to 500,000. However, this was to change with the oil crisis of 1973 and the energy crisis that followed

Question 12

What caused the oil crisis of 1973

Answer 12

The Yom Kippur war In the Middle East. The war prompted OPEC to declare an oil embargo. Exports suddenly stopped. The price of oil rocketed to four times the usual levels

Question 13

Why was the oil crisis significant for miners

Answer 13

Energy in the uk was largley dependent on coal now so allowed miners to demand wage increases in November 1973

Question 14

What industrial disputes where there for heath leading up to the miners strikes

Answer 14

Dockers strikes, large pay settlements for dustmen, a postal workers, go slow by power workers which led to power cuts.

Question 15

What was the industrial relations act 1971

Answer 15

Very similar to Barbara castles proposal, it set up an industrial relations court and provided strike ballots and a cooling off period before official strikes could begin. Both the trade union congress and the confederation of British industry were opposed to it.

Question 16

How many working days where lost in 1972

Answer 16

24,000,000
Highest since 1926
Ambulance drivers, miners, firefighters, civil servants, power workers

Question 17

Who was Arthur scargill

Answer 17

Leader of the Yorkshire miners, played a big part in the successful strikes of 1972 and 1974

Question 18

What where the miners strikes of 1972

Answer 18

Started on the 9th January 1972 used flying pickets to stop the movement of coal. 9th of feb a state of emergency was declared, schools were closed and 1.2 million were laid off.

Question 19

What was the wilberforce committee

Answer 19

Was set up to examine demands of miners and announce 3 day week to save electricity. Mun leader Joe Gormley was able to negotiate a generous wage settlement

Question 20

What was the industry act of 1972

Answer 20

Aimed to involve the government the TUC and the CBI in agreeing wages, prices, investment and benefits this was heavily criticised by the right of the Conservative Party such as Enoch Powell

Question 21

How did the miners use 1973 oil crisis for their own agenda

Answer 21

Lack of oil due to the yom kippur war meant reliance on coal as a result they demanded even higher wages which was beyond the limit

Question 22

Who was Willie Whitelaw and how did he deal with miners ?

Answer 22

Willie whitelaw was an old upper class conservative member. He was highly effective in the the Irish sunning dale agreement. In December 1973 he moved to the department of employment. He was ineffective miners refused to accept the pay offer and the government refused to treat miners as a special case

Question 23

What happened in the miners strike of 1974

Answer 23

January 1974 num called a national strike, heath then imposed three day week to conserve electricity, people didn’t like the new limit as they weren’t earning as much

Question 24

What happened in the 1974 general election

Answer 24

Labour won 5 more seats then Tory but did not have they also didn’t have a majority.

Question 25

What was the seat distribution in the 1974 election

Answer 25

301-297 37 other seats so no majority
Labour formed a minority government

Question 26

What was direct rule

Answer 26

Heath suspended the stormont parliament in march 1972 and bought in direct rule from Westminster, appointing Willie whitelaw as Secretary of State

Question 27

What was heaths aim by implementing direct rule

Answer 27

Not to try and defeat the ira, as the unionists and loyalists wanted, but to look for a more permanent political solution that would ensure peace. This led to negotiations with the main northern Irish political parties

Question 28

What was interment

Answer 28

Locking up suspects without trial

Question 29

Was interment successful ??

Answer 29

Ineffective as it alienate nationalists, interment only created a more significant bitterness 95% of interns where catholics, interment was the best recruitment the ira ever had

Question 30

What was heaths policy on Northern Ireland

Answer 30

Night time curfew was imposed
Interment

Question 31

What was the sunning dale agreement

Answer 31

A complex plan for a power sharing government with the support of the sdlp and the alliance of the UUP

Question 32

What did suning dale agreement proposed

Answer 32

A power sharing executive both sides would be guaranteed representation
A new Northern Ireland assembly system underneath proportional representation
A council of Ireland

Question 33

How was sunningdale agreement undermined

Answer 33

The settlement was undermined by issues in mainland Britain by the miners strike and 1974 general election. Those parties opposed to sunnigdale put up a single candidate in each constituency in Northern Ireland

Question 34

What happened on the 30th January 1972 Bloody Sunday

Answer 34

Northern Ireland civil rights association had organised a march against internment. British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians, 13 killed on the day. The day became known as booody Sunday. Paratroopers were sent in

Question 35

What increased violence was there between 1970 and 74

Answer 35

March 1971 3 British soldiers killed
Feb 1972 aldershot barrack 7 killed
Feb 1974 m62 army coach 12 killed by ira bomb

Question 36

What happened in 1972 concerning violence

Answer 36

1382 explosions 10628 shooting incidents.

Question 37

Who was Brian Faulkner

Answer 37

The Ulster unionist party leader who led the Belfast government, he went along with night time curfew and interment, resigned in 1972 after direct rule

Question 38

Who was Ian paisley

Answer 38

Led the loyalist opposition to the catholic civil rights movement in the 1960s and was involved in setting up parliamentary loyalist organisations. He was an mp from 1970 yo 2010 and an mep from 1979 to 2004. First minister of Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2008

Question 39

Who was John Hume

Answer 39

Was involved in the Irish civil rights movement of the 1960s, he co founded the social Democratic Party and became the leader in 1979. He won the noble peace prize. Instrumental in bringing ira ceasefire

Question 40

Who was Martin McGuiness

Answer 40

Member of the provisional Ira in the early 1970s although he claimed to have left in 1974. He was elected as mp for Sinn Fein in 1997. He was sin feins cheif negotiator at the talks that lead to Good Friday agreement. He later became deputy first minister in the devolved northern Irish assembly after 2007