conservative dominance 1951-1964 Flashcards
1
Q
Winston Churchill - 1951-55 overview
A
- past his best
- should have retired
- didn’t do anything wrong though
2
Q
Churchill’s successes as PM
A
oversaw the end of rationing + the testing of the first British atomic bomb
3
Q
Churchill’s failures as PM
A
- was old at the time and in ill health, didn’t do much of the everyday running of the country
- was seen as more of just a figurehead
- mismanagement of the British economy during the interwar years
- old fashioned beliefs, such as that on India
4
Q
Sir Anthony Eden - 1955-57 - overview
A
- no real successes as PM
- his action towards the Suez Crisis ruined him
5
Q
Eden’s successes as PM
A
- conservative majority increased
- lady’s favourite - ‘you’ve never had it so good’
- good media wise
- good image, not in reality
6
Q
Eden’s failures as PM
A
- known as one of the least successful PMs in the 20th century
- his handling of the Suez Crisis was very controversial and not popular with many people; this ended British influence in the middle east
- totally misjudged the international situation, British overreached herself, this completely ruined him
7
Q
Harold Macmillan 1957-63 - overview
A
- takes over because he had previously been given the job to build the houses
- Labour had built 100,000 houses a year, Macmillan has built 300,000 houses a year
- resigned because he thought he had cancer, although doctors were wrong, loved until the 80s
8
Q
Macmillan’s successes as PM
A
- seen as a man who could get the job done because of his previous successes building the houses
- distanced the UK from apartheid in Africa
- sped up the process of decolonisation
- was seen as man who could read politics well
- time of growing prosperity and affluence, living standards had increased, car ownership had increased
- he maintained a ‘special relationship’ with the US; met with Kennedy in the Bahamas, they were friends
- wanted America to give Britain the technology to build a nuclear weapon
9
Q
Macmillan’s failures as PM
A
- failed attempt to accept a place in European Economic Community until a year after being offered a key position
- surrounded by scandals such as prostitutes
10
Q
Alec Douglas-Home 1963-64 successes as PM
A
there weren’t any
11
Q
Alec Douglas-Home 1963-64 failures as PM
A
- pepple were fed up with ‘these kind of people’ and went up against Wilson who had a much more dynamic leadership style
- British public were fed up with Conservative PMs being chosen within the party without any consolidation with the public
- “that was the week that it was” TV programme, lampooning Conservative leaders
12
Q
1955 election (1st win) - conservative strengths
A
- voters were happy with rising wages and living standards
- period of affluence
- 300,000 houses built by Macmillan, 1% unemployed after Churchill
13
Q
1955 election (1st win) - labour weakness
A
- divisions within the party - conflict between Gaitskell and Bevan
- Attlee as visibly ageing and appeared weak
- left and right were divided: divided over nuclear weapons and disarmament, in particular, if disarmed the country would be entirely dependent on the US with no self-protection
14
Q
1959 election (2nd win) - conservative strength
A
- the economy quickly recovered from the recession of 1958 under Macmillan and his personal approval ratings remain high
- pre-election economic boom
- Macmillan was very popular and was a politician of centre ground so he appealed to lots of people from the right and left
- British people were living in a time of prosperity and affluence
15
Q
1959 election (2nd win) - labour weakness
A
- British voters identified increasingly with the middle class, leaving Labour’s appeals to the working class less effective
- labour was becoming more and more unpopular because of the industrial disputes in the 1950s and controversies over the campaign for Nuclear disarmament
