Conservative Dominance 1951-9

Question 1

Social policy

Answer 1

• public expenditure 1955-6: £225m to education, £400m to healthcare
• 1958 school building programme, Mental Health Act 1959
• social services spending doubled 1951-62
• 300,000 houses built + slum clearance + 1957 Rent Act
• good industrial relations -> complied with wage demands
  -This was due to Eden and Macmillan who were one nation conservatives.

Question 2

Labour divisions

Answer 2

-Bevan-
1)On the left of the Labour party
2) He was the architect of the NHS
3) He resigned over prescription charges 1951
4) He received a lot of support from trade unionists and Labour MP’s
-Though he had previously supported Nuclear Disarmament, in ‘57 Bevan changed his mind, claiming “It would send a British Foreign Secretary naked into the conference-chamber”
-Gaitskell-
1) On the right of the Labour party
2) Served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1950-51
3) Was responsible for the introduction of the prescription charges in 1951
4) Became Labour leader in 1955, defeating Bevan after Atlee resigned
-Had to remove clause 4 from the party constitution (clause 4 was committing the party to nationalism

Question 3

Policy -

Answer 3

• public expenditure was unnecessarily high on the military - unsustainable
• every manifesto from 1951-9 focusses on Labour-like policies (house building, spending, health services) + Butskellism -> they’re not offering much that Labour isn’t
• stop go policies made economy very fragile and unstable

Question 4

Economy-

Answer 4

• it was due to the global economy that there was the ‘age of affluence’
  -> Marshall Aid from US, GBP kept artificially high due to fixed exchange rate, end of Korean war
• in 1953 the UK could afford to buy 13% more imports by value for the same amount of exports -> gained £400m/year extra
• operation ROBOT 1952 and Thorneycroft’s proposal 1957 both shelved -> prioritising public opinion over running of economy
• winter 1957 - inflation rising at 4% and wage settlements with unions in double figures
• unstable wages, low worker productivity, unstable BoP (balance of payments)

Question 5

Economy+

Answer 5

• ‘age of affluence’ under Conservatives
  -> cars on roads went from 2m in 1951 to 3m in 1955 + in same period ownership of tvs quadrupled
• stop go policies were good for BoP (balance of payments)
  -> pots and pans budget, 1955 emergency budget, telephone charges VS 1957 housing act, reduced working week
• higher shares in world trade than West Germany and Japan
• food rationing ended 1954
• defence spending went from 52% in 1945 to 7% in 1959 (warfare to welfare)