Conservative Electoral Success Flashcards
What was the political landscape like in 1982? (1983 election)
-transformed by impact of Falklands war on domestic politics
What was the positive impact of the war?
-decisive + painless victory seen as vindication Thatchers bold leadership
-war unleashed wave of patriotism around country despite some opposition to it
-press + most of lab supported it
What was the impact of the ‘Falklands factor’?
-galvanised the grass-roots cons activists
-thatcher gained self-confidence + dominated party in new way
What else did the Falklands victory help the cons to do?
-bring about landslide victory for cons
-slowed the rise of the alliance
Despite the Falklands victory, what else helped cons win 1983 election?
-lab leadership lacked credibility
-Foot struggled deal with divisions within lab + performed badly on TV
What were the issues with the lab manifesto that helped the cons with their victory?
-dominated by left wing promises e.g. withdrawal from EEC. + abolition fox hunting — not valence issues
What was another crucial factor in the cons victory?
-splintering of opposition as a whole
-anti cons vote totalled 16m - 3m more than pro cons vote
-yet cons huge majority of 144 seats = FPTP system
What was the result of the election for ‘the alliance’?
-only half 1m fewer votes than lan
-but had 186 fewer seats in parliament
How did the cons fight in the 1987 election?
-fought election on issues of a strong defence, growing econ + promised lower taxes
-continued have backing of majority of press
How did Labour do in the 1987 election?
-new leader Kinnock determined move party along long road back to political credibility but a huge task
-by 1987 Kinnock already restoring party discipline + organisation but still suffered another heavy defeat
How did ‘the alliance’ do in the 1987 election?
-loss of momentum for SDP-lib alliance
-got 24% of vote but nowhere endear peak 40% it had polled before Falklands war
Why was there a loss of momentum for the SDP-lib alliance?
-found it hard keep levels of support gained in 1981+ 82 due to ideological differences as opposition to thatcher not enlightened to provide unity by itself
-personal differences between two David’s
Why did the SDP begin to shrink?
-now that Kinnock has his grip of lab party it seemed moderate socialism was back
-SDP had no purpose anymore
What happened in 1988 between the SDP + the liberals?
-formerly merged to form Liberal Democrat’s
-but David Owen disagreed with merger + resigned + many other MPs switched allegiance back to lab
