Conservative Gov. and Reasons for Political Dominance

Question 1

Conservative majority in 1955

Answer 1

An increase from 17 to 60

Question 2

Conservative majority in 1959

Answer 2

100

Question 3

Winston Churchill strengths

Answer 3

Wartime leadership reputation
International statesman
Had able ministers
Willingness to delegate

Question 4

Winston Churchill weaknesses

Answer 4

Didn’t care much for domestic affairs

Old age and I’ll health - stroke in 1953

Question 5

Anthony Eden strengths

Answer 5

Expert in foreign policy
Experienced - deputy to Churchill
Charming and popular

Question 6

Anthony Eden weaknesses

Answer 6

Domestic inexperience - not easily discerned
Ill health
Weak leader - indecisive.

Question 7

MacMillan strengths

Answer 7

Success as housing minister - good reputation
Calm reassuring presence
Good on TV
He was a one nation Conservative and in support of the postwar consensus
No desire to reverse most labour reforms of the 1945-51 gov.

Question 8

MacMillan weaknesses

Answer 8

Seen as old fashioned

Ill health

Question 9

R.A.B Butler strengths

Answer 9

He was a one nation Conservative supportive of the postwar consensus
He was experienced, holding a series of high ranking ministries
He was responsible for influential policies like the tripartite system and the review of capital punishment
Modernised conservative policies 1945-51

Question 10

R.A.B. Butler weaknesses

Answer 10

Tendency to be indecisive
Never prime minister
Divisive and unpopular with colleagues

Question 11

Douglas-Home strengths

Answer 11

Conciliatory figure

Abolished the policy of Resale Price Maintenance under his premiership

Question 12

Douglas-Home weaknesses

Answer 12

Out of touch
Not elected as party leader
Little experience in domestic policies

Question 13

What was the attraction to conservative domestic policies

Answer 13

Adhered to the post war consensus
Success of housing policy
Success of NHS
Attitude to trade unions

Question 14

What was the theory behind the post-war consensus

Answer 14

Mixed Economy
Support for the NHS and welfare state
Ensure full employment
Work with both trade unions and employers

Question 15

How successful was the housing policy

Answer 15

Built 300,000 houses by 1953
Replaced the slums left in the aftermath of the war
Macmillan reputation

Question 16

Social reforms of the conservative rule

Answer 16

Continued NHS and welfare state funding
Clean air act 1956
Butlers Homicide Act 1957
Wolfenden commissions proposals on homosexuality

Question 17

Showing of acceptance of a mixed economy

Answer 17

Only denationalised steel and iron in 1953
Key industries remained nationalised
Conciliatory attitude towards trade unions

Question 18

3 issues creating labour divisions

Answer 18

Prescription charges
Clause IV - commitment to ownership of major industries
Nuclear weapons

Question 19

Left wing views within the Labour Party

Answer 19

No prescription charges
Supportive of nationalisation
Many supported the CND (campaign for Nuclear Disarmament)
Supportive of Nye Bevan as potential leader

Question 20

Views from the right of the Labour Party

Answer 20

Necessary to introduce prescription charges
Against unilateral disarmament
Saw nationalisation as to only be used when appropriate
Supportive of Hugh Gaitskell as party leader

Question 21

Overview of labour at this time

Answer 21

Constant dispute over the parties direction to more left or right
Lack of decisiveness on the way forward - socialist or conformist to tradition
Debate over key policies
Trade union opposition to Gaitskell as leader
Scarborough conference and the widening of division.

Question 22

Four key reasons for the conservatives 1964 election loss

Answer 22

Out of touch image
Scandal
Labour unity under Wilson
Conservative failures

Question 23

Why were the conservatives viewed as out of touch

Answer 23

‘Night of the Long knives’ - Macmillans desperate reshuffle of his cabinet
Image of Home and MacMillan as aristocratic and Edwardian gentlemen
Wave of social change in the 60s
Targets of the increasingly popular satirical media - The week that was, Private Eye.

Question 24

Conservative scandals in this era

Answer 24

The Profumo affair - denial in parliament
Vassal case 1962 - British spy blackmailed on the basis of his homosexuality to pass info to the Soviet Union
George Blake 1961 convicted of being a soviet double agent.

Question 25

Evidence of labour unity under Wilson

Answer 25

Wilson’s skill of uniting the divided labour factions
Wilson’s centre ground policies
Wilson’s dynamic and progressive appearance
Stark contrast to Home and MacMillan - public desire for modernisation

Question 26

Conservative failures contributing to their decline

Answer 26

Repeated balance of payment crises - stop go cycle and an overheating economy
EEC rejection - Britains place in the world, humiliating
MacMillan as a leader - clumsy and out of touch, seriously ill.
Home as a compromise candidate - not officially elected
Conservatives trapped in a bygone age.