Conservative Governmant : britain 1951-64 Flashcards
How far did winston chruchills government between 1951-1955 create conservative dominance?
Strentgh:
•met with other world leaders
•wanted to prevent new conflict (nuclear war fears)
•use non-conservative peer to over see ministires,
• appointed butler to avoid social and industrial conflict between government and trade unions
• popular (lead Britain to win the war)
Weakness
• old man= susceptible to injury (impaired speech from stroke (1953)
• viewed himself as a statesman than domestic poltican (more time abroad than in Downing Street and more focused on ensuring post war peace)
•thought he was above party politics (was a liberal from 1904-1924, tried to persuade liberals to join cabinet)
• a abstentenism, created tensions between Eden Macmillan and butler and himself with Eden who was impatient for power
• his government appointment forbid radical break from post war consensus rejectez( limited gov role)
•most school either grammar/ secondary
How far did anthony Edens government create conservative dominance?
-1955-1957 prime minister
ST:
increased conservative majority from 17 seats to 60
- provided good foreighn policy
experience
-try to promote greater emphasise on technical educatiom
WK:
• party division from:
-lack of intrest and experianxe in domestix affairs
-anxious making decisions
-lack of knowledge on economic issues (tried to move Macmillan to treasury, which he did not want)
• Aims to prevent industrial unrest caused critism he was too concilictory with trade unions
-distater in leading milatery action in suez crisis= press reporting accusations of lying to House of Commons = caused rebellion of nearly 40 conservtive mps= heath opposed= exposed Britain weak economy
How far did harold macmillan create conservative dominance 1957-1963?
-prime minister 1957-1963
ST:
-lead conservatives to comftorable victory (up to 100 seats in election
-one nation conservative
-popular (had few enemies and opposed appeasement in 1930s)
-oberssw succes of rebuilding houses, from promised build 300,000 houses in 1951
- clean air act 1951 prevent smog & housing factories aim to improve work conditions
-1957 homocide act restricted when death penalty imposed
WK:
-rejected application to join EEC in 1963
-1962, sacked third of cabinet (looked clumsy)
-image of edwardiam gentleman and martaige to arristocracy= out of date
-bad economic situatiom
-spy scandals: george blake 1961, preffumo affair 1963
( preffumo was secutary state of war, who lied about his actions)
who was alec dougles-Home?
-1963 -1963 prime minister
ST:
-resale price maintainance: system where manufacturers fix price of goods sold to public was abolished
-skeptical on higher levels of governmant expendature( more than presescesors)
WK:
-not likely to move party away from centrist approach
-little recent experiance in domestic policies
what were the weakness of labour causing then to lose 1951 election?(6)
-atlees gov worn down by ecenomic and financial difficulties
-division develop between left and right wing in labour party
-shrinking in 1950 election
-attack of governmant nationalization of iron and steel
-difficult for labour to shake party image of austerity, rationing, high taxes
-resentment among trade unions from slow labour response to workers demand
what were the strength of conservatuves to make then win 1951 election?(3)
-1950 election seen influx of bright young conservative mps
-electorates impressed by conservatives projection of thenselves as upholders of liberty and individualism afainst state centralization
-under lord woolton, party reformed its finances and organization. became in better position to fight for seats
who was R.A. Butler?
-chancellor of Exchequer (1951-1955) but was not an economist
-passed (1944) butler act
-played key role in party reorganization
-conservative supporter
-experiances for high profile cases
-bad=divisive= (1955 introduced tax cuts for an election which were then reversed) (supported 1930 appeasement)
-n
what the reasons for the conservatives governmants political dominace?
-embourgeoisement thesis
-conservatuve nore central
-Butskellism
-increased housing
-mixed economy
-internal labour divisions
-labour lack strong economy policy ideas
-funds to nhs
-trade union relations
what is embourgeoisement?
more poeple in an increasingly prosperous socioety aspire to reach status of ‘middle class,
what is a one nation conservation?
support for moderte (ish) reforming toryism to encoursge docial cohesion and avoid divisive policies
what is reffered to the ‘robot’ plan?
was to abandond pound’s fixed exchange rate, so it could find its own level in market
what is evedance of mixed economy?
denationilisation of iron and road haulage and nationilisation if key industries like coal during labour gov of 1950
what is butskellism?
when there was political consensus between butler and gaitskell
what was labour divided from?
-prescription charges
-nuclear weapons
-commitment of major industries
hiw did prescription charges create labour division and its consequences?
-the left supported a free NHS
-the right thiugh it was necacary to introduce charges to respond to financial pressure
leading to division in party 45-52 and tivalry between bevan and gaitskell
how did nuclear weapons cause labour dividions and consequences?
the leftwingers wanted ti disarm nuclear weapons
rightwingers opposed unilateral nuclear disarmanent
lead to greater division ( frank cousin became leader of Transport and general workers union and led fierce opposition for nuclear weapons )
aAnd scarborough conference (1960) where gaitskell made emotional speech to convince conference rejecting unilateral nuclear disarmament. lost but managed to overtun it next year
how did nationalisation cause labour divisions
left: though key industries should remain nationalised
right: thought to nationalise where appropriate (mixed economy)
consequently
gaitskell suggested to abolish clause IV in 1959 blackpool conferncen but backed down in face of opposition
What were the achievements in the development of London in affluent society? (9)
-Decentralisation of London (10 new satellite towns) =remove busy town centre
-new modern flats in landscaped green parks
-flats for different tenants include shops, churches, public houses, school
-high rise flats were popular
-more people moved out of city centre 6.2 mil in London by 1981, 8.2 mill in London in 1951
-1961 over 130000 people into new towns like Basildon,crawly, Harlow,Bracknell
-more settlement in surrounding towns like tunbridge and Maidstone
-exodus peak imma- grants of Cyprus in 1960
-1956 clean air act legislate smokeless fuels and develop power stations away from towns
What were the problems of London in the affluent society?(6)
-Houses from post world war that survived were in poor conditions
-Notting hill include cheap lodging houses with rats
-Notting hill had serial killer John Christie
-Peter rachman exploit house shortage, put lots of Caribbean’s in one house, earning £10,000 of rent when usallly £15000 rent
-1959 kelso cochrane, 32 year old carpenter from Antigua stabbed by young white youth gang, who weren’t convicted for murder
-book ‘L shaped room” depicted heroine pregnant and unmarried, thrown out by parents, living in Fulham where houses had rats and occupied by ‘outcasts,
-1957 Herbert commission looked at perennial issues of governing London and proposed ring roads
What domestic policies did the conservative government focus on?
-Housing
-Education
-Social Reforms
What were the conservatives government domestic policies towards housing?
During MacMillan prime minister reign
The conservatives were able to see the success in there plan to build 300,000 houses a year and replace slums
To What extent were the conservatives government domestic policies towards Education successful ?
-the tripartite system from butler (1944) act continued
-not entirely successful through Churchill’s administration as financial constrains limited its focus on grammar and secondary moderns
-although there was some growing focus of technical education under edens reign
What were the conservatives government domestic policies towards social reforms?
-Clean Air Act (1956) to prevent smog
-housing & factory Acts improve living/ working conditions
-Homicide Act (1957) restricted death penalty imposed
-gov set up wolfenden committee(1954): and published report (1957) which suggested homosexuality not to be a crime. By (1960) gov stalled further commitment
Who were the two key figures of the Labour Party in the 1950s?
-Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan
-Hugh Gaitskell
What were the reasons for conservatives fall from power?
-(1963) Britains application to join EEC was rejected
-(1962) ‘night of the king knives Macmillan failed to rejuvenate government by radically reshuffling it (sacked 1/3)
-Macmillan looked out of touch: Edwardian gentleman who married into aristocracy
-worse economic situation
-spy scandals (1961, George Blake convicted of being Soviet spy)
-sex scandal (Profumo affair)
-Macmillan was ill (major abdominal operation)
-(1963) a peer emerged as conservative leader made them look further out of touch
