Conservative Governments 1951-64 - Chapter 1 Flashcards
What was Winston Churchill’s early life like?
-Born 30th November 1874.
-Died 24 January 1965.
-Born into the aristocratic Spencer family.
-Educated in Harrow and the Royal Military College.
-He was a reporter and soldier in the Second Boer War (1899-1902)
-He was responsible for the gallipoli campaign in WW1.
What was Winston Churchill’s early political career like?
-He was first elected as Conservative MP in 1900.
-He was made President of the Board of Trade in 1908.
-He was made Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1921.
-Churchill was Chancellor between 1924-29.
-Churchill opposed Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement of Hitler.
What was Churchill’s first term as Prime Minister like?
-He did not give into Nazi demands for surrender.
-He spearheaded operation Dynamo, the Battle of Britain and D-Day.
-He was partly responsible for the defeat of Hitler, though Britain was forced into rationing.
What was Churchill’s second term like? (1951-55)
-He appointed Harold Macmillan as Housing Minister, building 300,000 new houses.
-Churchill strengthened the Special Relationship.
-He continued British efforts in Korea.
-As he was becoming older, the stress of the job necessitated him rarely visiting the House of Commons.
What was Anthony Eden’s early life like?
-Born 12th June 1897 in Durham.
-Died 14th January 1977.
-Educated at Eton College and Christ Church at Oxford.
-He volunteered with his brother, who was killed, in WWI, serving on the Western Front.
What was Eden’s political career before becoming Prime Minister like?
-He was a member of the Conservatives.
-He first served in the Foreign Office, serving as Foreign Secretary three times during WW2 and the Cold War.
What was Eden’s time as Prime Minister like? (1955-57)
-He called a general election after taking power in 1955 increasing the Conservative majority from 17 to 60 with 49.7% of the popular vote.
-He was an anxious decision maker and conscious of his lack of economic knowledge.
-His weakness as leader was exemplified when he tried moving Macmillan from the Foreign Office to the Treasury, delayed by 2 months.
-He decided to take action in the Suez Canal in 1956, ending in disaster and forcing him to resign under pressure from the international community.
-He left areas he had little expertise in like domestic and economic policy to Rab Butler.
What was Harold Macmillan’s early life like?
-Born 10th February 1894 in London.
-Died 29th December 1986 in Sussex.
-Half-American son of a publisher.
-Educated at Eton and Balliol College.
-Served in both world wars.
What was Harold Macmillan’s early political career like?
-He was made Minister of Housing in 1951, then Minister of Defence, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor.
-He was a One Nation Conservative.
-He was MP for Stockton-On Tees in the 1930s.
What was Harold Macmillan’s time as Prime Minister like?
-He restored the economy after Eden’s disastrous invasion of Suez and the Run on the Pound.
-He held a General Election in October 1959, extending the Conservative majority to 100 seats.
-He was great at economic planning and modernising.
-Under his leadership, the UK was considered prosperous socially and economically.
-Internationally, he led the UK through the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War at large.
-He repaired damage to the Special relationship from Suez.
-Made the ‘winds of change’ speech in South Africa, beginning widespread decolonisation in the British Empire.
-Helped sign and negotiate the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.
-Applied for EEC membership but rejected by De Gaulle’s veto.
Why did Harold Macmillan resign as PM?
-Scandals like the Cambridge 5 and the John Profumo affair with Christine Keeler revealed corruption in his cabinet and government.
-He shuffled around cabinet ministers, doing little to refresh the government.
What was Alec Douglas-Home’s early life like?
-Born 2nd July 1903 in Mayfair, London.
-Died 9th October 1995.
-He attended Eton and Oxford University and graduated with a third class BA.
What was Alec Douglas-Home’s early political career like?
-He entered Parliament in 1931 as a Conservative MP for Lanark.
-He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Neville Chamberlain.
-He was severely ill during WW2 and lost his seat in the 1945 Election.
-He became the 14th Earl of Home, entering the House of Lords.
-He became Foreign Secretary in 1959.
What was Alec Douglas-Home’s time as Prime Minister like? (1963-64)
-He gave up his peerage on October 23rd and won a seat on November 7th 1963.
-He then became Prime Minister.
-He took a more free market approach.
-The resale pirce maintenance, fixing prices goods, was abolished.
-He was tough on trade unions.
-He introduced the election process for the Conservative Party.
-He was only in power for 363, losing the 1964 election to Labour under Harold Wilson.
-He convinced Macleod and Enoch Powell to rejoin the Conservatives.
What did Alec Douglas-Home do after losing the 1964 election?
He served as Foreign Secretary in Edward Heath’s cabinet between 1970 and 74.
Who was Rab Butler? (1902-82)
-He is often considered the greatest Prime Minister that Britain never had.
-He was responsible for the budget that reduced taxes by £132 million before the 1959, helping extend the Conservative majority to 100 seats.
He was a candidate for PM in 1957 and 1963.
He came to prominence in 1944 as the architect of the Education Act and played a key role in the reorganisation for returning the policies they were going to enact in 1951.
He was Chancellor from 1951 to 1955.
What happened in the 1951 election?
The Conservatives won 321 seats, with 48.8% of the popular vote.
Labour won 295 seats, with 48.0% of the popular vote.
The Liberals won 6 seats and 3 seats were won by others.
The Conservatives had a 17 seat majority.
What happened in the 1955 election?
The Conservatives won 345 seats, at 49.7% of the popular vote.
Labour won 277 seats, with 46.4% of the popular vote.
8 seats were won by other parties/candidates.
The Conservatives now had a 60 seat majority, 43 more seats than in 1951.
What happened in the 1959 election?
The Conservatives won 365 seats, with 48.8% of the vote.
Labour won 258 seats, with 44.6% of the vote.
Liberals won 6 seats, with 6% of the vote.
1 seat was won by another candidate.
The Conservatives now held a 100 seat majority.
What happened in the 1964 election?
Labour won 317 seats.
The Conservatives won 304 seats.
Liberals won 9 seats.
Labour formed a 4 seat majority government.
What was the Conservative government’s domestic policy like?
Most accepted the reforms of the Attlee government. Attitudes towards industry, trade unions and social policy were very different to the 1930s as the war made people more willing to accept state intervention and planning. The NHS was already highly regarded. Partly by conviction and necessity, the Conservatives accepted the ‘post-war consensu’.
What was the post-war consensus (PWC)?
The understanding after WW2 of an agreement between both parties on key issues. Historians debate the extent and longevity of it.
What were the key elements of the PWC?
-Mixed economy - state involvement and private enterprised.
-Support for the NHS and the welfare state.
-A wish to ensure full employment to avoid repeating the mass unemployment of the 1930s.
-Working with unions and employers.
What is another name for the PWC?
Butskellism - after R. A. Butler (Conservative minister) and Hugh Gaitskell (Labour leader)
