End of the Post-War Consensus 1970-79 Flashcards
Prime Ministers 1970-79
70-74 Ted Heath
74-76 Harold Wilson
76-79 Jim Callaghan
Characteristics of Ted Heath
Lower-Middle Class
Grammar school educated (first Tory leader), went to Oxford on scholarship
First Tory leader elected by party
One-Nation Tory
Selsdon Man (free marketeer)
Europhile
When did Heath join the EEC?
1973
Why did the Conservatives win in 1970?
Labour Weaknesses:
-Poor economy
-Liberal Legislation
-Failure to TUs under control
-12% inflation
-Failure to condemn Vietnam
-Devaluation
Tory Strengths:
-Heath was new blood
-Promised to get unions under control
-Promise to get Britain into Europe
-Promised to end subsidies to lame duck industries
-Enoch Powell (2.5m)
When was decimalisation
1971
How many votes did Powell give the Tories in 1970?
2.5m
How many Labour and Liberals switched to the Tories after hearing Rivers of Blood
18% of Labourites
24% of Liberals
Who was Blair Peach
Anti-Nazi League member, demonstrated against racism, killed by police on a race-march in 1979. Police brutality.
NI: What was Bloody Sunday
1972
1 Para fired on unarmed protestors in Bogside, Derry killing 14.
Turned nationalist group against the British Army.
British embassy in Dublin burned down.
NI: What was Operation Demetrius
Imprisonment without trial of suspected PIRA sympathisers in 1971.
2,500 arrested (95% Catholic)
ECHR described interrogation methods as torture
Caused nationalist backlash
Ended by Labour
Which law outlawed sex-based discrimination
Sex Discrimination Act 1975
Wage gap closure during 70s
59p/£ in 1970 -> 70p/£ in 1977
How did employers get around equal pay loopholes?
Give female employees marginally different job descriptions so that it’s technically a different job
When was The Pill made available on the NHS?
1971
How many immigrants had arrived from the Commonwealth by 1974?
1 million
February 1974 elections
Hung parliament with a Labour minority government
Labour got the most seats by 5
Liberals got 20% of the vote but 14 seats, beginning their campaign for PR
Nationalist parties got a foothold
Tories couldn’t form a coalition with the Liberals as they demanded Heath step down
Heath’s two chancellors
Ian Macleoud, skilled chancellor who kept most of the Conservative’s plans in his head as Shadow Chancellor. Died soon after the 1970 election.
Anthony Barber, deregulated banking sector (Barber’s Boom), introduced VAT at 10%
Who was Keith Joseph
Prominent cabinet minister in post-war Tory governments, publicly apologised for the Conservatives’ commitment to maintaining the P-W C when he renounced it, becoming the first monetarist and the fore-runner to Thatcher. Never ran for office as he said some nasty things about working class women.
Education under Heath
School leaving age increased to 16
Thatcher ramped up comprehensivisation despite personally opposing it
What was Heath’s U-Turn?
Nationalising Rolls-Royce and Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in 1971.
Rolls-Royce saved 80,000 jobs
What was the Barber Boom?
Anthony Barber’s 1972 budget massively deregulated banking, leading to large increases in lending which spurred inflation.
Growth was promised to be 10% within two years.
End of the Post-War Consensus
What was the economic situation under Heath that was previously thought to be impossible
Stagflation
Oil prices under Heath
Ramped up after OPEC sanctioned West during Yom Kippur War starting in 1973.
$3 -> $12 a barrel
Massive driver of inflation
When did North Sea drilling begin
1975
When did Barber float the pound
1972
When was the first post-war recession?
1973-75
How did Heath try to tackle inflation?
Statutory Incomes Policy. After talks between the government, CBI and TUC broke down, Heath froze wages and prices.
Contradiction as he abolished the Prices and Incomes Board earlier.
What did unemployment break a million?
January 1972
What was unemployment in 1974
550,000, fell due to Keynesian strategies
How did Heath deal with unions?
Industrial Relations Act 1971
Set up an Industrial Relations Court to deal with disputes, and enforced a cooling down period. Essentially just a passing of In Place of Strife. Labour would later repeal this, and Thatcher would finish them off.
Called the 1974 election with the slogan “who governs?”
What’s an example of an old generation of trade unionists being replaced by new militants?
Joe Gormley of the NUM being replaced by Arthur Scargill. Scargill had already been creating strikes around the back of Gormley.
How many days were lost to striking in 1972?
24,000,000 (highest since the General Strike)
Major strikes under Heath
NUM strike Jan-Feb 1972:
Led by Gormley, but Scargill played a big part
Flying picketers were sent to other mines to try and start strikes there
State of emergency declared
Battle of Saltley Gate
43% pay rise
COBRA created
NUM strike 1974:
Real wages had been falling (less than the Wilberforce Inquiry recommended)
Opportunist jump on three day week and fuel shortage
Miners rejected a small pay rise and went on strike for two weeks
Prompted Heath to call the 1974 election to give himself a mandate on ‘who governs?’
Wilson gave them a 35% pay rise and called another election
What was the Battle of Saltley Gate?
During the 1972 NUM strike, clashed with the police and closed down a coke depot which housed coal stockpiles.
Flying pickets came in from other industries to join the blockade.
30,000 strikers in total
How many babies were baptised in the 70s
Less than half of them
NI: What was the bloodiest year of the Troubles
1972
500 died
10,000 shooting incidents
2,000 explosions
NI: What was Sunningdale
Attempt at a powersharing agreement in 1973. Rejected by unionists.
Called for a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and for Ireland to have a say in governing NI in the Council of Ireland.
Led to protests and a general strike from unionists. Ireland would have to drop their constitutional claim to NI.
NI: Direct Rule
Devolved status of NI, including their PM was abolished in 1972, establishing home rule. Lasted until Good Friday Agreement
NI: Name of the unionist group opposed to Sunningdale
UUUP
NI: Why was Labour more concilliatory towards nationalists than Heath?
Heath relied on UUP votes for his coalition and Wilson’s constituency had a lot of NI Catholic immigrants
What was the Three Day Week?
1973-74
Due to high fuel prices from Yom Kippur and NUM strikes, the government declared that fuel rationing would be implemented so that firms would only have fuel for three days a week. This was effectively a three day working week, due to the low productivity of British industry in this period, little production was lost, and most saw it as a holiday.
Some had to work 18h days
Embarassing for Heath.
Wage inflation under Heath
Double inflation (14% v 7%)
How much did lending increase during the Barber Boom?
43% in 1973
How many days were lost to strikes under Heath
60 million 1970-74
What was inflation at in 1974?
19%
Ford under Heath
Ford threatened to pull production out of the UK due to strikes
Social Contract
Plan drawn up by Labour when they were in opposition.
Food subsidies
Housing subsidies
Repeal Heath’s Industrial Relations Act
Institute voluntary pay restraints
Govt would work with unions
Pensions increased
Contrased with the contractionary policies and austerity that other countries imposed to deal with the early 70s recession
When it was implemented it led to lower strikes, but didn’t solve the underlying problem of millitancy
What was Labour’s policy on Europe?
Tony Benn convinced Wilson that a referendum should be held.
In the 1975 election, Wilson and the party remained neutral, allowing for cabinet ministers to publicly debate each other (Jenkins v Benn).
When the Yes campaign won, and Benn conceded Labour became pro-European
1975 Referendum
Should the UK remain the the EEC?
Yes:
Jenkins, Heath, most of the cabinet, most of the shadow cabinet, businesses, most of the media
No:
Benn, Foot, Castle, Powell
Ended in a 17m-8m win for the YES campaign
Value of the pound decrease
$2.30 (pegged) -> $1.67 in 1976 (floating)
