Extra-parliamentary opposition

Question 1

What did Oxford Uni vote against Thatcher?

Answer 1

Oxford uni voted against giving Thatcher an honorary degree because of public spending cuts to higher education.

Question 2

Why did the artistic establishment tend to be anti-Thatcher?

Answer 2

Partly because of cuts in public spending to the arts. Playwright Carol Churchill among others wrote plays that satirised Thatcherism.

Question 3

What other artists campaigned against Thatcher?

Answer 3

A musical collective including Paul Weller and Madness campaigned against Thatcher in the late 1980s.

Question 4

What did the Church of England publish in 1985?

Answer 4

The church of England published a report in 1985 called ‘faith in the city’ which called on the government to do more to help deprived communities.

Question 5

Describe some charity movements set up.

Answer 5

Charities such as ‘shelter’, were set up to campaign against the increasing homelessness problem and ‘age concern’ which campaigned against pensioner poverty.

Question 6

What happened to the CND?

Answer 6

They were given a new lease of life by Thatcher’s determined backing for the policy of deterrence and stepping up the arms race against the USSR in the so called ‘new cold war’ of the early 1980s.