How effective was Harold Wilson as prime minister?

Question 1

What problems did Wilson face?

Answer 1

A majority of only four seats

Modernise British society

Foreign and colonial problems

Senior figures in the government disliked each other

The economic situation

Question 2

What was Wilson?

Answer 2

Intelligent and hard-working

Optimistic in a crisis

Charming

Distrustful of party ideology, preferring practical solutions

A leader who sought compromise

Acceptable to both wings of the party

Question 3

What did the left of the party believe and what did this involve?

Answer 3

The task of a Labour government was to make Britain fully socialist:

Bringing more sectors of economy under state control

Abolishing or reforming institutions such as the House of Lords or independent schools

Remaining outside the EEC

Abandoning the country’s nuclear weapons

Speeding up the process of decolonisation

Distancing Britain from US foreign policy

Question 4

What did the right of the party believe and what did they believe the government should do?

Answer 4

That these policies were vote-losers and impractical, favouring a realistic agenda:

Promote economic growth and a fairer distribution of wealth by economic planning and taxation policy

Applying the join the EEC

Retain Britain’s nuclear weapons

Maintain a close alliance with the USA to guarantee national security

Resist the demand for further nationalisation

Question 5

What happened in the March 1966 general election and what did it show?

Answer 5

The government was returned with a majority of 96

That Wilson’s leadership style had paid off - he had avoided splits in the party

Question 6

Why did Labour win?

Answer 6

They had managed to appear purposeful and resolute and had avoided any damaging divisions

Many voters still blamed the Tories for the country’s difficulties

Wilson, by exuding confidence and authority, had made Heath seem dogged and ponderous

Question 7

What was the outcome of the election?

Answer 7

Labour won 13 million votes and 363 seats

The Conservatives won 11.4 million votes and 253 seats

Question 8

What had Labour promised?

Answer 8

The modernisation of society after ‘thirteen years of Tory misrule’

Question 9

Who was responsible for the social reforms?

Answer 9

Roy Jenkins, the home secretary

Question 10

What acts were passed in 1965?

Answer 10

Murder: temporary abolition of the death penalty, made permanent in 1969

Race Relations: discrimination in public facilities illegal

Question 11

What acts were passed in 1967?

Answer 11

Family Planning: contraception available to all

Sexual Offences: private homosexual acts legalised

Abortion: abortion under certain conditions legalised

Question 12

What acts were passed in 1968?

Answer 12

Race Relations: racial discrimination in housing and employment illegal

Theatres: censorship of plays by the Lord Chamberlain ended

Question 13

What acts were passed in 1969?

Answer 13

Voting: voting age lowered from 21 to 18

Divorce: process simplified and made less costly

Question 14

What act was passed in 1970?

Answer 14

Equal Pay between men and women

Question 15

What was the impact of social changes on attitudes?

Answer 15

People travelled more and reduced the divisions between the social classes

There was more education, a higher standard of living, and less respect for tradition

Demands for equality

Question 16

What did radicalism lie in?

Answer 16

In this programme of social change rather than in its traditional process of nationalising industry

Question 17

What did traditionalists think?

Answer 17

That the changes encouraged promiscuous sex and created a ‘permissive society’

Question 18

What did opinion polls show?

Answer 18

That the death penalty for murder was popular

Question 19

What gained 400,000 supporters?

Answer 19

The campaign led by Mary Whitehouse against excessive sex, violence, and bad language in BBC programmes

Question 20

What was the impact of new arrivals from the Commonwealth?

Answer 20

They settled in less affluent and inner-city areas where immigration was unpopular with Labour voters, fearing that competition for jobs would mean lower wages

Question 21

What did the government do in 1965 and 1968?

Answer 21

Tightened the rules on immigration

Question 22

What was the impact of the Race Relations Act?

Answer 22

The enforcement methods were weak, making it difficult to secure convictions

Question 23

In 1965 what did Anthony Crosland do?

Answer 23

Began the process of replacing the system with new comprehensive schools for children of all abilities

Question 24

What was the impact of the comprehensive system?

Answer 24

Led to bitter controversy in many areas where grammar schools had been seen as offering the sort of opportunity usually only open to those who attended independent schools

Question 25

What was the 1963 Robbins Report?

Answer 25

Called for a major expansion of university education to produce a sufficiently educated workforce to compete in the modern world

Question 26

What did Wilson think was one of his finest achievements?

Answer 26

Opening the Open University which offered adults the chance to work for a degree on a part-time basis

Question 27

How many attended university in 1969-70 compared to 1963-64?

Answer 27

1969-70: 176k men and 67k women

1963-64: 106k men and 36k women

Question 28

What had Wilson managed to do?

Answer 28

Hold a balance between his left wing and the less radical supporters in his social reforms, achieving a degree of change without seeming to be too extreme

Question 29

What did Wilson believe?

Answer 29

That Britain’s economic recovery and security depended on close alliance with America

Question 30

What did the left regard US politics as and what were they bitter over?

Answer 30

Aggressive and imperialist

Wilson’s attitude to the Vietnam War

Question 31

What did Wilson do in 1965, 1966, and 1997?

Answer 31

1965: told the Commons that we have ‘made plain our support of the American stand against the communist infiltration in South Vietnam’ but refused Johnson’s request to send British troops

1966: Criticised heavy US bombing of North Vietnam

1967: attempted to broker a peace deal

Question 32

What was the impact of his efforts?

Answer 32

Irritated Johnson without going far enough to satisfy the Labour left

Question 33

What did Wilson attempt to do regarding SR?

Answer 33

Balance different sections of opinion in his handling of the illegal declaration of independence in 1965 by the white minority government of Ian Smith in Southern Rhodesia

Question 34

What did the Labour left want regarding SR?

Answer 34

The government to send troops to crush the rebellion

Question 35

Instead, what did the government do and what became clear regarding SR?

Answer 35

Used economic sanctions

That these were not working

Question 36

What did Wilson propose and what did it risk?

Answer 36

A settlement that would have left Smith in power, provided that majority rule was introduced in the future

Inflaming left-wing opinion
in Britain, the unity of the government, and the Commonwealth

Question 37

What did Smith do and what did this allow Wilson to do?

Answer 37

Refuse the settlement

Maintain his stance as an opponent of the rebellion who had nevertheless strived to find a peaceful solution

Question 38

What were Wilson’s tactics but why is this justified?

Answer 38

Extremely risky

There were no easy solutions to the problem

Question 39

What did Wilson believe he could do regarding the EEC?

Answer 39

Persuade CDG to change his mind about joining the common market

Question 40

What happened in 1967?

Answer 40

CDG vetoed Britain’s application

Question 41

What did Wilson succeed in doing?

Answer 41

Maintaining cabinet and party unity over Europe; the pro-Europeans were pleased by the application and the anti-Europeans by its failure

Question 42

What was Wilson anxious to do and how did he hope to achieve this?

Answer 42

Avoid the internal squabbling that had weakened the party in the 1950s

By giving ministerial jobs to senior party figures from all shades of opinion

Question 43

What was there often in the cabinet?

Answer 43

Bitter quarrels about policy and conflicts between personalities

Question 44

What did Barbara Castle observe in 1968?

Answer 44

‘we spend three-quarters of our time in these personal pro and anti intrigues instead of getting down to real jobs’

Question 45

What happened in 1969?

Answer 45

Cabinet in-fighting reached a peak when the government tried to reform industrial relations

Question 46

What did Denis Healey admit?

Answer 46

That disputes were ‘all too common in governments of all parties’

Question 47

How many cabinet resignations were there?

Answer 47

4

Question 48

How had Wilson used his cabinet?

Answer 48

Effectively to pass major modernising social policy