labour divisions

Question 1

the divisions between the left and the right in the labour party

Answer 1

remained in the period after 1964

Question 2

Wilson emerged as a conciliatory leader of the party after

Answer 2

-the death of Bevan, the leader of the left in 1960
-death of Gaitskell, leader of the right in 1963

Question 3

how did Wilson unite both the left and the right of the parties and minimise underlying tensions such as that over clause IV?

Answer 3

-Wilsons concentration of the Labour Party as the party of technological modernisation

Question 4

there were personal rivalries between

Answer 4

Wilson and his most powerful cabinet colleagues

Question 5

what did Wilson always fear

Answer 5

feared that he might face a leadership challenge from Brown or Callaghan or Jenkins

Question 6

why was Brown hugely resentful and further disappointed?

Answer 6

Brown was hugely resentful he had lost the leadership election to Wilson and was further disappointed he was not made foreign secretary in 1964

Question 7

wilson was rumoured to have

Answer 7

-undermined Brown’s reputation by keeping record of any embarrassing incidents he was involved in once he had been reshuffled to the foreign office

Question 8

wilson was also suspicious of?

Answer 8

Jenkins= a Gaitskellite
-he did not really support jenkins’ liberalising legislation as home secretary

Question 9

when the seaman’s strike of 1966 caused a sterling crisis what did jenkins try do?
what did Wilson interpret this as

Answer 9

jenkins tried to get the cabinet to support devaluation
-wilson interpreted this as a plot to replace himself and Brown with Callaghan and Jenkins= highlighted Wilson’s Paranoia as it was highly unlikely that Callaghan and Jenkins would work together

Question 10

Callaghan problem with Jenkins

Answer 10

callaghan did not approve of Jenkin’s pro-european stance nor of his liberalising legislation

Question 11

what made jenkins critical

Answer 11

Jenkins was critical of the failure to devalue when Callaghan was chancellor and was a supporter of the trade union legislation that Callaghan helped to block

Question 12

criticism of Wilson

Answer 12

-appears that too much of his energy and attention was devoted to trying to keep the party united and in stopping any of his colleagues from being able to threaten his position

Question 13

Wilson did not face any obvious challenger from the left of the party but

Answer 13

those who were more left-wing in the unions,local government and young people frustrated by his government