Political Parties Flashcards

Question

Define conservatism

Answer 1

An ideology that seeks traditional evolutionary and pragmatic solutions to political problems

Answer 2

One nation Thatcherism Cameron

Answer 3

Paternalism Pragmatism Consensus Disraeli (19C) and McMillan (20C) influenced Introduce social reforms to reduce social inequalities - rich fulfilling their obligation to the needs of the poor (noblesse oblige)

Answer 4

``` Thatcherism and the New Right combined ideas of neo liberalism and neo conservatism Favoured the individual over the state Free market economics Reduction to welfare state Lower taxes Strong nationalistic character Traditional values ```

Answer 5

In 2005 he urged his party to “stop banging on about Europe” so that went well Tried to detoxify tories Caring about the environment (husky) or social disadvantaged youth (hug a hoodie) 2010 became UK’s first peacetime coalition PM Coalition & cuts required post banking collapse restricted his ability to create his vision of Britain Could be said to have used Lib Dems as an excuse not to enact some of the far right proposals in 2010 manifesto Despite winning Scottish independence referendum, cutting uk’s budget deficit and detoxifying tories he will forever be remembered for losing EU ref in 2016

Answer 6

Turmoil in the party Called an election to gain a mandate but lost Cameron’s slim majority and had to do a deal with the DUP JAM’s - preferred more intervention than Cameron - eg price cap on energy Wanted to reintroduce grammar schools and repeal fox hunting (bonkers!) Unlikely to be remembered for anything other than Brexit

Answer 7

Won seats from labour in the “red wall” and delivering a substantial majority Levelling up - investment in “red wall’ areas Get Brexit Done / Oven ready Brexit - whilst we have left EU Brexit is not done because of Northern Ireland protocol Covid gave him a chance to be the leader he dreamed of (Churchill) but partygate and other problems mean that he is deeply distrusted and disliked This led to heavy losses in recent council elections

Answer 8

Boris Johnson - resigned as foreign secretary as wouldn’t uphold collective responsibility over brexit George Osbourne - former chancellor and editor of evening standard. Frequently criticised May in the paper making her position weaker Michael Gove - hated by many (in education) but respected by others (lawyers and environmentalists who said he did a good job when in charge of their departments) Pretends he doesn’t want to be PM but stood against Boris and May when Cameron resigned Sajid Javid - son of bus driver and May’s Home Secretary. Disagreed with her on windrush scandal and immigration in general. Also opposed her ideas for customs union. Talked about as a future leader

Answer 9

``` Boris Liz Truss (foreign sec) Rishi Sunak (chancellor) Sajid Javid (health) Pritti Patel (Home sec) ```

Answer 10

1988 Merger of liberals with social Democratic Party (SDP) Liberals around for over 100 years and SDP formed in 1981 by breakaway MP’s from labour

Answer 11

Socially liberal constitutional reform - in coalition pushed for alternative vote referendum - lost Membership of EU Human rights - individual rights should be safeguarded Believe a wide variety of beliefs, lifestyles and religions should be tolerated Equality of opportunity Social justice- capitalism but make sure wealth redistributed to poor Constitutionalism - govt power should be limited by laws and decentralised

Answer 12

Centre left of Lib Dems Desire to increase social justice through the state Higher spending on disadvantaged to reduce inequality Eg Tim Farron, Charles Kennedy (leader in 1990’s)

Answer 13

Lean towards centre Support greater choice and competition Aim to increase social mobility through increasing economic freedom for those from disadvantaged backgrounds Favour cutting taxes for poorest Inc Nick Clegg (deputy PM during coalition) Ed Davey (leader now)

Answer 14

2010 - 2016 Deputy PM during first peacetime coalition with Cameron Saw Lib Dems role to moderate conservative policy - moving them to centre Felt they had to help get country back on its feet after economic crash of 2008 Tax cuts for the poorest raising income tax threshold from £6.5k in 2009 to £11K in 2015 U turn on tuition fees and failure to win the AV referendum led to them losing heavily in 2015 down to 8 MP’s Clegg made a brave decision to go into power with tories but paid a heavy political price He is now very important at facebook so doubt he gives two hoots

Answer 15

They realised they could not invoke all or even much of their manifesto as junior partners in coalition Decided to drop opposition to tuition fees in favour of raising income tax threshold and pupil premium financing Unfortunately much of their support was from students who felt betrayed over fees and from people who were more interested in protesting not governing so they lost heavily in next election

Answer 16

He was both On record as saying “i am a one nation conservative” Big Society programme Big supporter (and user) of NHS Raised the tax threshold to take lower income families out of tax BUT Cut welfare and imposed austerity to deal with 2008 crash whilst also reducing 50p top rate of income tax to 45p

Answer 17

``` Build large number of low cost environmentally friendly homes Abolition of tuition fees Wealth tax on top 1% earners Living wage of £10 p/h Universal basic income (£89 a week) Tax on large banks making excessive profits Legalise Cannabis Opposed to trident ```

Answer 18

Caroline Lucas is only Green mp (Brighton) Adoption of green policies by major parties eg labour “green new deal” Have Moved the Overton Window on green agenda in public media

Answer 19

Led by Nigel Farage | Wanted UK to leave the EU

Answer 20

Won 12.6% of the vote in 2015 Only won one seat as support dispersed Douglas Carswell was only mp after 2015 That 12% led Conservative govt to give in to demands for a referendum in order to get back some of those votes Achieved aim of Brexit Now has almost no relevance in UK politics - vote share in 2019 was 0.1%

Answer 21

Complete independence for Scotland as a sovereign state in the EU Constitutional reform such as an elected second chamber Proportional representation for general elections Votes for 16+ SNP has abolished tuition fees in scotland

Answer 22

Formed a government in Scottish parliament since 2007 Won 56 or 59 seats in 2015 election Won 49 in 2019 Persuaded Cameron to allow Scottish Independence referendum which they did not win Acquired greater devolution in the Scotland Act 2016

Answer 23

Lib Dems suffered at 2015 election due to poor record in government Which included Failure to abolish tuition fees (instead they rose to over £9K) Also success of SNP in Scotland meant loss of a number of seats Labour lost support in 2010 due to Iraq War and financial crisis of 2008 May had a bad record in govt but Johnson regained party’s reputation through complete change in policy and his charisma (more like a president) Cameron resigned after Brexit referendum loss May unable to agree a deal with EU and eurosceptic mps

Answer 24

Clegg & Cameron made a strong confident duo after 2010 election Nick Clegg seen to be the man to bring everyone back to the centre Leadership debate - “ i agree with NIck) Johnson’s strong stance on salience issue (Brexit) recognising growing support for Brexit Party Johnson was well known to public as former Mayor of London - people liked him - wanted to get a drink with him Tony Blair strong leadership bringing labour back to the centre and reform to prove that - clause 4. He was viewed as strong in comparison with John Major who was criticised as “weak, weak, weak” May looked weak - badly thought out policies eg dementia tax and lost 20 point poll lead

Answer 25

Miliband - perceived as too left wing but people thought him devious (ran against his more popular brother also clumsy (bacon sandwich) Corbyn - too radical - IRA connections and anti semitic issues within labour under his leadership

Answer 26

Part of the confidence and supply agreement with May’s govt after 2017 election Has kept NI in the UK and been part of the Northern Ireland assembly since it’s formation Currently no assembly in Ireland after the recent elections due to lack of agreement over Northern Ireland protocol

Answer 27

Conservatives won 80 seat majority after breaking “red wall” in the north SNP dominates in Scotland 56 of the 59 seats Lib Dems lost 49 seats in 2015 election s they lost supporter base in SW of England to conservatives 2017 election labour gained London, wales and the north

Answer 28

``` Build large number of environmentally friendly houses Abolition of tuition fees Wealth tax on top 1% Universal basic income of £89 per week Opposed to trident Legalisation of cannabis ```

Answer 29

Wanted independence from Europe Led by Nigel Farage til success of referendum Won 12.6% vote at 2015 election but only one seat due to FPTP system Conservative MP’s Carswell and Reckless both defected before 2015election but only Carswell retained seat at the election (Reckless was a twat) Achieved ultimate aim Now almost no relevance in Uk politics 0.1% of vote in 2019

Answer 30

Led by Nigel Farage In order to get brexit done No MP’s But won 36% of the vote at the 2019 European Elections giving them 29 of the 72 seats available It’s policies adopted by Johnson at 2019 election and Brexit party did not field candidates against tories concentrating on splitting the labour vote

Answer 31

Second referendum on Scottish independence If independent then go back into EU Lower voting age to 16 Supports living wage

Answer 32

Formed the govt since 2007 Persuaded Cameron to hold an independence referendum in 2014 Gained greater devolution in Scotland Act 2016 despite losing referendum Won 56 of 59 seats in 2019 which was never expected under the AMS Dropped to 48 in 2019

Answer 33

Has kept NI in the UK Always had influence partic with conservative govt but this was v strong during Theresa May’s govt after 2017 - confidence and supply agreement Won 8 seats in 2019 Storming has not been functioning as it should in recent years DUP second party after Sein Fein after 2022 elections currently DUP refusing to go into govt with Sein Fein citing issues with Northern Ireland protocol but this is bollocks

Answer 34

Lasted for 10 months in 2019 Campaigned for second referendum Only got 0.03% of votes in 2019 and lost all MPs who had defected from more established parties (labour and Tory)

Answer 35

Lib Dems in 2015 lost most of their seats because they had failed to convince coalition govt not to raise tuition fees Labour lost support in 2010 due to Iraq war Labour lost support in 2010 due to financial crisis Everything May touched went wrong but Johnson rebranded and had great success in 2019 (all going wrong now though - currently 9points behind Labour)

Answer 36

Cameron after 2016 EU referendum loss May after catalogue of disasters and inability to agree either a deal with EU or deliver promised “strong and stable govt”

Answer 37

Since 2010 focussed on reducing deficit (£1.1trillion) May abandoned this as thought to be stunting growth Unprecedented levels of borrowing during covid to save economy Party neo liberal in attitude to markets Levelling up promises of Johnson to win red wall seats May created £2.3 b fund to increase productivity but Covid has forced govt to increase tax eg 10% rise in NIC in 2022 leading to heaviest tax burden in 70 years

Answer 38

2017 and 2019 promised to change HRA to allowed harsher response to terrorism Police crime sentencing and courts bill 2022 - heavily affect peoples right to protest currently been rejected by HoL

Answer 39

Overall cap on total welfare benefits to make unemployment less attractive 2019 manifesto promised to increase NHS spending and employ 50,000 more nurses Also no cuts to tax or NI Also pensions rise by 2.5% per year, spend £6bn on 2.2 million disadvantaged homes Under Cameron’s govt same sex marriage legalised 2013 Under Cameron living wage was introduced 2015

Answer 40

Support NATO Support close links to USA Want to increase trade links with USA, Australia etc to make up for losses since leaving EU Support Nuclear deterrent 2021 withdrew from Afganistan 2022 Johnson’s govt has led Europe support for Ukraine

Answer 41

Redistribution of income to grant great social equality Total equality not possible so focus on equality of opportunity Support for collectivism, TU and common ownership of industry Created NHS after 2WW Comprehensive education introduced in 1960s - Crosland -

Answer 42

High increases in NHS and education spending Reductions in corporation tax Much constitutional reform - devolution/HRA/ Freedom of information act/electoral reform in devolved administrations

Answer 43

``` Increase income tax for top 5% Reverse cuts to corporation tax Abolish universal credit Abolish tuition fees Green new deal Common ownership of rail, mail and energy End outsourcing of NHS Continue free movement post brexit Greater devolution and abolish HoL Raise min wage to £10 p/h End state pension age rises Hold a 2nd EU ref Many of these may have mellowed since Kier Starmer became leader ```