Politics Fagan

Question 1

What does authoritarian mean?

Answer 1

A political system characterised by single party dominance, strong central power and strict rule of law at the expense of personal freedom

Question 2

What does right mean?

Answer 2

Emphasise order, tradition and authority and believe human nature is fragile

Question 3

What does libertarian mean?

Answer 3

A political belief that the state should have minimal role in people’s lives both in the market and in their private life

Question 4

What does left mean?

Answer 4

The state can be used to deliver social change and emphasise on equality and liberty

Question 5

Why do party ideas change through time?

Answer 5

Change of leaders- different strategies
Political climate- how the general public are feeling
Global issues- COVID, Gaza
Ideology- the idea that influences the politician (upbringing, wealth, friends, gender, race)

Question 6

What does it mean that the UK is a representative democracy?

Answer 6

It is where citizens choose others to represent them in making political decisions, UK context = MP’s

Question 7

What is a political party?

Answer 7

A group of people that is organised for the purpose of winning power

Question 8

What does a faction mean?

Answer 8

There can be ‘factions’ in a political party, factions are ‘strands’, which are slightly different ideological views within the party e.g. Old Labourites vs New Labourites

Question 9

What PM’s have been in power since 1970?

Answer 9

1970- Edward Heath, conservative
1974- Harold Wilson, labour
1979,1983,1987- Margaret Thatcher, conservative
1992- John Major, conservative
1997,2001,2005- Tony Blair, labour
2010- David Cameron, coalition
2015- David Cameron, conservative
2017- Teresa May, conservative
2019- Boris Johnson, conservative
2022- Liz Truss, conservative
2022- Rishi Sunak, conservative
2024- Keir Starmer, labour

Question 10

What are the three main features (aims) of political parties?

Answer 10

Ideology- A coherent set of values and theories that guide political action. These shared political preferences influence policies
Power- Exercising power by winning political office (usually only the labour and conservative parties have power in the UK)
Policy- They address the main issues of the country through producing a manifesto, setting out the policies they want to implement
Most to least important = Ideology, Power, Policy

Question 11

What are the main functions of political parties?

Answer 11

Policy formulation- political parties are one of the key means through which societies set collective goals and offer voters choice. Parties develop programmes of the government. They offer choice through creating manifestos
Recruitment of Leaders- parties control the process of who is chosen as a candidate to stand for the election. Parties act as a training ground for future party leaders because they gain experience of debating and helping run a local party
Organisation of the government- parties help form governments, giving governments a large degree of stability and coherence. They organise the legislative programme for government to pass laws. They provide a source of opposition and criticism, helping hoof the government to account
Participation and Mobilisation- parties provide opportunities for citizens to join a group of like-minded people and therefore help shape the party policy. They educate and mobilise the electorate through campaigning and broadcasting etc
Representation- this is seen as the primary function of parties. Parties should respond to the demands of the public by turning their views into deliverable policies and laws. The winning party has a mandate to do this. E.g. trade unions working closely with the Labour Party

Question 12

What happens when political parties don’t function properly?

Answer 12

Elections become uncompetitive because parties lack funds or members
Parties with a membership which is small and unrepresentative of the population become unresponsive to the public
A genuine choice between policies becomes limited when parties share ideas in key areas
Minority interests go unrepresented when no party champions them
The quality of people involved in political life declines when able, new members are not recruited
Debate becomes stale and limited when the political system is dominated by a very small number of parties
When parties are funded by wealthy individuals or corporations, there is the possibility that such individuals or corporations have an unhealthy influence over the formulation of policy

Question 13

Conservative Party origins:

Answer 13

• Can be traced back to the English Civil War in 1642 where the royalist supporters of the monarch and the church did not want parliament to have so much power
• They didn’t like the greater religious freedom given to the public that went against catholic tradition and feared this would destabilised the country, this influenced conservative thinkers who saw negative consequences of rapid social change in the French Revolution in 1789
• Traditional conservatism was aware of humanity’s potential for mob rule (control of a political situation by those outside the lawful realm typically involving violence) and so sought to resist changes to the British Constitution
• The first half of the twentieth century saw the Tories dominate parliament

Question 14

What is tradition?

Answer 14

Upholding institutions which have endured change and keep society stable

Question 15

What is Paternalism?

Answer 15

Obligation of the government to help look after those who are disadvantaged, like a ‘parent’

Question 16

What is Human imperfection?

Answer 16

Humans are psychologically, morally and intellectually weak by nature

Question 17

What is Libertarianism?

Answer 17

Valuing individual rights and freedoms through a limited role of the government

Question 18

What are the 4 central values of conservatism?

Answer 18

Tradition
Paternalism
Human imperfection
Libertarianism

Question 19

What are the two ideological divisions in the Conservative Party?

Answer 19

One nation
The new right

Question 20

Key one nation words and summary points

Answer 20

See the state as playing a large, important role
Promote economic growth
Provide a welfare state to increase social unity e.g. the NHS
Paternalistic
Safety net for least well off to make society feel more connected (they had some independence)
Managed economy
Community

Question 21

Key new right words and summary points

Answer 21

Economic stagflation
Thatcherite revolution
Privatisation
Deregulation
Reduced role of the state (minimal state interference)
Believed in free markets private property and competition (to generate wealth)
Euroscepticism
Meritocracy (everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed in life)
Small state
Strong law and order

Question 22

What was the winter of discontent?

Answer 22

Economy boom was slowing down in early 1970’s
Occurred in 1978- the economy was so bad that people were dying from lack of heating in their homes, their were high rates of homelessness and starvation and strikes were happening
Due to this their was a general feeling that a ‘social democracy’ (one nation) way of managing the economy was not working so a more neoliberal (new right) approach to the economy was taken by the Thatcher governments from 1979 onwards

Question 23

Was Margaret Thatcher more One nation or the New Right?

Answer 23

The New Right

Question 24

Thatchers key neoliberal policies:

Answer 24

Primarily to do with the economy- free market, laissez- faire, individualism
British Telecom privatisation
Education Reform Act 1988, wanted it to become competitive like a market, business vs business
Deregulation of LSE
Recession/ Austerity

Question 25

Thatchers key neoconservative policies:

Answer 25

To do with society- Law and order, tradition e.g. religion
Falklands war showed people nationalism
Marriage tax allowance
Section 28 law,1988, banned teaching of sexuality in schools

Question 26

Thatchers other policies that apply to neither:

Answer 26

Poll tax

Question 27

Why did David Cameron have to form a coalition with the Lib Dem’s in 2010?

Answer 27

Because he did not have enough seats for a majority (he would need over half the seats (325) but instead had 307

Question 28

How did he get the outcome he wanted of a coalition government?

Answer 28

Gordon Brown the Labour PM resigned

Question 29

What is an ‘anxiety on both sides’ of the coalition?

Answer 29

People and both parties of the leaders don’t think their coalition will survive and that they will remain civil
Thought they would become too similar in terms of views and policies (conservative voters won’t be happy if their parties views go more right wing like the lib-devs)
Unknown public opinion
Unknown territory for politics in the UK

Question 30

What is a coalition?

Answer 30

When two parties join together as 1 did not have enough seats

Question 31

What did optimists about the coalition hope may become the case?

Answer 31

That David Cameron could call an election and get lib- dem Nick Clegg out

Question 32

Why was the 2005 coalition so interesting?

Answer 32

Labour and the Lib-Dems could have had a coalition and they are more politically aligned, however the Lib-Dems chose the Conservative Party instead

Question 33

Who were the two leaders in power in 2010?

Answer 33

David Cameron- Prime Minister
Nick Clegg- Deputy Prime Minister

Question 34

Was David Cameron more One Nation or the New Right?

Answer 34

One nation

Question 35

What were the EU referendum results?

Answer 35

Leave- 51.9%
Remain- 48.1%

Question 36

When was the EU referendum?

Answer 36

23rd June 2016

Question 37

When and why did Cameron resign?

Answer 37

On the 24th June 2016, David Cameron announced his resignation (just a day after the EU referendum results were revealed)
In his resignation speech he stated: ‘But above all this we will require strong, determined and committed leadership’

Question 38

Why was there Euroscepticism in the Conservative Party in the first place?

Answer 38

Thatcher did not want to be part of the plans to create a single currency (euro)
The Maastricht Treaty that was being introduced in the 1990’s was opposed by many conservatives as it would reduce British sovereignty (authority) and power
A colonial past of British exceptionalism and supremacy in the global world can cause scepticism of the EU
Britain has a strong sense of Englishness and an anti- immigrant stance liked to Enoch Powells racialised Idea
The OECD reported in 2017 that the UK has the second lowest Lovell of income equality which caused people to adapt to a stronger political view as they thought thus was unfair
Greece was forced out of the EU due to debts, this made people uneasy as to what the benefits of the EU were

Question 39

Was Theresa May more One Nation or The New Right

Answer 39

One Nation

Question 40

Why was Theresa May’s slogan criticised?

Answer 40

‘Strong and Stable’
This didn’t reflect her
She struggled with Brexit
There were lots of terrorist attacks within her time
Not a measurable slogan for the electorate

Question 41

Would May have been more successful as PM if she had not had to deal with Brexit?

Answer 41

Yes, she struggled with Brexit and so it overshadowed the rest of her time as PM
She was not capable of making such crucial decisions but was effective at the rest of her job, so would have succeeded if she was PM at a different time

Question 42

What were some of Mays main failures or challenges?

Answer 42

After the Grenfell tower fire a lot of the public’s opinions of her changed due to her involvement by signing off the building plans
Also, regular, serious terrorist attacks such as the Manchester arena attack on the 22nd May 2017 caused her to change her focus on the focus onto the terrorists, disrupting her plans for the country

Question 43

Why was Boris Johnson the first PM to be referred to by his first name- BOJO?

Answer 43

He seems friendly and familiar, personable so people felt like they knew him as well as being in the public eye a lot
Comes across as a bit silly so people thought he was a bit of a joke and took him unseriously
He is a bit scruffy e.g. his haircuts
Why was this unusual? He came from a very privileged background that could make him unrelatable e.g. attended Eton college

Question 44

How did Boris Johnson make his way to the top of UK politics?

Answer 44

He was London Mayor from 2008-2016 (before this he worked in journalism on the Times Daily and the Telegraph)
He became an MP in 2001 for Henley and in 2015 became an MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Became foreign sec in 2016 under Theresa May
Become PM in 2019 through Theresa May resigning

Question 45

Was Boris Johnson more One Nation or the New Right?

Answer 45

One nation

Question 46

Why was Liz Truss’ slogan criticised?

Answer 46

‘I’m a fighter not a quitter’ then quit (resigned)

Question 47

What did Liz Truss do when she became an MP for South West Norfolk?

Answer 47

Founded the free enterprise group- a collection of free market orientated MP’s, advocated for tax cuts and deregulation of businesses and employment
Britannia Unchained (2012)- was a pamphlet she wrote with other MP’s like Raab, Patel and Kwarteng, described people in the UK as the ‘worst Idlers’ in the world (lazy)
She supported remain originally but then after the referendum result changed her mind and became a Brexiteer, shows she changes her mind quite a lot

Question 48

What is Rishi Sunaks background?

Answer 48

Parents immigrated to the UK from East Africa in the 1960’s
Attended Winchester College
Studied PPE at Oxford
Worked for the investment bank Goldman Sachs
Became an MP in 2015 for Richmond and North Yorkshire taking over the seat from William Hague
Held position of Chancellor of Exchequer in 2020( governments chief financial minister)

Question 49

What did Sunak do as an MP?

Answer 49

He consistently voted in favour of increasing corporation tax
Supported raising the tax threshold
Voted against welfare benefits for those unable to work

Question 50

Was Liz Truss more One Nation or The New Right?

Answer 50

The New Right

Question 51

Why is Sunak special as PM?

Answer 51

Won the leadership contest following Truss’ resignation
First PM who is not white, he is Hindu
At 42, he is the youngest person to take the job
He is a multimillionaire

Question 52

Did Sunak achieve his 5 priorities?

Answer 52

Halve inflation- successful
Grow the economy- no, very slow economic growth (in the whole of 2023, the economy grew by only 0.1%)
Reduce debt- no, debt is 2.5% higher in April 2023
Cut waiting lists- yes, about 200,000 down from when waiting lists hit a peak in September 2023
Stop the boats- no, the illegal immigration Bill was passed on 17th July 2023, but still in 2023, 29,437 people were detected crossing the English Channel but according to the home office these numbers are down more than a third from the previous year

Question 53

David Cameron’s general characteristics

Answer 53

He admired Thatcher as he grew up seeing her in government
Good performer in all areas e.g. media, interviews, social media presence and PMQ’s
He came from a privileged background with an expensive education, some were sceptical he was not going to get support from the general public e.g. he was an old Etonian (Eton college)
He was believed to be hypocritical- it was one rule for his friends and one rule for everyone else
He could be ruthless by sacking front bench spokesmen for racism remarks
‘Heir to Blair’, Cameron was thought to be as good a leader as Tony Blair
He did not connect well with his backbenchers (people who try to persuade people in the House of Commons to vote a certain way)

Question 54

David Cameron’s inheritance

Answer 54

Inherited the government from Michael Howard, who delayed his departure from the party to allow Cameron to emerge as a strong contender for leader
3 consecutive election defeats but Howard managed to gain 33 seats for the party over time
2008 financial crash
Growing Euroscepticism
Lib-Dems were on the rise making the political scene more complicated

Question 55

David Cameron’s modernisation

Answer 55

Did not tolerate racist behaviour
Drew attention to the environment, NHS and public services, wanting to improve communities
New party logo of the oak tree with the British flag
Advocate for gay marriage and introduced the Same Sex Couples Act 2013
Big push for more focus on international aid and development
Move the party towards the centre ground and was concerned with the long term goals of the party and not just short term goals

Question 56

Origins of the Labour Party

Answer 56

Emerged out of Trade union movements and socialist societies at the start of 20th century
They aimed to represent new enfranchised workers and create a more equal society
The party was built around socialism
Formally created in 1900, founded by Keir Hardie (a Scottish trade unionist)

Question 57

What are the 3 central values of socialism?

Answer 57

Equality - where everyone is treated the same
Common ownership/ nationalism- where industries are owned by the people/ they are nationalised, owned by the government
Social class- a group of people with a similar socio- economic position

Question 58

Early start of the Labour Party

Answer 58

First election in 1906 saw 26 Labour MP’s elected to Parliament
In 1924, Ramsay MacDonald became the first Labour Prime Minister

Question 59

Why was socialism on the rise during the 19th and early twentieth century?

Answer 59

During the Industrial Revolution, class divisions become really extreme
In 1848 there were revolutions across Europe- poor harvest, industrialisation and poverty meant there was lots of people riding up for more rights and democracy

Question 60

What occurred in British history from 1750 onwards that may have linked to the socialist uprising?

Answer 60

The Industrial Revolution (1760-1840) lead to urbanisation of communities in cities, meaning people moved to find work but were forced with brutal conditions and little pay, causing them to rise up for more rights and democracy

Question 61

What are some main points from “A new Constitution of the Labour Party” by Sidney Webb 1918

Answer 61

It writes the rules for their party, main points:
They were the first party to encourage membership of women as well as men (married women achieved the vote thus same year)
Trade unions made up most of the party
They want to represent as many people as possible
Emphasis on local organisation for the party
Common ownership was key (e.g. national railways working with COOP)
The clause IV (a little statement in their rulebook) committed the party to nationalisation

Question 62

Key summary points of Old Labour

Answer 62

More socialist
More for low/working class
Welfare state
Redistribution of wealth
Nationalised/common ownership
Social justice for equality
Mixed economy
“Cradle to the grave” - government will look after you your whole life and support you when you need it = to make a fairer society

Question 63

Key summary points of New Labour

Answer 63

More for middle class
Removal of commitment to nationalisation
Community approach
“Hand up, but not a hand out”- getting some support from the government but up to the individual to make it work = to make a more competitive society

Question 64

The ‘dark years’ of opposition 1979-1997 (Labour)

Answer 64

Why was it called ‘the dark years’?
- the dark years for Labour in opposition refers to the 1980’s when the party faced internal division, economic crises, and significant electoral defeats particularly 1983
- this period was marked by a lack of direction and unity making it a challenging time for the party
- they struggled ideologically in the wake of Thatcher’s changes as the Conservative and Labour Party have opposite views so people didn’t want to vote for Labour to just undo everything Thatcher had done
Why did Labour lose the 1992 election to John Major’s Conservatives?
- Conservatives had a better campaign
- in 1988, the Lib-Dem party was formed and Labour lost some of their MP’s who joined together to create Lib-Dems (not a good look)
- Neil Kinnock was labelled by the newspaper as a failure
Who became leader after the 1992 election, and what did they do to try and modernise the party?
- John Smith moved the party towards the centre of the Political spectrum
- this was to try to get more votes (they couldn’t just appeal to the working class)
When and why did Tony Blair become leader of the Labour Party?
- in 1994 he won the leadership contest and became leader because John Smith died

Question 65

Why was Corbyn able to be so successful in 2017?

Answer 65

(He was leader of opposition from 2015-2020)
Theresa May had to form a confidence and supply agreement with the DUP as she did not have enough seats due to Corbyn having more
7 years of Conservative governance involved lots of austerity, lots of budget cuts for lower class and so they were struggling, they finally felt represented when he came to power
He attended and held lots of rallies in order to connect with the public, stopped in 70 places
He had lots of support from young people
Comparatively, lots of people preferred his policies over May’s e.g. 4 extra bank holidays per year