Politics of 1951-64

Question 1

Facts around the 1951 election?

Answer 1

Labour won more seats than the conservatives and the most votes ever in a UK general election up to that point in time.

Question 2

How did Labour not win the 1951 election?

Answer 2

First past the post electoral system played a major role and as such the Tories won and dominated the next 13 years.

Question 3

4 main Tory political figures at the time = ?

Answer 3

-Winston Churchill
-Anthony Eden
-R.A. Butler
-Harold Macmillan

Question 4

Winston Churchill background = ?

Answer 4

PM between 1951-55 and a war hero. Was getting old and became more and more ill, in addition he saw himself as more of an international statesman then Domestic politician.

Question 5

Anthony Eden background = ?

Answer 5

PM between 1955-57 a talented politician who had been acting PM for long periods throughout Churchill’s time in power.

Question 6

R.A. Butler background = ?

Answer 6

Was never a PM but still a skilled politician who was the architect of the 1944 education act. He was chancellor from 1951 to 1955.

Question 7

Harold Macmillan background = ?

Answer 7

PM between 1957-63. He was known as ‘Super Mac’ mainly because of his political expertise and know-how, he can be described as a one-nation Conservative.

Question 8

Strengths of Butler as chancellor of the exchequer = ?

Answer 8

-Easy to work with
-Introduced many tax cuts
-Heralded a time of great economic prosperity.
-Worked well with unions to avoid industrial conflict

Question 9

What was the main issue all 4 main conservative figures wanted to avoid?

Answer 9

All the Tories wanted to do was to to avoid a confrontation with the trade unions and industrial conflicts as they knew this would make life hard and the country stagnate following the war.

Question 10

How did the Tories keep the Trade unions happy?

Answer 10

-Reformed workers rights
-Good working conditions
-Improved living conditions under Macmillan
-Wage rises in track with inflation
-Low levels of unemployment

Question 11

How was it harder to keep trade unions on side in the later years?

Answer 11

Frank cousins became trade union congress leader

Question 12

Who was Frank Cousins?

Answer 12

Left-wing trade union leader who wanted higher wages at the time

Question 13

How did the conservatives appease the public?

Answer 13

Tories kept many of Attlee’s policies that he had first Brought in, extending the period of the post war consensus as a way of gaining votes as many policies were favourable and liked by the public.

Question 14

Such policies continued from Attlee were?

Answer 14

-Social care polices
-Expansion of the NHS
-Expansion of the welfare state in general
-500,000 new homes under Churchill

Question 15

Who was housing secretary at the time of the tories building 500,000 new homes?

Answer 15

Harold Macmillan

Question 16

Key reason as to why Tories stayed in power?

Answer 16

Continued the policies of Attlee and continuation of post war consensus.

Question 17

List of reasons for conservative dominance included?

Answer 17

-‘Age of affluence’
-Good domestic policy continued on from Attlee government
-Labour divisions
-Rise in living standards

Question 18

Issues Labour were divided on?

Answer 18

-Unilateral nuclear disarmament
-Trade union power

Question 19

Labour leaders during this time period?

Answer 19

-Attlee 1951-55
-Gaitskell 1955-62
-Wilson 1962-64

Question 20

Why was Gaitskell disliked by the left of the Labour Party?

Answer 20

seen as too moderate by both the left of the party and the trade unions.

Question 21

Nickname for the left of the party = ?

Answer 21

Bevanites

Question 22

Harold macmillan nickname = ?

Answer 22

‘Super Mac’

Question 23

Harold macmillan strengths = ?

Answer 23

-‘Age of affluence’ happened under Macmillan
-Rise in living standards
-Post war economic boom
-Macmillan seemed to have the media in the palm of his hand, using new political opportunities provided by television with flair.

Question 24

Famous quote by Macmillan about the prosperity of the UK people?

Answer 24

‘The people of Great Britain have never had it so good’

Question 25

List of reasons for electoral loss in 1964 = ?

Answer 25

-Tories seen as an outdated party
-Old political figures with ill-health
-Likability of Harold Wilson
-Economic problems facing the country
-Weakness of Alec Douglas Home as PM in the final years.

Question 26

Why were the Tories seen as an outdated party?

Answer 26

Society was changing more and more people became aware of the establishment and moved against it the Tories were seen as Upper class and stuck up = part of the establishment. Alongside this people just saw their leaders as too distant from the public due to their public school background and how posh they were.

Question 27

How was Home elected as PM?

Answer 27

Home was appointed as PM not by the public but by a group of old Etonian boys, this was an outdated system of doing this

Question 28

What also didn’t help Home when he was first appointed?

Answer 28

It didn’t help that he was also a Hereditary peer before becoming PM.

Question 29

What were some longstanding failures of the Tories?

Answer 29

-Divisions among the main 4 political figures
-Suez Crisis
-Underlying numbers for the economy were poor i.e production and inflation
-Overheating of the economy

Question 30

What were the divisions among the 4 main political figures?

Answer 30

Butler, Macmillan and Eden didn’t get along with one another and these rivalries lasted throughout the 13 years of conservative rule, personal political rivalries.

Relations also became strained between Churchill and Eden; Eden became impatient with Churchill not stepping down.

Question 31

How was Eden a bad PM

Answer 31

-Indecisive and a lack of confidence hampered his ability.
-Lack of economic know how
-Failure over the Suez crisis

Question 32

Why was Eden indecisive and not confident?

Answer 32

Mainly due to a lot of his political knowledge being on foreign policy not domestic policy. Within six months of him becoming PM many within the conservative party was voicing their concern over his leadership.

Question 33

How was Eden weak at dealing with the economy?

Answer 33

Like Churchill he aimed to avoid trade union disputes and industrial conflicts this meant that he appeased the TUs leading to criticism that he was too conciliatory with the trade unions.

This led to a rise of inflation as constant wage rises made products rise too.

Question 34

What was Edens biggest mistake?

Answer 34

Suez crisis

Question 35

Why was the Suez crisis so pivotal?

Answer 35

Cost Eden his job, he resigned in 1957 over this and ill health. What made it worse was the fact he lost his reputation when he lied to parliament about not knowing that Israel was going to invade Egypt and the Suez when in reality he had planned it months before with France.

Question 36

List of failures surrounding the Suez crisis = ?

Answer 36

*Colonial minister Anthony Nutting resigned from cabinet.
* Rebellion by nearly 40 Conservative MPs
* Chief Whip Edward Heath, himself was strongly opposed to Eden’s actions
* Pressure from the United States had exposed Britain’s financial weakness.
* Eden’s reputation was destroyed and he was forced to resign

Question 37

Overall impact of the Suez Crisis?

Answer 37

Eden had to resign however despite this the conservative would recovery easily and wasnt damaged seriously at all.

Economy and their reputation recovered quickly and it seemed the electorate didn’t care in the 1959 election

Question 38

Why did the Suez crisis not cause more of a stir?

Answer 38

-Labour divisions made it hard to exploit the Tories.
-Economy recovered quickly

Question 39

How much of a majority did the Conservative win in the 1959 election?

Answer 39

100 seat majority

Question 40

What was the adverse effect of Butler’s tax cuts?

Answer 40

Butler’s tax-cuts had caused the UK’s economy to overheat which was massive problem as it caused rising inflation as wages went up everything else went up disproportionately.

Question 41

Political events that hampered the Tories under Macmillan: ?

Answer 41

-Night of Long knives
-Spy Scandals including George Blake and John Vassal [1961 and 1962] damaged the government’s reputation
-Profumo affair

Question 42

Why did Macmillan resign in 1963?

Answer 42

*Concerns over the economy
*Concerns over Britain’s place in Europe especially when the application to join the EEC was rejected.
*Macmillan [whose wife was aristocratic] seemed increasingly old-fashioned and out of touch

Question 43

Why was sex/spy scandals so important to the electorate?

Answer 43

Sex was still seen in a traditional way that should be kept private and in christian moral ways hence no one wanted to hear about politicians having affairs, losing credibility and reputation.

Height of the Cold War so led to a rise in security risks and what not.

Question 44

What was becoming more obvious with Macmillan as he grew older?

Answer 44

Macmillan [whose wife was aristocratic] seemed increasingly old-fashioned and out of touch with the public especially compared to the new Labour leader Harold Wilson. Relic of the past vs the New age.

Question 45

Knight of long knives = ?

Answer 45

‘Night of Long knives’ was a political mistake for Macmillan he lost his political know how and touch it seemed as he committed to a very ruthless and clumsy mistake by sacking one third of his cabinet in 1962.

Question 46

Profumo affair = ?

Answer 46

Minister for War John Profumo had an affair with Christine Keeler [who was linked to a soviet spy], and his subsequent lying to parliament about it made it an even bigger scandal – Profumo Affair.