post war consensus and 1951 election

Question 1

which parties supported a post war consensus?

Answer 1

all of them!

Question 2

what were the four key elements of the post war consensus?

Answer 2

1. rebuild infrastructure and houses
2. welfare state
3. full employment
4. stronger economy

Question 3

when was the NHS founded?

Answer 3

1948 under labour

Question 4

what is the post war consensus often also known as?

Answer 4

-butskellism
-named after the conservative politician R.A. Butler and the Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell

Question 5

why were labour in a position of weakness going into the 1951 election?

Answer 5

-blamed tories for poor inter war periods, but most voters couldn’t remember these times
-accused of being communist by tories
-weak, directionless manifesto e.g. ‘proud of its record, sure of its policies’

Question 6

strong promise by the conservatives for the 1951 election + why they were in a strong position:

Answer 6

-manifesto supported welfare state and NHS
-manifesto had a quantifiable promise of 300,00 new homes, and end to rationing
-promised no further nationalisation
-Lord Woolton reformed party finances so party was in a good position to challenge labour
-Churchill was an asset as he led britian to victory during the war

Question 7

how did the 1948 representation of the people act influence the outcome of the 1951 election?

Answer 7

-it added 22 new constituencies
-labour needing 2% more of the vote to win more seats than the tories did
-labour had many safe seats but that didn’t equal lots of extra seats in parliament, so they would have to overturn some tory seats
-boundary changes meant some labour seats became marginal

Question 8

how did the decline of the liberal party influence the outcome of the 1951 election?

Answer 8

-they were a major political party before the war
-they disappeared between 1930 and 2950
-they were struggling financially
-their collapse helped the conservatives to win Labour marginal seats, because anyone who wanted to vote against the government had to vote conservative

Question 9

result of 1951 election:

Answer 9

-CONSERVATIVES WON
-labour won the popular vote, but the tories achieved a majority of 17 seats
-conservatives took 21 marginal seats from Labour