prime ministers Flashcards
1
Q
key events in Margaret thatcher’s premiership
A
- introduced Thatcherism in Britain after the post-war consensus –> period of significant social change
- privatised state owned industries and reduced trade union power
- in the face of rising unemployment (2 mil for the first time) she was urged by mps to u turn, but refused ‘lady’s not for turning’
- 1981, race riots, handsworth, brixton, chapeltown etc
- 1982 unemployment passed 3 million for the first time since the 1930s
- arg and falkans 1982, thatcher ordered the torpedoing of an argentine ship which was fleeing –> angry response from anti war mps, but general public in support and she won the 1983 election
- miners strike 1984 (NUM), battle of orgreave, gov won and union was badly wounded, made her very controversial
- 1990 riots against poll tax in london
2
Q
evidence of Margaret thatcher in control
A
- presidential leadership approach
- used powers of patronage to sack and demote ‘wets’ while promoting her supporters, she became the entirely dominant figure in her government
- ‘elective dictatorship’ –> lack of codified const and executive dominance of leg meant she had complete control over gov
- gained much credit for gov successes, but bulk of blame for failures
- control upset north of england and S, as power was centralised and local gov power was reduced –> people wanted electoral reform, and devolution
3
Q
Margaret thatcher losing control
A
- lost a vote on sunday trading bill in 1986, neoliberalism and neoconservatism clashed (libertarian free trade vs conservative christian view on sunday being for rest lead 72 christian back benchers to vote against it
- combinations of disagreement over europe and decline in gov support caused her cabinet to turn against her
- sir Geoffrey Howe’s resignation speech: devastating resign over europe, asked others to consider
- michael heseltine leadership bid
- labour vote of no confidence and demanded immediate general election
- cabinet eventually asked her to resign
4
Q
thatcher power dynamic and relationship with cabinet
A
- contained a combination of ‘wets’ and ‘thatcherites’, far right and one nation
- wets were combative –> early cab meetings argued over gov policy and central idealogy
- secretaries of state fighting for their funding while thatcher proposed tax cuts
- 19881 cabinet reshuffle brought tension as wets were removed and her loyal supporters brought in, Lawson, tebbit, parkinson etc
- cabinet the reason she resigned –> rowe resignation as deputy key moment
- thatch did not use her role as first female pm to promote women, no women in her cabinet, but some junior ministers
- thatcher had a presidential style of leading, and engaged in PM gov rather than cabinet
- new cab was mostly new right, but clashes in opinions on the EU (T became hostile but her ministers remained committed to it) –> eventually led her to resigning due to divisions
5
Q
thatcher policies
A
- economic: monetarism and dealing with a recession
- base interest rate raised to 30% in 1979 to try and reduce inflation but instead it peaked at 20% in 1980
- 1981, taxed raised and spending cut during recession, unemployment increased but policy decreased inflation
- home ownership: housing act 1980, council tenants can purchase council homes at a significantly discounted price, part of 1979 manifesto pledge
- more than 1 mil sold by 1987: popular as tennants take step onto housing ladder, shifted voting behaviour with aspirational working class
- privatisation and deregulation: 1984 privatised british telecom with over 2 million buying shares in the company, british gas 1986
- 1986: bank deregulation of banks, financial services and the city of london
- london established as a global centre for financial services
- trade unions: 1980 employment act outlawed secondary action by trade unions (workers striking in support for one another)
- 1982 employment act limited powers of td, by banning political strikes and limiting the grounds upon which workers could go on strike
- unions liable for damages due to industrial action, and gov can seize funds of up to 250,000 pounds
- defence: 1982: gov got new nukes, trident nuclear sub prog made, even though L was in clear favour of nuclear disarmament
- ireland: 1985, anglo-irish agreement with irish gov to end conflict in NI, with little support from U ans N
- education: 1988 reform act, introduced marketisation principles into state education –> sats, league tables, national curriculum
- taxation: 1986: gov abolished greater london council to reduce left wing influence on british public life (ken livingstone)
- 1989: poll tax, all individuals payed the same amount, deeply unpopular
6
Q
why did thatchers premiership end
A
- combination over europe disagreements and decline in pop support for gov and thatcher herself
- lost vote on sunday trading bill in 1986 due to clash in neolib and neocons values
- sir geoffrey Howe’s speech was devastating, key in her downfall as he was her dep
- michael heseltine launched leadership bid and T needed 15% margin above H to prevent second rounds of votes
- labour vote of no con
- cabinet ministers encouraged her to stand down from leadership race and major became PM
7
Q
events that demonstrate thatchers control
A
- The National Union of Mineworkers went on strike in 1984 in protest at Thatcher’s closing of 20 coal pits. Thatcher wanted to reduce the power of the trade unions, and had passed legislation in 1980 and 1982 to limit the reasons workers could go on strike and to make unions liable for damages caused. The miners’ strike went on for over a
year. It included violent conflicts between strikers and police, such as in the ‘Battle of Orgreave’ in which 123 people were injured. Eventually the government won and the miners returned to work, but Thatcher had greatly reduced union power. Many in the north were firmly supportive of the miners, which is why Thatcher remains deeply divisive. - Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982, beginning the Falklands War. The public was supportive of Thatcher’s decision to send a taskforce to reclaim the islands. She had previously been unpopular, but victory in this war contributed to the landslide 1983 election result for Thatcher.
- In her 1979 manifesto Thatcher had promised to make the nation a ‘property-owning democracy’. The 1980 Housing Act is seen as a defining policy of Thatcherism. It gave 5 million council house tenants the ‘Right to Buy’ their houses from the local authority at a significant discount. In 1980, 55% of the population owned a home. By the time Thatcher left office in 1990, it was 67%. By 1990, 1.5 million council houses had been sold. This won Thatcher much support from ‘aspirational’ working-class voters.
- Thatcher privatised state-run businesses such as BT (British Telecom) in 1984 and British Gas in 1986. Thatcher first used privatisation as a way to reduce public debt (more than £29bn was raised from the sale of nationalised
industries) and later as a tool to combat socialism. Generally the performance of the privatised industries improved. - After unemployment reached 2m in 1980, Thatcher came under pressure from her own party to U-turn on her spending cuts. She famously said: “you turn if you want to, the lady’s not for turning”. In 1982, unemployment passed 3m for the first time since the 1930s. However, in the long term inflation did reduce, which was the government’s aim, and unemployment began to fall by 1987.
- Thatcher’s style of leadership was presidential. When she first took office, her cabinet was filled not with New Right ‘Thatcherites’ but with one-nation conservatives. She labelled those in the cabinet who opposed her policies (particularly spending cuts) as ‘wets’ (implying weak). She demoted several wets in the cabinet and promoted her supporters, so that she completely dominated her cabinet and .
8
Q
events that dont show thatchers control
A
- Thatcher introduced the Community Charge (known as the ‘poll tax’) to Scotland in 1989 (increasing support for nationalism) and to England and Wales in 1990. Instead of taxing people based on property value, this set a single
flat-rate tax for all. Many criticised this as being unfair and a burden on those less well-off. Mass protests and non- payment of the tax were organised. A series of riots broke out protesting the poll tax, the largest riot on 31 st March
1990 in London. This was attended by around 200,000 protestors and led to 113 injuries and 339 arrests. This led to Labour going ahead of the Tories in the polls. Conservative ministers knew that Thatcher would not abandon the policy, so in November she was challenged for the leadership by Michael Heseltine. Under John Major, the poll tax was abolished in March 1991 and replaced with council tax. - IRA prisoners in Northern Ireland went on hunger strike in 1981, demanding to be treated as political prisoners and attempting to put pressure on Thatcher. Their demands were to not wear prison uniforms or to do prison work,
and to have the right to one visit and one letter per week. Thatcher refused to compromise, saying: “crime is crime is crime, it is not political”. 10 hunger strikers died including Bobby Sands (on the 66 th day), an IRA member who
was elected as an MP whilst on strike. Thatcher said that “Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did not allow to many of his victims.” The hunger strike ended, and the press hailed this as a victory for Thatcher. However, these deaths led to a new surge in IRA activity and an escalation in violence in Northern Ireland. Thatcher became a hated figure for Irish nationalists, and the IRA tried to take its revenge in 1984 in the Brighton hotel bombing. This killed 5 people, with Thatcher narrowly escaping. - In November 1990, Sir Geoffrey Howe resigned. He had been in Thatcher’s cabinet longer than anyone else. In his resignation speech in the Commons he attacked Thatcher for her hostile approach to the EU. A few days later, Michael Heseltine challenged Thatcher for the Conservative Party leadership. Thatcher beat Heseltine by 14%, but the rules stated that in order to avoid a second round of voting the leader had to win the first round by 15% (she was 4 votes short out of 372). Thatcher said she would fight in the second ballot, but her cabinet members persuaded her to resign. Once the contest concluded and Major won, she resigned as prime minister.
- Thatcher was a Eurosceptic who was increasingly hostile to the EU after she became prime minister. However, many in her party were supportive of it. Disagreements over Europe contributed to her downfall.
9
Q
key events in tony blair’s premiership
A
- death of diana ‘people’s princess’
- formula 1 scandal and tobacco adverts, (Ecclestone 1 mill donation)
- terrorist in NI, omagh bombing 1998
- iraq 98, kosovo 99 sierra leone 2000, afghanistan air strikes 2001, iraq war 2003
- 9/11, ‘shoulder to shoulder with Bush’
- backbench rebellion on issues of tuition fees, foundation hospitals
- 2007 cash for honours, HoL peerages
- 7/7 bombing in London
10
Q
blair idealogy and policies
A
- bank of e made independent
- devolution
- GFA 98
- national min wage
- lords reform
- FOI 2000
- tuition fees, later x3 to 3000
- anti terror proposals, radical reforming gov in constitutional change
11
Q
blair power dynamic with cabinet
A
- 1st cabinet not chosen for himself
- put mins he wouldnt have chosen in junior positions, michael meacher and min of state for environment
- min like jack straw and john reid performed several junior roles across the period
- brown: chancellor of ex for full premiership + john prescott deputy
- deps had regular changes: 6 cab mins for social security, 9 cabinet office mins etc but large roles retained (senior)
- blair had a presidential approach, short full-cab meetings to rubber stamp decisions already made elsewhere (bilateral meetings, cab committees)
12
Q
evidence of blair being in control
A
- presidential leadership: associated with gov decisions and image, high profile speeches
- criticism and satirical attack, GFA speech but praised for Diana speech
- charisma and popularity + large parl maj to exercise power over cab and parl
- large office staff, campbell was key, sofa gov, decisions made with 1/2 mins and cab followed
- appointed key supporters to have authority over cab and appointed critics who were bound by collective respons
- confident in maj 97-05, even for iraq war vote, mps have secret intelligence meetings
- blair left out dissenters (clare short and iraq war int dev sec) and supporters only talked to press to defend policy
13
Q
evidence of blair losing control
A
- hold on cab weakened due to iraq, personally attacked and accused of lying about intelligence reports, prez role hurt his image
- robin cook resigned and clare short criticised, sacked short after war phase ended –> seen as weak
- pushed controversial public service reforms through parl despite backbench rebellions
- brown maneouvering to try and remove blair but blair did not react
- defeated bill to hold all terr suspects for 90 days without charge with 49 mp rebellions
14
Q
how did blair’s premiership end and why
A
- after failed terr suspect bill, calls for departure
- spent 2 years trying to solve lab problems instead of leading
- labour caused his downfall, like thatcher
15
Q
evidence of blair in control
A
- Although Blair raised taxes to significantly increase public spending, in other areas he demonstrated a post-Thatcher
consensus. Blair accepted Thatcher’s privatisation of state-run industries, and did not reverse the privatisation of the
railways (which had been introduced by John Major). He also introduced an element of privatisation into the NHS. - Peace talks in NI accelerated after Blair came to power in 1997, and he saw the necessity of including Sinn Fein (the political wing of the IRA) in the process. Blair went to Belfast in 1998 for the final days of talks, and the Good Friday Agreement was announced. This secured peace in
Northern Ireland and set up a devolved government with a power-sharing executive. In the referendums to confirm the
agreement, 71% of Northern Ireland and 94% of the Republic of Ireland voters supported it. - He introduced the Human Rights Act in 1998, removed all but 92 hereditary peers from the House of Lords in 1999 (even convincing the Conservative leader in the House of Lords to support it) and introduced the Freedom of Information Act in 2000. Later, in 2005, the Constitutional Reform Act established the Supreme Court. (full lords reform was not achieved however)
- Like Thatcher, Blair took a presidential approach to leading his cabinet. Blair often bypassed his cabinet by having short cabinet meetings only to confirm decisions that had already been taken elsewhere, such as in cabinet committees or ‘sofa government’, when he met with only a couple of ministers about key issues. Blair did not choose his first cabinet, as at the time Labour MPs elected the front bench. After this, he shuffled out those he did not want, but many ministers remained in position for a long time (e.g. Gordon Brown was Chancellor for the full 10 years, in which time Blair only had 3 Foreign Secretaries and 4 Home Secretaries).
- Blair used his landslide majorities to pass a considerable number of social reforms. He introduced the first National
Minimum Wage, introduced civil partnerships for same-sex couples, lowered the homosexual age of consent to 16, lifted
the ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces, and enormously increased spending on the NHS and education.
