Revision-Prime Ministers

Question 1

Harold Wilson(1)
1964-1970,1974-1976.
1964: 4
1966:98

Answer 1

State of the Party- Overstretched military, 400 million pound deficit.
Disunited in his second tenure due to Europe.
Key Policies- Murder Act in 1965 (Abolition of the death penalty)
Sexual offences Act 1967 (decriminalisation of homosexual acts)
Liberalised laws on censorship, divorce, abortion and homosexuality

Question 2

Harold Wilson (2)

Answer 2

Leadership Style- Wanted to Liberalise and modernise.
Events that affected his time in office- Sterling crisis forced him to devalue the pound.
Unemployment reached 1 million 1975
Why did he leave power- Called a general election as he thought his popularity increased. It hadn’t- Lost to Edward Heath.

Question 3

Margaret Thatcher (1)
1979-1983, 1983-1987,1987-1990.
1979:43
1983:144
1987:102

Answer 3

State of the Party- Fundamentally split in two. Traditional vs Neo Conservatives. From 1982 she dismissed her opponents from government and replaced them with allies.
Key Policies- Privatisation of major nationalised industries, tight control of government finance, curbing power of trade unions. Strengthening rules on claiming benefits.

Question 4

Margaret Thatcher (2)

Answer 4

Leadership style- Extremely dominant. Refused to compromise. “Principled, a visionary and stubborn”.
Events in office-Didn’t have much popularity until success in the Falklands war and the economy began to improve.
Why did she leave power- Poll tax in 1988 was very unpopular and didn’t take into account of peoples incomes. Lost the leadership election in 1990.

Question 5

Tony Blair (1)
1997-2001,2001-2005,2007
1997- 179
2001-167
2005-66

Answer 5

State of the party- From the early 90’s it was a tight party designed to challenge the government and modernise. Tony Blair led a strong united New Labour.
Key Policies- Human Rights Act, Devolution, HOL reform, Good Friday Agreement.
Leadership style- Charismatic, keen on unity, looked to convince his cabinet cabinet to support him through sofa politics.

Question 6

Tony Blair (2)

Answer 6

Key events during office- Up to 2003 there was economic growth, improvements in public services. Iraq war aftermath was a disaster. Noticeably handled the situation with Princess Diana well, winning public support.
Why did they leave power- By 2007 it was clear that that the momentum for change was large. To maintain unity he resigned. Brown elected.

Question 7

David Cameron (1)
2010-2015, 2015-2016.
2010- No majority, coalition with Lib Dem’s.
2015- 12 seats.

Answer 7

State of the party- Demoralised and divided by 3 election defeats . Due to the recession in 2008 Cameron stated there was a need for austerity.
Key Policies- A programme for austerity, higher tuition fees and less public spending. Significant rise of living wage.

Question 8

David Cameron (2)

Answer 8

Leadership Style- Strong Bond with his Chancellor George Osborne and Home Secretary Theresa May. Kept his rivals close. Michael Gove and Boris Johnson.
Key events- Stabilised financial system.
Coalition for full 5 years-Hard to implement policy.
EU referendum.
Why they left power- Resigned after the result of the referendum.