Section 1 Building a New Britain 1951-79

Question 1

how many seats did Labour win in the 1950 general election

Answer 1

315

Question 2

how many seats did the Conservatives win in the 1951 general election

Answer 2

321

Question 3

who won the popular vote in 1951?

Answer 3

Labour, 48.8% to Conservative 48%

Question 4

who was chancellor of the Exchequer 1951-55

Answer 4

Rab Butler

Question 5

when did Hugh Gaitskell become leader of the Labour party?

Answer 5

1955

Question 6

what political faction within the Labour party was Gaitskell associated with

Answer 6

Right wing of the Labour party

Question 7

which 3 ministers resigned from the Labour party in 1951 after fees were introduced on the NHS

Answer 7

Aneurin Bevan, Harold Wilson and John Freeman

Question 8

who replaced Hugh Gaitskell as leader of the Labour party 1963?

Answer 8

Harold Wilson

Question 9

when did Hugh Gaitskell die prematurely?

Answer 9

Jan 1963

Question 10

when was the “night of the long knives”

Answer 10

July 1962

Question 11

how much of the cabinet was sacked on the “night of the long knives”

Answer 11

one third

Question 12

who was the Chancellor in charge of “stop-go” economics 1960-62

Answer 12

Selwyn Lloyd

Question 13

when did Charles de Gaulle veto Britain’s application to join the EEC

Answer 13

January 1963

Question 14

when did Britain cancel the “blue streak missile program”

Answer 14

1960

Question 15

which two Conservative senior ministers refused to serve under Alec Douglas-Home

Answer 15

Enoch Powell and Iain Macleod

Question 16

how close was the 1964 general election

Answer 16

very close, labour only did marginally better on popular vote and only got 317 seats, 1 more than was needed for a majority

Question 17

when did food rationing end?

Answer 17

1954

Question 18

when was the Korean War?

Answer 18

1950-53

Question 19

what were the underlying economic problems that the Conservatives failed to address in the 50s

Answer 19

inflation
overvalued pound
low investment
low productivity

Question 20

who was Peter Thorneycroft

Answer 20

Macmillan’s first chancellor who resigned in 1958, because he proposed responsible gov spending cuts to prevent inflation and was ignored by Macmillan because it was electorally unpopular

Question 21

car ownership rose from 2.5 million in 1951 to what in 1955?

Answer 21

3.3 million

Question 22

what % of the population owned a TV by 1960

Answer 22

75%

Question 23

give examples of consumer goods which rose in popularity during the 50s

Answer 23

cars
TVs
Fridges
Washing Machines
Home ownership

Question 24

what facts suggest that affluence didn’t apply to the whole of the UK

Answer 24

by 1960 4/5 working families still lacked a car
2/3 lacked a washing machine
and many northern towns didn’t experience the same affluence as southern areas

Question 25

how were classes distinguished in Britain in the 1950s

Answer 25

what clothes you wore, pubs you went to, pastimes and what language you used

Question 26

what institution allowed for greater social mobility

Answer 26

Grammar schools allowed working class children to get a first class education

Question 27

what was Harold Wilson’s background?

Answer 27

humble background- from Huddersfield, gained popularity as he challenged the classical figure of the establishment, which many began to resent in the early 1960s

Question 28

what was the 1948 Nationality Act

Answer 28

an act introduced by Labour, it gave all members within the commonwealth full British citizenship and allowed them to work and live in the UK leading to a huge influx of immigration in the 1950s

Question 29

How many immigrants arrived from the Caribbean in 1955

Answer 29

27,000

Question 30

how many immigrants arrived from the Caribbean in 1961

Answer 30

100,000

Question 31

what legislation did Rab Butler (as home secretary) introduce to reduce the number of new immigrants into the UK (year)

Answer 31

Commonwealth Immigrants Bill (1961)

Question 32

when were the Notting Hill riots

Answer 32

1958

Question 33

when did national service end

Answer 33

1960

Question 34

what was the treaty of Rome + year

Answer 34

the Treaty of Rome (1957)
was the founding treaty of the EEC, signed by Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, W Germany and Italy

Question 35

what was the Messina conference + year

Answer 35

the Messina conference in 1955, created the Spaak Committee which created the groundwork that the EEC was built on

Question 36

what were Churchill’s foreign policy objectives 1951-55

Answer 36

1. Maintain Britain as a global power alongside US and Russia
2. develop the special relationship with the US
3. leadership of W. Europe

Question 37

what conference did Eisenhower become frustrated with Churchill showing the decline in Anglo-American relations

Answer 37

The Bermuda conference 1953

Question 38

when was the Nuclear test ban treaty signed by Macmillan?

Answer 38

1963

Question 39

when was the Paris Conference and why was this significant?

Answer 39

1960- Macmillan showed himself as International statesman as the mediator between Russia and the US (right after US spy plane shot down)

Question 40

when did Britain get Polaris missiles off the US?

Answer 40

1963
JFK gave Polaris missiles to the UK, due to the close bond between him and Macmillan

Question 41

when was the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament formed?

Answer 41

1958

Question 42

what position did Aneurin Bevan have in the Labour shadow cabinet 1955-59

Answer 42

Foreign Secretary