THATCHER 1979-90 CHAPTER 13 Flashcards
policies
THATCHER AS LEADER
A STYLE OF LEADERSHIP
- In some ways, Thatcherism was a style rather than an ideology described herself as a conviction politician and was dismissive of the post war consensus.
conviction politician means
(someone who follows policies based on their own beliefs)
A STYLE OF LEADERSHIP
- Her policies reflected her own personal beliefs she was
middle class, studied chemistry at oxford and became a lawyer.
A STYLE OF LEADERSHIP
- In politics, she was an outsider
* She was not a traditional tory - why
- was not from a traditional tory background
- she was from trade and was a woman.
A STYLE OF LEADERSHIP
- 1981 - at the peak of discontent with her policies, she said:
you turn if you want to, the lady’s not for turning – criticised Heathites who had u-turned in 1972.
IDEOLOGY
- The new right’s analysis of Britain’s economic decline led to
rejection of Keynesian economics in favour of monetarism and free market economics.
IDEOLOGY
- She was influenced by the intellectuals in the party - Thatcherism was based on traditional conservative thinking, thatcher’s own political instincts and heavily influenced by a number of ‘new right’ academics.
what was the new right?
- The new right was a collective name for a number of academic and theoretical organisations which challenged the Keynesian orthodoxy. They drew on the work of Milton Freidman and promoted free market policies.
IDEOLOGY
- The free market was moral because it encouraged individuals to
take responsibility for their own actions.
IDEOLOGY
- Thatcherites put great emphasis on order in society thatcher famously said,
‘there is no such thing as society’.
IDEOLOGY
Thatcherites were supportive of the police and tough on law and order -
led to accusations of the police becoming politicised during industrial disputes.
MINISTERS: SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION
- 1979 party was not Thatcherite – many senior Tories were ‘wets’
what are wets?
(squeamish about the social consequences of the monetarist economic polices – one nation conservatives).
MINISTERS: SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION
- Thatcher ensured most of the key posts, especially the economic posts, would be held by ‘dries’
who were the dries and name 2 dries that were given key posts
(firm and uncompromising in their support for monetarism). Howe became chancellor and other key economic posts were given to Lawson.
MINISTERS: SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION
- There were disagreements between Prior (wet employment minister) and thatcher over anti-union legislation Thatcherites believed Prior was
what and what happeed to him
too friendly with the trade union leaders. He was demoted in 1981 and replaced by Tebbit.
MINISTERS: SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION
- 1983 success at the general election consolidated thatcher’s position both as
PM and party leader.
MINISTERS: SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION
- Most wets in the party became
marginalised
MINISTERS: SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION
- Thatcher did face opposition from ministers some due to personal disagreements.
- Tebbit eventually
what happened to him
falls out of favour despite being a Thatcherite.
DIVIDED OPPOSITION, 1979-87: LABOUR AND THE FORMATION OF THE SDP
- Most serious challenge = Westland affair
what happened?
Michael Heseltine stormed out of a cabinet meeting, resigning his position, and claiming thatcher was acting unconstitutionally.
DIVIDED OPPOSITION, 1979-87: LABOUR AND THE FORMATION OF THE SDP
- Although Thatcher survived Westland, Heseltine became a focus of discontent for
who?
MPs who were unhappy with thatcher’s rule came to a climax in 1990.
DIVIDED OPPOSITION, 1979-87: LABOUR AND THE FORMATION OF THE SDP
- Internal divisions boiled as the party descended into its worst crisis - key personalities broke away and .
what did they do
founded the SDP, a completely new party in 1981, leading to catastrophic defeats in 1983 and 1987 - many believed labour would never win office again.
DIVIDED OPPOSITION, 1979-87: LABOUR AND THE FORMATION OF THE SDP
- Crisis began when the left-wing candidate Michael Foot (Bevanite + supporter of UND) was ?
elected as leader in 1980 instead of Dennis Healey, the obvious candidate from the centre of the party, although in 1981 Healey narrowly defeated Benn in a contest for deputy leadership.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE SDP
- Created at the end of January 1981 when a group of leading labour politicians –
who were they and what they were known as
the ‘gang of 4’ – Owen, Jenkins, Williams, and Rodgers issued the formation of the party.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE SDP
- Them, along with the 28 labour MPs that followed them believed they had been driven out of the labour party by extremists who were now taking over - they believed the best way to save the Labour party was
to do what against the left
to build a new centrist alternative that was capable of appealing to the middle ground, instead of fighting a losing battle against the “Bennite Left”.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE SDP
- The snapping point had come at the Wembley conference which became notorious for
what and what was its effect on the moderates
the hostility shown towards speakers by hard left hecklers - convinced moderates that it was time to give up on labour.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE SDP
- The SDP soon made an impact on national politics -
which 2 won seats and when
Williams won a by-election in the Conservative seat of Crosby in 1981
and in 1982, Jenkins won Glasgow Hillhead.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE SDP
- The two centre parties formed an agreement known as the
and what did they do
SDP-Liberal Alliance and worked together in the 1893 and 1987 elections.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE SDP
although the relationship between the leaders of the liberals and SDP were tense, the alliance seemed able to have overtaken Labour as the
what and why
credible opposition until 1987 – the labour government was widely regarded as unelectable.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES
- As well as facing the liberal revival, the SDP and internal bitterness, Labour party could no longer depend on its traditional working-class support.
why? 2 reasons
- Trade unions were no longer a source of strength.
- Many labour strongholds in local government were seen as having lost touch with the people they were supposed to serve.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES
- Press coverage of labour was universally hostile and whole sections of traditional political support leaked away
what dd the traditional voters do instead? 4
- some became ‘thatcher conservatives’,
- some voted liberal or SDP,
- some supported the far left in attacking labour leadership,
- some became apathetic and did not vote at all.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES
- Collapse in popularity not easy to turn around - basic foundations of the labour party were crumbling as demographic change loosened traditional loyalties of the working class.
what did it seem?
- Seemed the party passed the point of no return and might cease as a political party.
LABOUR DIVISIONS 1983-7
Kinnock replaced Michael foot as labour leader in 1983, when labour was in danger of
being marginalised by Thatcherism and the rise of the SDP.
LABOUR DIVISIONS 1983-7
- Kinnock played a big part in dragging labour back to the political mainstream.
how? give 2 reasons
- He came from the left of the party, but took on the extremists Militant Tendency, the Bennites and the union leaders.
- Criticised Scargill for failing to hold a strike ballot during the miner’s strike of 1984.
LABOUR DIVISIONS 1983-7
- 1986 - Kinnock successful in expelling Militant Tendency from the Labour Party, but it was still perceived as dominated by the left and the trade unions.
what was the militant tendency?
Militant tendency derived its name from the Militant newspaper that promoted Trotskyite (following the ideas of Trotsky who believed in a permanent international revolution of the working classes) revolutionary socialism. This was an entryism organisation that sought to infiltrate the Labour party from within. It gained control of the Liverpool city council.
CONSERVATIVE ELECTORAL SUCCESS
1982
1983
1983-7
1887
how can these years be descried for thatcher?
1982 - thatcher one of the most unpopular PMs in living memory.
1983 - landslide victory
1983-7 - thatcher slumped in popularity.
1987 - another big victory.
1983 ELECTION
- 1982 - political landscape transformed by the
mr higsons fave thing to talk about!
Falklands war where the military regime in Argentina invaded the islands.
1983 ELECTION
- Thatcher immediately responded to the argentinian invasion with a full-scale military effort to recover the islands, and the British forces achieved
complete success after a decisive and relatively painless victory.
1983 ELECTION
- The war had unleashed a wave of patriotism around the country, national press and even most of the Labour party supported the war.
what was its effect on thatcher?
- Thatcher gained self-confidence and began to dominate the party in a way she had not been able to.
1983 ELECTION
Thatcher’s ability to make tough but successful decisions made people believe she
key factor in 1983 victory
could do the same at home as well, and helped to bring a landslide victory for the conservatives and slowed the rise of the Alliance.
1983 ELECTION
There were also other factors:
explain 2 labour weaknesses (foot, manifesto)
- Labour leadership lacked credibility - Foot struggled to deal with the divisions and performed badly on TV.
- The labour manifesto was dominated by left wing promises - unilateral disarmament, withdrawal from the EEC, avolition of fox hunting. One Labour MP labelled the manifesto as the ‘longest suicide-note in history.’
1983 ELECTION
- The anti-conservative vote totalled 16 million – 3 million more than pro-conservative vote, yet the conservatives had a majority of
seats?
144 seats.
1983 ELECTION
why did conservatives have more seats despite receiving 3 million less votes?
think alliance vs labour votes and seats
- This was due to the first-past-the-post system - the alliance only gained half a million votes less than labour but had 186 fewer seats in parliament.
JUNE 1983 GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS
CONSERVATIVES
LABOUR
LIBERAL & SDP
seats and % votes for each
CONSERVATIVES 397 42.4
LABOUR 209 27.6
LIBERAL & SDP 23 25.4
THE 1987 ELECTION
- By 1987, Kinnock’s leadership had done a lot to restore party disciple and efficiency, but they suffered
yet another heavy defeat.
THE 1987 ELECTION
- The alliance found it hard to keep the levels of support from 1981-2 due to
ideological differences – opposition to Thatcher was not enough to provide unity by itself.
THE 1987 ELECTION
- The SDP began to shrink as Neil Kinnock established his grip on the party and seemed that SDP had no real identity of purpose left.
this led to SDP doing what
SDP and Liberals merged formally to form Liberal Democrats in 1988
David Owen disagreed with the merger and resigned
THE 1987 ELECTION
- Thatcher continued to have the support of the
what, why
press as she promised lower taxes and a growing economy.
JUNE 1987 GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS
CONSERVATIVES
LABOUR
LIBERAL
seats and % votes for each
CONSERVATIVES 375 42.2
LABOUR 229 30.8
LIBERAL 22 22.6
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
- Thatcher had strong unionist sympathies and was determined not to give in to terrorism.
she faced a crisis over the ongoing campaign for ???
Special Category Status by IRA prisoners of the Maze prison of Belfast as they wanted to be recognised as political prisoners.
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
- 1980 - hunger strikes led by Bobby Sands began as a protest and gained attention and support. Sands was nominated to
do what? what happened to him :(
stand in the by-election for the Sinn Fein (political wing of the IRA) and won the seat. He died a few weeks later.
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
how many more hunger strikers after bobby sands died before the protest was called off?
9
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
- Thatcher claimed the strike was a defeat for the IRA as Special Category Status was not granted - however, the strikers had a big impact.
what was the impact of the hunegr strikes in NI?
- Thatcher became a hate figure for republicans in NI, while Bobby Sands and others became republican heroes.
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
- The electoral successes meant republicans such as Gerry Adams (became president of Sinn Fein in 1983) began to see the advantages of using the ballot box -
what did they start doing?
became more focused on winning parliamentary seats.
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
- October 1984 IRA exploded a bomb in the
Grand Hotel Brighton during the conservative party conference.
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
- The main target of the Brighton bomb, Thatcher, was unhurt but
how many others were killed?
5 people were killed - led to national outrage in Britain.
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
- 1985 - an agreement was signed at Hillsborough that set up
what and what did it aim
permanent intergovernmental cooperation between Ireland and UK to enhance security cooperation.
It also aimed to strengthen moderate nationalists against Sinn Fein and was supported by the SDLP and the alliance.
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
- Republicans opposed the Hillsbrough agreement because
it confirmed NI was a part of the UK.
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
- The agreement gave the Irish government an advisory role in NI - caused a
backlash from which parties
furious unionist and loyalist backlash and 200,000 people attended a protest rally in Belfast.
* New unionist paramilitary organisation, Ulster Resistance, set up in 1986.
NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE TROUBLES
- New unionist paramilitary organisation, Ulster Resistance, set up in 1986.
- There was a series of atrocities on both sides there seemed to be no way out of the cycle of
violence and retaliation
