Thatcher's social and political division

Question 1

what social divides were there in Thatcher’s Britain?

Answer 1

• north vs south divide (north was more w/c as more industries)
• private healthcare vs NHS
• racial divides
• homophobia : section 28 introduced in may 1988, homosexuality couldn’t be ‘promoted’
• class divides

Question 2

what political divides were there in Thatcher’s Britain?

Answer 2

• unions vs the state
• one nation tories vs the new right (wets vs dries)
• local gov vs central gov
• labour divides

Question 3

what economic divides were there in Thatcher’s Britain?

Answer 3

• Keynesian vs monetarism
• rich vs poor
• ## traditional industry vs financial services

Question 4

why was there division in Thatcher’s Britain?

Answer 4

• her economic policies led to increasing inequality
• her social values were traditional and not progressive. led to certain groups feeling excluded like gay people
• her political vision was unwilling to change and this increased further the longer she was pm

Question 5

name 2 groups that didnt feel supported by thatcher

Answer 5

women-
although she was a woman PM she wasn’t a feminist. she didn’t utilise her power as first woman PM
LGBT-
they felt not supported by Thatcher due to section 28

Question 6

when did her chancellor nigel lawson resign?

Answer 6

1989

Question 7

during the Thatcher era what percentage of Liverpool lost its manufacturing industries?
how many jobs lost did this lead to?

Answer 7

50%
led to 80,000 jobs lost between 72 and 82

Question 8

how many people were leaving liverpool and why was it being neglected?

Answer 8

• an average of 12k people were leaving the cuty
• 15% of its land was vacant or derelict
• the government let liverpool go into decline because they didnt vote tory anyway
  Geoffrey said more promising areas like the west midlands or the north east could do better with the money

Question 9

what is the sus law?

Answer 9

• it used the 1824 vagrancy act used in areas with high racial minority populations such as Brixton
• it allowed police to stop and search people who looked ‘suspicious’
• plain clothes police officers were dispatched into brixton and in 5 days almost 1,000 people were stopped and searched

Question 10

give an example involving a person which demonstrated the social and political division

Answer 10

Bobby Sands (member of IRA) went on hunger strike on march 1st from prison.
after 21 days was taken to hospital and still wouldn’t eat.
died after 66 days of hunger strike.
100k people at funeral.