The Affluent Society 1951-1964: Political Flashcards
What is the order of Britain’s Conservative prime ministers within this time period?
- Churchill 1951-1955
- Eden 1956-1957
- Macmillan 1957-1964
Why was Churchill’s 2nd term as prime minister not as successful as his 1st?
- He was elderly with many serious illnesses (suffered a stroke which left him with a speech impairment)
- Inactive in domestic politics as he considered himself to be an international statesman, not a domestic politician (spent more time abroad than in Downing Street)
- Believed he was above party politics (attempted to persuade the Liberals to join his cabinet after he joined them in 1904 and used non conservative peers to oversee ministries)
What happened when Eden called a general election?
Increased the Conservative majority from 17 seats to 60
What led to Eden’s downfall and how did it do this?
- The Suez Crisis in 1956
- As a consequence of Eden’s poor decision making, the USA threatened to kick the UK out of NATO and sell off their sterling bonds (this would crash the British economy)
- Showed Britain’s inability to pursue its own foreign policy without the consent of the USA
- Eden came under attack from the Labour Party and the media
- He was accused of lying to the House of Commons and his reputation was badly damaged
- Conservative MP’s resigned from cabinet and 40 MP’s rebelled
- Resigned in 1957
What happened when Macmillan called a general election in 1959?
Led the Conservatives to victory by pushing their majority up to 100 seats
What were the Conservative government’s housing policies?
1951- Conservative manifesto promised to build 300,000 houses a year (this would rebuild the housing stock destroyed during the war and replace many of the slums people lived in)
What were the Conservative government’s education policies?
- Continued the tripartite system- 3 kinds of school emerged: the grammar school for the intellectually gifted, the technical school which concentrated on practical and vocational skills, the secondary modern which gave a basic education to the majority
- Children would take an 11+ test in their last year of primary school to determine what type of school they would go to
- Eden tried to promote a greater emphasis on technical education
- Many began to question whether this system was fair by the 1960’s
What were the Conservative government’s social reforms?
- Housing and factory acts- aimed to improve living and working conditions
- 1957 Homicide act- restricted when the death penalty would be imposed
- 1957 Wolfenden Commission- recommended that homosexual behaviour should no longer be a criminal act
Who are the 3 main labour figures within this time?
- Bevan
- Gaitskell
- Wilson
When did Gaitskell become leader of the Labour Party?
1955
What were the internal Labour divisions?
- Bevan was more of a socialist/left wing individual whereas Geitskell was more centrist
- Bevan supported the CND and complete nuclear disarmament, announcing this in 1957, but Geitskell wanted to keep nuclear weapons
- Bevan didn’t want to charge people for their prescriptions whereas Geitskell did due to financial pressure
- Geitskell wanted to abolish Clause IV which committed the Labour Party to Nationalism as he wanted to become less nationalist
When did Harold Wilson become leader of the Labour Party?
1963
What happened with the EEC in 1961?
Britain applied to join the EEC which was rejected in 1963
What was the Night of the Long Knives?
When Macmillan tried to strengthen the government but ended up weakening it by sacking 1/3rd of it in 1962
What was the Profumo Affair?
- Macmillan’s Secretary of State, John Profumo, was having a secret relationship with Christine Keeler
- Keeler was also having a relationship with a Soviet spy, which raised questions about possible leaks of Cold War secrets
- Profumo lied about his actions and his actions were newspaper headlines for weeks
- The image of Macmillan and the Conservative government as old and out of touch was reinforced
