The effect of Thatcherism on politics and party development

Question 1

when Thatcher came to power in 1979 her cabinate was dominated by “wets” what was meant by “wets”?

Answer 1

men who had been appointed by Edward Heath.

Question 2

who are some examples of Wets and what were they committed to that Thatcher rejected?

Answer 2

• Jim prior, Lord Hailsham and William Whitelaw

- they were committed to the post-war consensus.

Question 3

what did Thatcher refer to people who wanted to compromise with “socialism” ?

Answer 3

Traitors - 1978

- however she was still unable in the following year to completely exclude them from the cabinate.

Question 4

what were moderate MP’s like Jim Prior interested in?

Answer 4

• preventing economic polices from causing social breakdown

- Prior saw monetarism to be disastrous and would lead to rising inequalities and therefore increased social tensions.

Question 5

what was the reason for these “one nation conservatives” / moderate conservatives feel obliged to created equality and assist the poor?

Answer 5

• many shared a similar upper-class background
• attended private schools and served as officers in the army.
• they saw themselves as part of a natural aristocracy who had a duty to ensure the poor were provided for.

Question 6

what justified Thatcher’s rejection of Wets?

Answer 6

• they were traditional “one nation conservatives” and there values were rejected in favour of a commitment to the free market.
• there was also a decline in upper-class patricians and during the 90’s the party was dominated by people who were not born rich but made their own money.

Question 7

what did Thatcher believe about the upper-class moderate wets?

Answer 7

that they were complacent and weak.

Question 8

from 1979 what happened regarding wets position in her cabinate?

Answer 8

• she removed them from important economic posts and replaced them with Thatcherite drys

Question 9

how was Jim Prior initially an exception?

Answer 9

he was appointed as employment secretary, however he was moved in a cabinate re-shuffle in 1981 where he was made secretary of state for Northern Ireland.
(typically seen as a dumping ground for ministers who were out of favour.)

Question 10

how was the 1981 cabinate re-shuffle described by the press?

Answer 10

• “purging of wets”

Question 11

what other key moderates were sacked?

Answer 11

• Sir Ian Gilmour (Lord Privvy seal)
• Lord Soames (Lord President of the Council)
• Mark Carlisle (secretary of state for education and science. )

Question 12

who is an example of a keen Thatcherite who was appointed to important posts?

Answer 12

Norman Tebbit one of Thatcher’s keenest and most outspoken supporters.

Question 13

by the end of the 1980’s what indicates that Thatcher had a dominant effect on the conservative party?

Answer 13

• she considered her self to be a rebel leader in 1981 meaning she was radical in terms of her cabinate being moderates
• however by the end of the 80’s her idea’s were dominant and traditional consensus idea’s were minorities.

Question 14

who was one of the Wets who survived Thatcher’s 1981 cabinate re-shuffle?

Answer 14

Micheal Heseltine - who was secretary of state for the environment and promoted the sale of council houses in the housing act 1980.

Question 15

what did Micheal Heseltine challenge Thatcher on?

Answer 15

• the scale of unemployment and the need for government intervention to help assist and relieve the worst effected.
• after the 1981 riots, he developed strategies such as enterprise zones and the development corporation.
• however MT’s dominate personal style alienated Heseltine.

Question 16

what was the Westland affair?

Answer 16

• the sale of Westland helicopters cause disagreement between Thatcher and Heseltine
• MT wanted to stop gov intervention in supporting them and turned to the free market to provide a sollution
• where as Heseltine thought this would mean the UK relying on the US for military supplies.
• this dispute led to Heseltine’s resignation.

Question 17

what was largely a cause of Micheal Heseltine’s resignation?

Answer 17

• Thatcher’s leadership style
• in most cases she was able to get her own way
• but Heseltine was determined and ambitious.

Question 18

when was Thatcher’s fall?

Answer 18

• 1990 mainly due to rejecting her uncompromising leadership style
• and the introduction of the Poll tax

Question 19

what did the introduction of the poll tax lead to ?

Answer 19

• widespread anger and large-scale protests
• the all Britain Anti-poll tax federation organised a mass demonstration in Trafalgar square in March 1990 attended by 200,000 protesters - despite the heavy police present this turned into a riot.
• this also led to increased tax bills

Question 20

what was a consequence of increased tax bills alongside the poll tax cause?

Answer 20

• taxpayers who were previously willing to obey the law refused to presenting the government with a growing crisis.

Question 21

what did this policy of the poll tax created for the government?

Answer 21

• bad publicity as newspapers covered stories of pensioners who were imprisoned for not being able to afford the tax.

Question 22

how did MT respond to the backlash from the poll tax?

Answer 22

she refused to compromise despite the problems with the policy
- her uncompromising style which had been a major asset at the start of her premiership led to a growing feeling amongst the cons party that the only way to ditch the pool tax was to remove Thatcher.

Question 23

why were the conservatives becoming increasingly unpopular during the 1990’s?

Answer 23

• high interest rates (15%) draining income from middle-class house owners
• recent water privatisation
• divisions about the power being giving to the EEC (former EU)
• Geoffry Howe’s resignation

Question 24

Thatcher became increasingly unpopular during the 1990’s, who took this opportunity to advance themselves?

Answer 24

Micheal Heseltine, who seized the opportunity and challenged her for leadership of the party
- during the first round of voting she realised she wasn’t supported by her ministers and she withdrew.

Question 25

what indicated that although Thatcher didn’t was no longer popular, her policies were?

Answer 25

the appointment of John Major; as he was the only one of three that was not associated with “wet politics”.

Question 26

what did John Major deal with quickly after taking office as PM?

Answer 26

• the poll tax
• in the short-term he increased the governments grants to local authorities in order to reduce the 1990-91 poll tax bills by 50%

Question 27

who did he appoint to design a replacement for the pole tax ?

Answer 27

Micheal Heseltine

- his council tax re-established the link between local taxation and property taxation.

Question 28

how was Heseltine’s new tax policy different to rates?

Answer 28

• it had exemptions so that people living alone would pay less than people living in households with multiple wage earners.

Question 29

what principle did the new tax abandon?

Answer 29

Thatcher’s principle that tax payers should share the burden of government spending in order to make local gov accountable

Question 30

what examples of privatisation that had been initiated by Thatcher that john Major continued?

Answer 30

• selling off the bulk of the electricity companies in 1991 and the remainder in 1995
• British rail was privatised in1992

Question 31

what areas were the public less keen on privatising?

Answer 31

• railways
• gas
• water
• and electricity
  it was thought that these “natural monopolies” should stay in the states hands to ensure fairness.

Question 32

what were there major problems with privatising industries such as gas, electricity, water and railways?

Answer 32

• water bills shot up by 40% in the fist five years after privatisation
• chief executives in privatised water and gas companies received multi-million pound bonuses despite rising bills
• the government continued to subsidise privatised companies such as the train operators.

Question 33

what was Major’s main economic priorities?

Answer 33

• growth and low inflation

Question 34

what economic mechanisms did JM use?

Answer 34

• free market mechanisms

- rather than going back to Keynesianism or corporatism.

Question 35

what and when did John Major abolish an organisation that was a centre piece during the 60’s and 70’s?

Answer 35

• National economic development council in 1992

Question 36

what did JM continue to emphasise about NHS?

Answer 36

• conservatives commitment to universal state-provided health care.

Question 37

what act regarding Health care that was introduced by MT was implemented by JM government also?

Answer 37

• National health service and community care act (introduced by thatcher in 1990.)
• in essence the act established an internal market to ensure the NHS was more efficient and more responsive to patient demand.

Question 38

what was JM’s key public public` sector initiative ?

Answer 38

• PFI (private finance initiative which was introduced in 1992
• built on the principle established in the 80’s that the state should fund bit not provide public services
• PFI established a system where private companies would organise and run hospitals and schools in return for a payment from the government.
• government contracts were extremely profitable and therefore competition for one of these contracts was high.

Question 39

what policies that Thatcher began became even tougher under JM?

Answer 39

• law and order = traditional rights were removed,
• concern about rave and acid culture led to the introduction of the “criminal justice and public order acr 1994” - this gave police powers to target raves
• criminalised squatting and camping

Question 40

what regarding crime continued to rise under JM?

Answer 40

• the number of prisones

Question 41

what campaign was a failure for JM?

Answer 41

his back to basics campaign

Question 42

what was the back to basics campaign?

Answer 42

• attempt to emphasise traditional British values
• defined them as self discipline and respect
• accepting a responsibility for yourself and your family.

Question 43

Why did the campaign fail?

Answer 43

due to a series of scandals:

• cons minister Tim Yeo’s affair and love child was exposed in 1993
• Steve Norris’s five affairs were exposed earning his nickname Steve “shagger” Norris.
• Stephen Milligan involvement in bondage after he died from autoerotic asphyxiation.
• also a few financial scandals such as Tory ministers being implicated in the Cash for questions scandal - were they were paid for asking questions in parliament.

Question 44

how was John Major’s and Margaret Thatchers’ leadership style different?

Answer 44

• she was more domineering and “presidential” where as JM was more consensual.
• he tried to work with the different wings of the party and seek compromises.
• “a country that was at ease with itself” this is him recognising that Thatcher’s period was a time of conflict.

Question 45

did JM also view socialism to be the main cause of moral character and poverty?

Answer 45

no, he didn’t have a scapegoat and was forced to deal with high utility and rail bills due to increased privatisation and using unemployment.

Question 46

which party is it possible to say that Thatcher changed more than any other?

Answer 46

the labour party

Question 47

what happened to labour during the 80’s and 90’s?

Answer 47

• they went through a process of transformation in the 80’s
• by 1997 the party had abandoned many of it’s traditional policies
• however this change had not wholly come around from just Thatcherism.

Question 48

what led to divisions in the labour party between 1979?

Answer 48

• the defeat of Callaghan in the 1979 general election there was serious divisions between the left and the right of labour
• as a result of the 1980 leadership election were left-winger Micheal foot became leader of the party.

Question 49

what was proposed in Foot’s election manifesto

Answer 49

• unilateral nuclear disarmament ( getting rid of all nuclear weapons)
• ending privatisation and re-nationalising pre-privatised industry
• leaving the European Economic Community
• a massive increase in spending on social welfare.
  This was one of the reasons that labour suffered one of their worst defeats due to the leftness of the proposals.

Question 50

what happened as a result of the huge defeat of leader of the labour party Micheal Foot?

Answer 50

• the party’s new leader Neil Kinnock and his deputy Roy Hattersley began moving the party to the right

Question 51

what was Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley’s policy review?

Answer 51

1989 “meet the challenge make the change” ditched many of the policies that the party adopted under Foot in the early 80’s.

Question 52

what did Kinnock and Hattersley maintain improving

Answer 52

• improving the welfare state

- returning back to Keynesian policies of “reflation” in order to increase unemployment.

Question 53

when did Kinnock resign and who replaced him?

Answer 53

1992 following labour’s election defeat

• John Smith continued to transform the labour party
• introduced a system of one member one vote - ending the trade union “ block vote”
• this was due to the response that the labs were too close to the unions.

Question 54

who became leader following John smiths unexpected death 1994?

Answer 54

Tony Blair

• he stated he was committed to traditional values of labour but wanted to achieve them using new policies.
• specifically he wanted to end labour’s commitment to nationalisation.

Question 55

what was Blair’s modinisation of the labs motivated by?

Answer 55

• the research into changing views of supporters and voters
• he wanted to attract more of a Mondeo man - a typical working class conservative voters
• who liked thatcher as it gave them the right to buy their own home, taxes,
• but the Mondeo man also cared about education and hospitals
• Blair saw this as an opportunity to win support of the WC cons by offering better public services whilst not threatening to raise taxes or reverse MT privatisation polices.

Question 56

what plans of Kinnock and Smith’s plans did Blair reject?

Answer 56

• raising income tax from 40-50%

- and the perception that labs were bad economic managers compared to the cons

Question 57

how did Rupert Murdoch help Blair attract support?

Answer 57

• he owned the sun, News of the World, the Times and the Sunday times,
• due to Blair becoming more right it helped him get the support of media baron Murdoch who assisted Blair in getting his message across.

Question 58

what did Tony Blair argue for ?

Answer 58

a “third way” between the extreme right of thatcher with free market and capitalism and the extreme left of the old labour.
- this combined polices from both sides

Question 59

what Thatcherite policies did Blair enforce?

Answer 59

• a commitment to free markets rather than Keynesianism or coporatism
• a rejection of nationalisation
• continued used of PFI and internal markets
• continued welfare reform to tackle dependency culture
• tackling crime through police action and longer sentences.

Question 60

what polices did Tony

Blair pass that was never endorsed by MT?

Answer 60

• greater protection of civil liberties incorporating the European Bill of Rights into British law.
• limiting states rights to keep secrets creating the Freedom of information bill
• greater protection of minority rights
• better regulation of markets to protect consumer rights
• increased spending on health, education and infrastructure
• better representation of minorities in politics
• acceptance of greater union rights
• introduction of the min wage

Question 61

what extent did Blair change the fundamental nature of the labour party ?

Answer 61

• debated by historians
• certainly between 1980 and 83 the labs were dominated by a left-wing leadership
• ## however traditionally labs has always been dominated and led by mods e.g. Atlee, Callaghan

Question 62

when did the Social democrat party emerge?

Answer 62

1981

• due to Right wing labour MP’s leaving the party after the left-wing leadership of Micheal foot.
• by people such as Roy Jenkins and Shirley Williams.

Question 63

what did the SDP reject?

Answer 63

• the radical extremes of labour

- Thatcherism

Question 64

who and when did the SDP enter into an alliance with?

Answer 64

• 1981

- liberal party

Question 65

what policies did the alliance between the Liberals and the SDP propose?

Answer 65

• they advocated radical constitutional reform including introduction of proportional representation , a bill of rights and a written constitution,
• most pro-European of all the parties
• they supported co-ownership rather than Privatisation
  or nationalisation

Question 66

what % of the vote did the SDP- Liberal alliance win in 1983?

Answer 66

24. 5% but this only resulted in 23 seats.

- 1987 the party had failed to make a major electoral breakthrough and there share of the vote began to decline.

Question 67

what was the social and liberal democrats?

Answer 67

a merger created in 1988 and by 1997 was known as the lib dems

Question 68

impact of Thatcherism on the SDP -Liberal party?

Answer 68

• its 1983 manifesto advocated s commitment to corporatism and a mixed economy
• they were also now in favour of Privatisation by 1987
• David Owner leader advocated a “social market economy” which meant that the market was the most effecient way of distributing wealth.
• Owen was against creating a welfare dependency culture.

Question 69

what was the influence of the liberals?

Answer 69

• consistent advocates of constitutional reform
• their arguments influenced the direction of new labour
• new labour accepted all their reforms such as a bill of rights

Question 70

what conclusions can be made about MT influence of different parties and their politics?

Answer 70

• certainly the major political parties all embraced the market economy before 1997
• however the extent to which this was down to Thatcher is disputed
• Right wing memebers of the Labour party embraced monaterism before her election
• Thatcher and the SDP played a role in deveoloping free market policies that influenced conservatives such as John Major and Tony Blair (lab)
• crucially however thatcher was not the only influence on politics as the New lefts emphasis on minority rights, homosexuality and feminism shifted the political consensus tin favour of greater respect for minority rights.