The Impact of Thatcherism, 1979-87

Question 1

What sort of politician was Thatcher?
Quote?

Answer 1

Conviction politician
‘The Lady’s not for turning’ 1981

Question 2

In Thatcher’s 1981 cabinet, who were the ‘wets’ and who were the ‘dries’?

Answer 2

Wets: Willie Whitelaw as Home Secretary, Jim Prior as employment minister
Dries: Howe as chancellor, Tebbit replaced Prior in 1981

Question 3

What did the 1983 election allow Thatcher to do?
What was their majority?

Answer 3

Marginalise ‘wets’. Lawson as Chancellor and Howe as Foreign Secretary.
144 seat majority

Question 4

Who became Labour leader in 1980?
What did their 1983 manifesto include and how was it described?

Answer 4

Michael Foot
Withdraw from EEC, unilateral nuclear disarmament, Clause IV
‘Longest suicide note in history’ (MP Kaufman)

Question 5

What split the Labour vote?
What were their major achievements?
What were they polling compared to what they actually achieved?

Answer 5

SDP (Gang of Four) formed in 1981
Shirley Williams won by-election in Crosby and Jenkins in Glasgow Hillshead.
Polled 40% before Falklands. Achieved 25% vote but only 23 seats.

Question 6

Who replaced Foot as leader of Labour and when?
What did he achieve?

Answer 6

Neil Kinnock in 1983, managed to expel extreme Militant Tendency from party in 1986 and restore some credibility.

Question 7

With regards to Northern Ireland, what did Thatcher have to deal with as soon as she got into power?

Answer 7

Hunger strike in H-Block of Maze Prison led by Bobby Sands. He won by-election and died a few weeks later. 10 died in total.

Question 8

When was the Brighton Bombing and where?
Significance?

Answer 8

October 1984 at the Grand Hotel.
Conservative Party Conference, 5 killed. Strengthened Thatcher’s attitudes against terrorism.

Question 9

What agreement was reached in 1985 with regards to NI?
What was the response?

Answer 9

The Anglo-Irish Agreement in Hillsborough, cooperation between UK and ROI giving ROI advisory role in NI affairs.
Loyalist and unionist backlash. 200,000 protest rally in Belfast including DUP Ian Paisley.

Question 10

What were the early effects of monetarism?
What sort of rescued the situation?

Answer 10

By 1980, recession with inflation at 15% and unemployment above 2m.
North Sea oil and gas saved a potentially serious BoP crisis

Question 11

How did Howe describe the 1981 budget?
What did it include?

Answer 11

‘Most unpopular budget in histroy’
Cut government borrowing, grants to councils and froze benefits.

Question 12

What belief caused a shift from direct tax to indirect tax?
The top rate of tax fell ….
VAT increased ….

Answer 12

Belief that individuals spent money better than governments did.
Top rate of tax fell from 83% to 40% by 1988.
VAT went up from 8% to 15% in 1979

Question 13

What limits were placed on local governments?
Effect?

Answer 13

Rate capping to control overspending Labour councils, limited amount that could be raised in local tax.
1986 Local Government Act abolished large metropolitan local authorities set up by Heath and placed power with centralisation
Public spending went up anyway due to high unemployment!

Question 14

When was monetarism abandoned?
What was there still great emphasis on?

Answer 14

In Thatcher’s second term and Lawson abandoning spending targets in 1986.
Supply side economics not consensus demand side economics

Question 15

Summarise supply side economics

Answer 15

Deregulation for businesses and low tax encourages enterprise. Flexible labour to hire and fire workers. Employees spend (encouraged by low tax) and businesses make profits and invest.

Question 16

Summarise demand side economics

Answer 16

Government uses tax to support full employment, employees spend, businesses make profit, profits encourage investment, governments tax individuals and businesses

Question 17

What method was used to control inflation?
What were the problems with this?

Answer 17

Interest rates (17% in 1979)
Made it more expensive for businesses to borrow and increased value of pound so difficult to export.

Question 18

What did inflation peak at?

Answer 18

22% in May 1980

Question 19

Where were the worst hit areas?
What did the economy realign to?

Answer 19

Midlands, central Scotland and South Wales
Service industries

Question 20

By how much did manufacturing output fall by?
What was unemployment in 1983?

Answer 20

15% in two years
3m (13.5% total workforce) and did not fall below this until 1987.

Question 21

Where were the 1981 riots?

Answer 21

Brixton (London)
Handsworth (Birmingham)
Toxteth (Liverpool)
Chapeltown (Leeds)

Question 22

Which report was commissioned to examine causes of 1981 riots?

Answer 22

Scarman Report, identified poverty and race as key causes. Many areas where young black and Asian people felt ‘sus law’ meant they were unfairly targeted by police. More riots in 1985.

Question 23

When was Right to Buy introduced?
By 1988, how many had taken advantage of the scheme?
What were the problems with it?

Answer 23

Housing Act 1980
By 1988, 2m used scheme
Councils had to use profits to pay debt, not build new housing so no. homes reduced. Waiting lists longer. Some in emergency B&Bs

Question 24

What new laws began Thatcher reducing union influence?

Answer 24

1980 secondary picketing outlawed and in 1984 unions pressured to hold ballots before strike action.

Question 25

When were there warning pits would need to be closed and why were they not?

Answer 25

National Coal Board (NCB) warned need to close 23 in 1981 but not ready to face unions.

Question 26

When were pits closed and how many?
Who failed to hold strike ballot?

Answer 26

1984 20 pits closed and Scargill did not hold ballot, he correctly claimed that the government were prepared to close 70 pits

Question 27

Why did the miners strike fail?

Answer 27

Divided unions, eg. Nottinghamshire broke away to form Union of Democratic Mineworkers. Police had better tactics, riot control and equipment, Battle of Orgreave. Thatcher presented Scargill as a dangerous revolutionary

Question 28

How many were employed in the mining industry in 1979 compared to 1990?

Answer 28

1979: 200,000
1990: 60,000

Question 29

What was trade union membership by 1990?

Answer 29

By 1990, membership was 2/3 what it had been in 1979

Question 30

How did Thatcherites justify poll tax?

Answer 30

Thatcherites believed that if everyone contributed it would be fairer and councils would be forced to be more efficient and responsible in spending

Question 31

Why did ministers struggle to justify poll tax?

Answer 31

Ministers struggled to justify why a poor pensioner would pay the same as a millionaire

Question 32

When was poll tax introduced?
What was set up to counter it?

Answer 32

Scotland in 1989, Wales and England in 1990
Anti-Poll Tax Unions urging people not to pay and police, courts and councils unable to enforce payment.

Question 33

In some areas …. did not pay poll tax

Answer 33

30%

Question 34

What happened in Trafalgar Square in March 1990?
What comparisons were made?

Answer 34

Anti-poll tax demonstration with over 200,000 attending, 5000 injured. Cars overturned, set on fire, shop windows smashed and looted.
Battle of Orgreave in 1984 due to politicisation of police

Question 35

What did Oxford uni vote against?

Answer 35

Giving Thatcher an honorary degree because of public spending cuts to higher education.

Question 36

What was Red Wedge?

Answer 36

A music alliance including Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and Madness who campaigned against Thatcher in the 1980s.

Question 37

What did the Church of England publish?

Answer 37

1985 Faith in the City report called on the government to do more to help deprived communities

Question 38

How long were the Greenham Common Women camping and from when?
Why?
Big event?

Answer 38

1981 for 19 years
After 1979 announcement of American cruise missiles at British bases.
In 1983, 70,000 protesters formed 14 mile human chain from Greenham to Aldermaston.

Question 39

What events increased environmentalism awareness and support for pressure groups?

Answer 39

Chernobyl in Russia 1986
Antarctic ozone hole caused by CFCs in atmosphere in 1985
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth support grew

Question 40

When did the Argentinians invade the Falklands and why?

Answer 40

1982
In 1981 the withdrawal of HMS Endurance left the Atlantic with no British naval presence

Question 41

Example of patriotism with regards to the Falklands?

Answer 41

American Newsweek magazine ‘the Empire Strikes Back’
After Belgrano sunk, Sun headline GOTCHA!

Question 42

What event stopped any possibility of a peaceful resolution with regards to the Falklands?

Answer 42

The sinking of the General Belgrano on the 2nd May 1982

Question 43

What was crucial in British victory in the Falklands?

Answer 43

US support as fighting 8000 miles from home, using US bases such as Ascension Islands.
American influence in stopping Exocet missiles reaching Argentinians.

Question 44

Why was the Falklands not really significant?

Answer 44

Blip in world affairs, diplomatic relations reopened with Argentina in 1989.

Question 45

What shows Thatcher’s willingness to support the US?

Answer 45

In 1986, Thatcher gave permission for US to use British air bases to bomb Libya despite being unpopular in Britain.

Question 46

What shows that there were still differences with US?

Answer 46

1983 US invasion of Grenada against advice of Thatcher.

Question 47

What two phases were there with Thatcher and the Cold War?

Answer 47

Thatcher support for Cold War 1979-85
Thatcher trying to end Cold War 1985-87

Question 48

What show a growing concern of nuclear conflict in Britain?

Answer 48

Protect and Survive booklets
Threads 1984 BBC drama of nuclear conflict aftermath in Sheffield
Where the Wind Blows book by Raymond Briggs in 1986
Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Kate Bush and Sting

Question 49

How many marched with CND in London in 1983?

Answer 49

200,000

Question 50

What was Thatcher’s role in ending the Cold War?

Answer 50

Encouraged Reagan to negotiate with Gorbachev and they compromised at Reykjavik summit in 1986. Thatcher had met Gorbachev in 1984 and announced ‘I like Mr Gorbachev, he and I can do business together’
The INF treaty in 1987 was a massive step to mutual disarmament

Question 51

What was Thatcher’s tactic towards Europe?
What was her big success?
Example of positive relations with France?

Answer 51

Handbag diplomacy
Rebate in 1984
Mitterrand and Thatcher, building of Channel Tunnel starting 1986

Question 52

When was the Single European Act signed and what did it introduce?

Answer 52

1986 Single European Act introduced Single European Market, European Parliament, and future monetary union. Surrendered some British sovereignty.

Question 53

What incident showed growing divisions in the Conservative Party over Europe?

Answer 53

The Westland Affair in 1986, Heseltine wanted the helicopter company to go to a European consortium but Thatcher preferred no interference even if if went to US company Sikorsky. Heseltine resigned.