The Impact of Thatcherism 1979-87 Flashcards

1
Q

When was Britain self-sufficient in oil?

A

1980

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2
Q

1979 election

A

If it were held in Autumn 1978 it likely would have win an easy win for Labour

Thatcher v Callaghan

Although solved, the WoD made people question the viability of democratic socialism

“Labour’s not working”

Majority of 44 seats

Conservatives used Saatchi & Saatchi for advertising

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3
Q

What did Callaghan blame for his 1979 loss

A

A “sea change” (ie the core political views of the country had changed after WoD paving the way for Thatcherism)

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4
Q

What was Thatcher’s background

A

Methodist daughter of an affluent and political greengrocer. Raised on principles of self-reliance and individualism

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5
Q

Thatcher’s 1981 Tory Party Conference quip

A

“To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.”

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6
Q

Examples of wets and dries in Thatcher’s cabinet

A

Wets:
Jim Prior
Lord Carrington
Willie Whitelaw

Dries:
Norman Tebbit
Nigel Lawson
Geoffrey Howe

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7
Q

New Right view on society

A

Socially conservative

Anti-permissive society (believes it leads to a breakdown in societal norms and crime)

Society is the collection of individuals, and so we should focus more on the self and family than any broader society or community

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8
Q

What were the first years of Thatcherism called?

A

The Wasted Years (didn’t have the political capital or cabinet support to see through reforms before Falklands)

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9
Q

Thatcher’s economic policies 1979-83

A

Income tax cut to 30%
Interest rates hiked to 14% to cut money supply

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10
Q

What was the main disagreement between Thatcher and Jim Prior

A

Prior (Employment Minister) was seen as too friendly towards unions, so he was moved to NI ministry in 1981

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11
Q

What changed did Thatcher make to her cabinet after winning the 1983 election?

A

Turned her cabinet into a dry-dominated cabinet

Nigel Lawson promoted to Chancellor
Prior -> Tebbit in employment
Lord Carrington -> Howe in the foreign office

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12
Q

What was the economic ideologies of Thatcher?

A

Neoliberalism / Supply Side Economics:
Low taxes, privatisation, weak TUs, pro-business

Monetarism: (dropped in 1984)
Limit the money supply in the economy (low public sector spending and high interest rates)

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13
Q

Why did Thatcher drop monetarism?

A

It was difficult to control the amount of money in the economy in a free market, money flowed into the economy from trade which couldn’t be easily controlled without significant state intervention in the economy

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14
Q

How did Thatcher fail to implement TU reform in her Wasted Years?

A

The report ‘Stepping Stones’ called for too harsh of an approach according to Prior, and so was never implemented while he was employment secretary

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15
Q

What form of taxation did Thatcher prefer?

A

Indirect taxation (ie VAT) over direct taxes (income and corporation tax)

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16
Q

Who were the Labour leaders in this period (1979-87)

A

Jim Callaghan 79-80
Michael Foot 1980-83
Neil Kinnock 1983-92

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17
Q

1980 Labour Leadership election

A

Michael Foot v Denis Healey
52% - 48%

Led to the Gang of Four breaking away

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18
Q

Which group split off from Labour?

A

Social Democratic Party (1981)

After the Left-wing Foot became Labour leader, and the hard-left heckled moderated in the 1981 Wembley party conference the moderate Gang of Four made the Limehouse Declaration, declaring they would split from the party over its leftwards shift.

28MPs followed them

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19
Q

Labour’s 1983 manifesto

A

Nicknamed the ‘Longest Suicide Note in History’ by Kaufman

Written by Foot and Benn

Unilateral nuclear disarmament
Abolition of the House of Lords
Withdrawal from EEC
Higher taxes
Renationalising industries Thatcher had denationalised

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20
Q

Who were the Gang of Four?

A

Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams, David Owens, Bill Rodgers

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21
Q

SDP by-election victories

A

Shirley Williams in Crosby 1981

Roy Jenkins in Glasgow Hillhead 1982

Both displaced Tory MPs

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22
Q

The Alliance

A

An electoral pact between the SDP and the Liberals from 1981-88. The two parties wouldn’t stand two candidates in one constituency to avoid splitting the moderate vote

‘Two Davids’ - The two party leaders (Steele for Liberals and Owens for SDP)

Overtook Labour as the credible opposition to Thather during the Foot-era

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23
Q

How many seats were the SDP predicted to win in some 1981 polls

A

600 (Labour too left, Thather to impotent)

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24
Q

Millitant Tendency

A

A Trotskyite organisation that had infiltrated Labour in the 70s and 80s. Took over the Liverpool branch of the party. Part of the reason why moderates abandoned Labour in the Thatcher era.

Persecuted under Kinnock, with him denouncing them at the 1985 Labour party conference.

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25
Q

Neil Kinnock

A

Welsh leader of the Labour party 1983-92

Left-wing beliefs but realised the need for the modernisation of the party after losing in 1983.
Attacked the hard-left (Militant Tendency, Scargill and Bennites). Went against his own unilateralist and socialist principles to try and unseat Thatcher.

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26
Q

Thatcher’s popularity in 1982

A

One of the least popular in living history

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27
Q

1983 Election

A

Thatcher v Foot

Khaki election (Falklands)
Labour was very Left
150 seat majority
Labour got 27% of the vote

13m Tory votes v 16m anti-Tory votes

Alliance had half a million fewer votes that Labour but 186 fewer seats

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28
Q

1987 election

A

Thatcher v Kinnock

Tories promised lower taxes, growth and strong defence
Tories backed by the press
Labour still seen as Left-dominated
Labour made gains against Alliance, with 31%
Tory vote at 1983 levels
First time a leader had won three successive elections since 1820
Labour gained 20 seats from Tories
102 seat majority for Thatcher

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29
Q

SDP golden era

A

1981-82 between founding and Falklands War

Polled at 40% before Falklands War

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30
Q

NI: Hunger Strike

A

The blanket protest at Maze Prison by IRA prisoners stripped of their Special Category Status had escalated into a hunger strike in 1981.

One of the imprisoned hunger strikers Bobby Sands was elected an MP for the ‘Anti H-Block Party’ in the Fermagh by-election in 1981, before starving to death that year, leading to a large amount of publicity for the hunger strike.

Thatcher did not give in to their demands

10 prisoners starved to death in the end

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31
Q

NI: High-profile targets of nationalists under Thatcher

A

Lord Mountbatten (1979 IRA)
Airey Neave MP (1979 INLA)

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32
Q

NI: Armalite and Ballot Box Strategy

A

Sinn Fein / IRA strategy divised by Gerry Adams wherein the terror campaign would continue (Armalite), but they would also focus on winning electoral seats after the election of Bobby Sands showed they could win seats.

Sinn Fein remained abstentionist though, as they didn’t want to swear allegiance to the queen

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33
Q

NI: Brighton Bombing

A

The IRA detonated a bomb in the Grand Hotel in Brighton while the cabinet was staying there for the 1984 Tory party conference.
Five were killed including Sir Anthony Berry MP

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34
Q

Right to Buy Scheme

A

Allowed people to buy their council houses at a reduced cost (33-50% discount, 70% for flats)
Councils told to use the money gained to pay off debts instead of building new houses
Tried to end the reliance of tenants on the state
Very popular
Initially opposed by Labour, but adopted due to its popularity

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35
Q

How many people bought their council houses with the Right to Buy Scheme?

A

2m by 1988

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36
Q

Millitant in Liverpool

A

Militant Tendency had infiltrated the Liverpool City Council under a Labour ticket

In 1985, the council rebelled against the Conservative government by passsing an illegal budget spending more than the government gave them, and when the government didn’t give the council the extra money, the council fired all 33,000 of its public sector workers in protest.

This was heavily criticised by Neil Kinnock in the 1985 party conference, and led him to expell Militant Tendency from the party

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37
Q

What percentage of government income came from North Sea Oil under Thatcher?

A

10%

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38
Q

NI: Anglo-Irish Treaty

A

aka Hillsborough Agreement 1985

Gave Ireland an advisory role in how NI is run.
Tried to strengthen moderate nationalists against Sinn Fein.

Opposed by nationalists and unionists

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39
Q

NI: Troubles bombings and attacks under Thatcher

A

1982- Hyde Park Bombings killed 11 soldiers
1984- Brighton Bombings killed 5
1987- SAS kileld 8 IRA members and 1 civillian in the Loughgall Ambush

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40
Q

Recession under Thatcher

A

Early 80s Recession:
1980-83
Most severe since WW2
17% interest rates, pursuance of monetarism, and the transition to a service based economy caused it
Stagflation was back
Began the era of systemic high unemployment

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41
Q

Inflation, growth and unemployment in 1980

A

15% inflation
-4% growth
2m unemployed

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42
Q

1981 budget

A

During a recession partially caused by monetarist measures

Government borrowing decreased
Grants to councils cut
Benefits frozen despite 15% inflation

“Biggest fiscal squeeze of peacetime” according to a government advisor

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43
Q

Change in top rate of income tax, standard rate of income tax and VAT under Thatcher

A

Top Rate: 83% -> 40%
Standard Rate: 33% -> 25%
VAT: 8% -> 15%

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44
Q

Greater London Council Leader

A

Ken Livingston

Left-wing socialist
Clashed with Thatcher as she didn’t like the GLC’s high spending education and transport
So she shut down the GLC in 1981

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45
Q

Loony Left

A

Derogatory term for hard-left councils that spent a lot and allegedly had overly progressive ideologies during the 80s
Often supported unilateralism, Irish republicanism and Fidel Castro.
Myths of Hackney Council banned the singing of Baa Baa Black Sheep because it was racist

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46
Q

Rate capping

A

The Conservative government imposed spending restrictions on high-spending Labour councils.
Led to the rate-capping rebellions (eg Millitant in Liverpool)

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47
Q

1986 Local Government Act

A

Closed down metropolitan local authorities set up by Heath, centralising power in Westminster

Section 28 infamously banned schools talking about homosexuality

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48
Q

Privatisation Timeline

A

1984 - BT
1986 - British Gas
1988 - British Steel
1989 - Water

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49
Q

Pros and Cons of denationalisation

A

Pros:
-Influx of money to government to fund tax cuts
- Increased competition
- Taxpayer no longer had to fund inefficient firms

Cons:
- Sold off too cheaply to ensure all the shared were sold off
- In many cases competition didn’t increase (water and rail)
- Led to unemployment

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50
Q

Number of shareholders increase under Thatcher

A

3m -> 9m

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51
Q

How did Thatcher support small businesses

A

Loan Guarantee Scheme made it easier for small businesses to apply for loans

Enterprise Allowance Scheme gave money to unemployed people who started their own business to the tune of £40 a week for its first year

52
Q

The Big Bang

A

1986

Financial deregulation of the City

Lines between jobbers and brokers blurred

Large banks flooded into London bringing trillions to store in London

Made London the financial capital of Europe

Created yuppies, and a get-rich-quick mentality in the UK

53
Q

Average GDP growth of economies 1980-88

A

Japan - 4%
UK - 2.2%

UK was above France and Germany though, less than Italy and US
80s was about the same level of growth as 70s

54
Q

Peak and trough of GDP growth under Thatcher

A

4.6% in 1986
-4.0% in 1980

55
Q

Lowest and average inflation under Thatcher

A

Lowest - 3% (1986)
Average - 7%

56
Q

Employment in manufacturing under Thatcher

A

7m -> 5m

57
Q

Highest and average unemployment under Thatcher

A

13.5% (3m) in 1983
10% Average

58
Q

Liverpool unemployment rate

A

25% peak - 60% amongst black youth

59
Q

Manufacturing output fall

A

Down 15% in two years
Steel production down 30%

60
Q

Outcome of the increasing North-South divide on society

A

Uptick in drug usage, violence and depression in destitute areas
1981 riots

61
Q

Conservative policy on Liverpool

A

Leave it to a “managed decline” - Howe

62
Q

1981 Riots

A

Political riots in English cities with high unemployment due to deindustrialisation

Brixton, Toxteth and Handsworth notably

Scarman Report identified poverty and race as the key causes of it

Support for Thatcher polled at 27%

63
Q

Sus law

A

Gave police the right to stop and search those that look like they might commit a crime.
Racial minorities were unfairly targeted by police officers
1000 people were stopped in 6 days during Operation Swamp shortly before Brixton riots

64
Q

Who was Thatcher’s nemesis in the party?

A

Michael Heseltine

65
Q

Heseltine in Liverpool

A

Heseltine clashed with Thatcher and the rest of the cabinet by pushing for greater Keynesian investment into the declining Liverpool dockyards.

Spent a lot of his time as Environment Secretary improving Liverpool

Tried a similar campaign to rennovate the West India Dockywards in Canary Wharf

66
Q

Pros and Cons of the Right to Buy Scheme

A

Pros:
Allowed many to get onto the property ladder for a low cost
Paid off debts of councils
Gave tenants more of a choice over how to run and design their household

Cons:
Increased house prices in the long run as the prices for more houses were dictated by the market
Buy-to-rent sector that emerged boosted prices
Quality of rental houses decreased sharply
High interest rates meant many homes were repossessed

67
Q

Which public sector workers went on stike under Thatcher

A

Teachers (first time)
NHS workers (public support)
Fleet Street printers
Coalminers

68
Q

How were TUs restrained under Thatcher

A

GCHQ were banned from unionising
1980 Employment Act force TUs to hold ballotsand banned secondary picketting
Confrontation with Miners

69
Q

Wapping Dispute

A
  1. Rupert Murdoch tried union-bashing, newspaper printers in his Wapping plant on Fleet Street. The strike was unsuccessful but lasted a year and showed how private sector unions also lost power after the Miner’s Strike as attitudes changed.
70
Q

NUM: When was the Miners’ Strike?

A

1984-85

71
Q

NUM: What did Thatcher call the miners?

A

“The enemy within”, in reference Galtieri

72
Q

NUM: Background of the strikes

A

National Coal Board warned of the need to close 23 mines in 1981.
By 1984 it had built up a stockpile as to allow for a confrontation with the NUM. NCB leader Ian MacGregor had government backing to take a hard line towards the tetchy miners.

73
Q

NUM: President of the NUM

A

Arthur Scargill; a militant and charismatic Marxist

74
Q

NUM: What triggered the strike?

A

National Coal Board announced they would be closing 20 pits, Scargill claimed he had seen secret plans to close 70 pits (this was true).
Scargill did not hold a strike but still declared a NUM strike losing him credibility

75
Q

NUM: Splinter union

A

Opposing Scargill’s decision to go on strike without a ballot, and having a historical feud with other miners, the Nottinghamshire members of the NUM decided to splinter and form the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM).
Scargillites called the UDM scabs and traitors
UDM called Scargill more interested in hard-left politics than the wellbeing of his union members
Nottinghamshire miners were also better off than other miners in other parts of the country

76
Q

NUM: Battle of Orgreave

A

June 1984

Mass picket at Orgreave coke plant in Yorkshire by 5000 miners.
8000 militarised police officers fought them in a violent confrontation
120 were injured, and the lorries kept on rolling, defeat for the miners

77
Q

NUM: Why didn’t Labour support the strikers?

A

Led by the moderate Kinnock who was trying to modernise the party
Scargill didn’t hold a ballot
The NUM were recieving funds from Gadaffi
“The miners didn’t deserve him”-Kinnock

78
Q

NUM: Ridley Plan

A

1977 plan by Thatcherite MP Nick Ridley for how to defeat and subvert a future strike from the NUM in order to privatise the pits

79
Q

Decline in union membership under Thatcher

A

Down a third

80
Q

Coal employees decline under Thatcher

A

200,000 -> 60,000

81
Q

Reorganisation of British Steel

A

Following the defeat of the coalminers, British Steel, British airways and other industries were reorganised with large scale redundencies in order to turn the company profitable again

82
Q

NUM: How productive were British miners?

A

30% less efficient than European miners

83
Q

Who was Ian MacGregor

A

Harsh industrialist who Thatcher made boss of British Steel after the steelworkers went on strike in 1980 to brutally reorganise the firm so it would make a profit again.

Was also head of the National Coal Board during the 1984-85 NUM strike, with a simillarly cost-cutting business attitude

84
Q

NUM: What attitudes did Thatcher take towards the striking miners?

A

They were stripped of welfare benefits
They had their assets seized by the government

85
Q

NUM: December 1984 Gallup poll

A

88% disapproved of the methods of the miners

86
Q

How much was made from the sale of British Gas in 1986?

A

£5.4bn

87
Q

UK Rebate

A

UK paid a lot of VAT to the EEC, and the small British agricultural sector meant that we didn’t get much subsidies from the Common Agricultural Policy that we were funding
In the Fontainebleau Council in 1984, Thatcher said “I want my money back”, and got 66% of the difference back

88
Q

Handbag Diplomacy

A

Name for Thatcher’s abbrasive and confrontational style of hawkish diplomacy

89
Q

Thatcher and Reagan in Libya

A

When the US under Reagan bombed Libya, Thatcher gave the US rights to British airbases, no one else in NATO did except Thatcher

90
Q

Why did Thatcher and Reagan clash over American defence?

A

Thatcher thought Reagan’s Star Wars programme would not stop nukes and would substitute deterrent for defence.
In the 1986 Reykjavik Summit, Reagan’s sticking to Star Wars prevented Gorbachev from the total removal of nuclear arsenals globally, which MT was furious about

91
Q

Grenada Invasion

A

When Reagan invaded Grenada (a Commonwealth country), Thatcher was angry

92
Q

Falklands: When was the war?

A

April - June 1982

93
Q

Falklands: Leader of Argentina

A

Military junta headed by General Leopold Galtieri

94
Q

Falklands: How far away was the war fought from the UK?

A

8,000 miles

95
Q

Falklands: Controversial event

A

Sinking of the Belgrano

Highest casualties of any single event of the war
Happened outside of the exclusion zone

“Gotcha” - The Sun’s title

96
Q

Falklands: Thatcher’s intel

A

Foreign Sec Lord Carrington warned Thatcher about a risk of an Argentine invasion, but she refused to reinforce the island. Carrington didn’t want to risk their relationship so didn’t press the issue

97
Q

Falklands: Legality of the war

A

Lawyers in the war cabinet
UN protocol followed meticolously
Self-defensive war

Sinking of the Belgrano (as it was technically not a war, it was confined to a specific area called the exclusion zone, which the sinking of the Belgrano, and therefore half of Argentine’s casulties’ demise occured outside the zone and were questionably legal)

98
Q

Falklands: British losses

A

255 dead, £3bn cost

99
Q

Falklands: Political outcome of the war

A

Conservatives lept 10 points ahead of Foot’s pacifistic Labour.
SDP’s rise halted
Boosted support for her personally as she was seen as a heroic patriot (wrapped herself in a Union Jack)
Easy victory in 1983 and establishment of a dry cabinet
The Sun began supporting Thatcher

100
Q

Anti-nuclear protest

A

Greenham Common Women:
Camp-in began in 1981 protesting against the housing of American cruise missiles in RAF Greenham Common
In 1983, 70,000 protestors formed a 14-mile human chain
Female only

101
Q

Why was the pound overvalued?

A

North Sea Oil

102
Q

Which TV show encapsulated the life of the unemployed working class under MT?

A

Boys from the Blackstuff

103
Q

Debt needed to pay for Thatcher’s unemployment benefits

A

£30bn

104
Q

Oxford’s rejection of MT

A

Thatcher was the only former-Oxford PM to have not been given an honorary degree

105
Q

Playwrights opposing Thatcher

A

Caryl Churchill and David Hare

106
Q

Red Wedge

A

Music festival opposing Thatcher, frontlined by Billy Bragg

107
Q

Church of England report under Thatcher

A

Faith in the City

Called on government to do more to help with deprived urban areas

108
Q

Prominent pressure groups under Thatcher

A

CND got a boost from the pro-nuke MT
Shelter helping the new homeless
Greenham Common Women
Greenpeace

109
Q

Falklands: Who resigned over the war?

A

Foreing Secretary Lord Carrington

110
Q

Three anti-communist world leaders who emerged 1979-80

A

Margaret Thatcher
Pope John Paul II
Ronald Reagan

111
Q

Thatcher’s position on Europe

A

Campaigned to join them in 1975
Supported them early on
Got the UK Rebate in 1984
Cooperated in building the Channel Tunnel in 1985
Good relationship with Francois Mitterand
Supported the Single European Act

Supported it before 1987

112
Q

Single European Act

A

1986 Largest EEC act the UK joined

Help create a single market
Break down non-tarrif barriers
Eroded British sovreignty (eg ECJ)

Uncontroversial in UK, Thatcher liked Europe moving towards a free market economy

113
Q

Westland Affair

A

1986

Should failing British helicopter firm Westland be forcibly taken over by a European consortium through the British government, or left to be snatched by the American Sikorsky.

Defence Secretary Micheal Heseltine thought it would be better if the government interfered to help our defence interests, MT prefered letting the free market decide.

This led to Michel Heseltine storming out of a cabinet meeting and resigning on the spot.

Emblematic of the divisions in the party over government intevention in the economy

Thatcher would say it was the closest she ever got to resigning

114
Q

Falklands: Leaseback Programme

A

Sovreignty would be transfered over to Argentina, and they would be leased back to Britain for around 100 years.

Proposed by Nick Ridley in 1980, supported by London and Buenos Aires, by rejected by the Falkland Islanders so it fell apart

115
Q

Falklands: USA

A

Reagan initially opposed the war, as the US helped put Galtieri in office to be a strong anti-communist, and the US didn’t care much for empire.

Reagan gave in a supported Britain by letting us use their naval bases and gave us Sidewinder missiles to use

116
Q

Government revenue from privatisation

A

1988-89:
£7bn

117
Q

What did Thatcher believe the three pillars upholding the hard-left were?

A

1) Labour Party (Militant Tendency)
2) Councils (loony left, Ken Livingstone)
3) Trade Unions (Arthur Scargill)

118
Q

How many Labour MPs defected to the SDP under Foot?

A

25 and a Tory

119
Q

Alan Walters

A

Prominent SPAD for Thatcher, close economic advisor. Would later cause Lawson’s resignation

120
Q

The Kissinger Plan

A

In 1976, Ian Smith capitulated and accepted majority rule to the the Bush War.

Rhodesia-Zimbabwe would be transfered back to British control temporarily while majority rule is set up under the presidency of Robert Mugabe

121
Q

Thatcher and South Africa

A

Opposed Commonwealth and EEC sanctions on apartheid-era SA, in an attempt to softly transition to majority rule.

122
Q

Falklands: UN Resolution

A

Resolution 502
UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Falklands, and for Argentina to withdraw their troops.
They did not comply

123
Q

Increase in welfare spending under Thatcher

A

LSE reported that welfare spending was up 1/3 in real terms in 1988 compared to 1974

124
Q

How many supporter water privatisation?

A

Polls show 83% dissaproved in 1990

125
Q

Response to Anglo-Irish Treaty

A

200,000 unionists protested in Belfast

Unionist paramilitary group Ulster Resistance was set up

126
Q

What was the Lawson Boom?

A

Economic boom of late 1980s

127
Q

What did Heseltine say of the Right to Buy scheme?

A

“no single piece of legislation has enabled the transfer of so much capital wealth from the state to the people”