The Labour Governments Flashcards
1
Q
What were the election results of 1997, 2001 and 2005?
A
1997: Labour: 419
Conservative: 165
2001: L: 413
C: 166
2005:
L: 355
C: 198
2
Q
What was blair’s aproval rating?
A
1997: 90% - most popular records began
- 10 years later seen as untrustworthy and dishonest
3
Q
What was Blair’s character and ideology as leader?
A
- Tony Blair enjoyed wide appeal.
- Blair clung to the mantra of the New Labour ideology when in office.
- However, it became harder to define what New Labour was.
- Some critics on the left suggested that his philosophy was little more than a disguised form of Conservatism .
4
Q
What was the Third Way?
A
- In a 1988 pamphlet on the Third Way, Blair defined the four values essential for a ‘just’ society as:
- Equal worth
- Opportunity for all
- Responsibility
- Community
- It was largely dropped after Labour’s first term.
5
Q
What was Blair’s position like in 1997?
POSITIVE
A
- Huge majority – L 419 seats; C 165
- Cabinet – group of talented politicians, with a clear sense of direction to carry through the ‘Blair Project’.
- Robin Cook – Foreign Secretary
- Jack Straw – Home Secretary – ‘tough on crime’
- David Blunket – Education Secretary – ‘Education, education, education’
- Gordon Brown – Chancellor
- Opposition – The Conservative opposition was demoralised
- Economy – Favourable economic position
- Press – even from traditional Conservative newspapers was positive
- Public – widespread public goodwill
6
Q
What was Blair’s position like in 1997?
NEGATIVE
A
- parliamentary majority did not represent a massive surge in the Labour vote.
- 43% of the votes were cast for Labour, however low turnout.
- Fewer people voted for Labour in 1997 than in any of the elections between 1945 and 1966
- The 1997 ‘landslide’ was based on such factors as Tory voters staying at home, tactical voting for Liberal candidates and the peculiar distortions that can arise from the first past the post system.
7
Q
What was the Political Marriage?
A
- key relationship in British politics was the Blair-Brown partnership
- Brown played a dominant role in preparing Labour policies up to 1997
- it was agreed that Blair would become leader, working in close partnership with Brown as strategist and policy expert.
- Question when Brown would take over caused tensions between Brownites and Blairites within the Labour government, especially after 2001.
8
Q
What did Labour promise in its 1997 manifesto?
A
- Referendums on Scottish and Welsh devolution and English regional government
- The election of mayors for London and other major cities
- Hereditary peers would lose their right to vote in the House of Lords.
- The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) would be incorporated into British law.
- A referendum of electoral reform and legislation to ensure freedom of information and ‘open government.
9
Q
Describe Scottish Devolution
A
- Unpopularity of the Conservatives in Scotland had strengthened calls for Scottish independence during the 1980s and 1990s.
- By 1997 the Conservatives had no MPs in Scotland.
- The Labour Party promised new referendums on devolution: held 1997
- The Scottish people voted in favour and in favour of this parliament having tax-raising powers.
- led to a new Scottish Assembly being established at Edinburgh, based on proportional representation.
- led to the SNP gaining more support; hoped that devolution would take away their momentum.
10
Q
Describe referendum in Wales
A
- also a referendum in Wales
- agreed to the setting up of a Welsh Assembly in Cardiff
- more limited powers - e.g did not have tax raising powers.
11
Q
What happened with Northern Ireland?
A
- Government in Northern Ireland was also devolved after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998
12
Q
What happened with London Mayor?
A
- Another reform introduction of an elected mayor for London in 1999
- Ken Livingstone got job (bad)
- Despite this, there were some moves to introduce further assemblies in England
- Referendum held in the North East in 2004 - overwhelmingly rejected.
- Plans to extend further devolution were halted too
13
Q
What was the impact of devolution?
A
- Scotland and Wales, (SNP) and (PC) continued to gain support despite belief that devolution would take away momentum
- The 2000 London Mayoral election - Tony Blair blocked Ken Livingstone from being the Labour candidate.
- To Blair, Livingstone as leader of GLC represented all that had been wrong with the ‘loony left’ Labour Party of the 1980s and would damage the reputation of new Labour.
- Livingstone ran independently and won
14
Q
Describe the reform of the House of Lords
A
- The government did make a major political effort to reform the House of Lords
- it ended with a rather messy compromise
- hereditary peers were not abolished but cut to 92.
15
Q
Citizens Rights:
What was the Freedom of Information?
A
- A Freedom of Information Act was passed in 2000.
- Gave people the right to request information from public bodies.
- By 2006, over 1 million requests were being made each year.
- Blair later described this as a mistake
