What did they do?

Question 1

What did they do?

Archibald Primrose

5th Earl of Roseberry

Answer 1

Imperialist

Plans to exapnd royal navy caused disagreement in party

Question 2

What did they do?

Stanley Baldwin

Answer 2

Treaty of Locarno;

signatory of the Kellogg-Briand Pact;

Pensions Act;

enfranchisement of women over 21;

UK General Strike of 1926.

Edward VIII abdication crisis;

started rearmament but later criticised for failing to rearm more when Adolf Hitler broke Germany’s Treaty of Versailles obligations;

Question 2

What did they do?

Harold Wilson

Answer 2

legalisation of abortion,

abolition of capital punishment

decriminalisation of homosexuality;

Rhodesian U.D.I.;

adopted, then abandoned, the National Plan for the economy;

Devaluation of the pound;

foundation of the Open University;

disputes with trade unions over In Place of Strife and prices and incomes policy.

Ended discpute with miners

Social Contract with trade unions over the economy;

Health and Safety at Work Act;

Renegotiated terms for EC membership, then 1975 referendum validated entry;

North Sea oil;

Cod War.

Question 3

What did they do?

James Callaghan

Answer 3

International Monetary Fund loan to support the pound;

the Lib-Lab pact;

enacted devolution to Scotland and Wales but referendums stopped them;

breakdown of relations with trade unions and Winter of Discontent.

Question 4

What did they do?

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

Answer 4

Restored autonomy to Transvaal and the Orange Free State;

Anglo-Russian Entente;

first Prime Minister to be referred to as such in Parliamentary legislation;

died nineteen days after leaving office.

Question 4

What did they do?

Gordon Brown

Answer 4

London car bombs prevented from detonating;

Glasgow Airport attack;

child benefit data misplaced;

Donorgate;

Northern Rock and other banks nationalised;

Treaty of Lisbon ratified;

10p Tax rate abolished;

Financial crisis of 2007–2010;

Cannabis moved back to Class B;

Parliamentary expenses scandal;

Release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi;

arrest of Damian Green;

Chilcot Inquiry established.

Question 5

What did they do?

Herbert Henry Asquith

Answer 5

Hung Parliaments.

Liberal Welfare Reforms;

People’s Budget;

Old Age Pensions Act 1908 and National Insurance Act 1911;

Parliament Act 1911;

Suffragettes and the Cat and Mouse Act;

Home Rule Act 1914;

World War I;

Easter Rising.

Question 6

What did they do?

Neville Chamberlain

Answer 6

Attempted to maintain “peace for our time” through appeasement of Germany, settling the Munich Agreement;

widely criticised following the German invasion of Poland and consequent outbreak of World War II;

resigned after failing to form a coalition government;

Question 7

What did they do?

David Cameron

Answer 7

Hung parliament; leading a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats.

Bloody Sunday apology;

Spending and Strategic Defence reviews (budget cuts to public services with ensuing the 2011 UK anti-austerity protests and strikes);

2010 student protests;

Arab Spring protests;

Military intervention in Libya (Operation Ellamy);

Alternative Vote (AV) referendum;

News International phone hacking scandal;

Welfare Reform Act, Health and Social Care Act;

2011 riots;

European Fiscal Union veto;

Cash for access scandal;

London 2012 Summer Olympics;

London 2012 Summer Paralympics;

Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal;

Belfast City Hall flag protests;

2013 horsemeat scandal;

Closure of the BBC Television Centre;

Benefits Reform Universal Credit

Question 9

What did they do?

Benjamin Disraeli

Answer 9

Purchase of shares in the Suez Canal Company;
Congress of Berlin;
Reintroduction of Queen Victoria to public life, including bestowing the title Empress of India;
Second Anglo-Afghan War;
Breaking up of the League of the Three Emperors;
the Zulu War;
Start of Long Depression;
died one year after leaving office.

Question 10

What did they do?

Tony Blair

Answer 10

Hong Kong handover;

Death of Diana, Princess of Wales;

Independence for the Bank of England;

Ecclestone tobacco controversy;

Belfast Agreement;

Human Rights Act;

devolution to Scotland and Wales;

House of Lords Reform;

Minimum wage introduced;

1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia;

Fuel protests; creation of Greater London Authority and Mayoralty of London;

2001 foot and mouth crisis; War in Afghanistan;

Iraq War;

top-up fees introduced for university tuition;

Civil Partnership Act;

Constitutional Reform Act;

2005 London bombings;

Cash for Honours scandal;

Identity Cards Act;

introduced student fees.

Question 11

What did they do?

Sir Winston Churchill

Answer 11

World War II;

led a Coalition Government;

foundation of the United Nations;

proposed what would eventually lead to the European Union;

Beveridge Report.

Following the ending of his all-party coalition, formed a “caretaker” government out of Conservatives, Liberal Nationals and non-party figures. However after two months it was defeated in the 1945 general election.

Third term dominated by foreign disputes: Korean War, Operation Ajax, Mau Mau Uprising, Malayan Emergency

Question 11

What did they do?

Sir John Major

Answer 11

Early 1990s recession;

Gulf War;

ratification of the Maastricht Treaty and the Maastricht Rebels;

forced exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (“Black Wednesday”);

the Downing Street Declaration (initiating the Northern Ireland peace process);

Privatisation of British Rail;

The National Lottery;

Citizen’s Charter;

Sunday Shopping;

“Back to Basics” campaign;

Cones Hotline;

Dangerous Dogs Act.

Question 12

What did they do?

Margaret Thatcher

Answer 12

Falklands War;

sold council housing to tenants (right to buy);

miners’ strike 1984–85;

privatisation of many previously government-owned industries;

decreased the power of trade unions;

negotiation of the UK rebate towards the European Community budget;

Brighton hotel bombing;

Sino-British Joint Declaration;

Anglo-Irish Agreement;

Westland Affair;

abolition of GLC;

Section 28;

the “Poll tax” and Poll Tax Riots;

Lockerbie bombing;

the end of the Cold War.

Question 13

What did they do?

Harold Macmillan

Answer 13

The UK applied to join the European Economic Community for the first time, the application split the Conservatives and was vetoed by Charles de Gaulle;

acceptance of Keynesianism;

Rent Act 1957;

Wind of Change speech;

Notting Hill race riots and New Commonwealth immigration;

opening of the BBC Television Centre;

beginning of Beeching cuts;

Night of the Long Knives;

Cuban missile crisis;

Profumo Affair.

Question 15

What did they do?

Ramsay MacDonald

Answer 15

Hung Parliament;

minority government reliant on Liberal support.

First Labour Prime Minister; did not have a majority so could not introduce radical legislation;

settled reparations with Germany following World War I;

Zinoviev letter

The Labour Government split on measures to resolve a budget crisis;

MacDonald resigned, but was reappointed at the head of a National Government with the support of the Conservative and Liberal parties.

He was subsequently expelled from the Labour Party;

the National Government fought and won the election on the basis of a ‘Doctor’s Mandate’.

Ottawa Conference supports protectionism, after which the free trade Ministers (Liberal and Viscount Snowden) resigned;

Question 15

What did they do?

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

Answer 15

Renounced his peerage

Question 17

What did they do?

Sir Anthony Eden

Answer 17

Egyptian nationalisation of the Suez Canal; which sparked the Suez Crisis.

Question 18

What did they do?

Sir Edward Heath

Answer 18

U-turned over intervention in industry;

negotiated Britain’s entry to the European Community;

Violence due to Northern Ireland’s “Troubles” peaked;

the Sunningdale Agreement agreed;

Three-Day Week;

Misuse of Drugs Act 1971;

called early election in backfiring attempt to confront striking miners.

Question 19

What did they do?

Andrew Bonar Law

Answer 19

Canadian-born: only Prime Minister born outside the British Isles.

Became Prime Minister following Conservative backbenchers’ decision at the Carlton Club meeting to withdraw from the Lloyd George Coalition.

Resigned due to ill health;

Question 21

What did they do?

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil

3rd Marquess of Salisbury

Answer 21

Legislation providing housing for the workinmg class

Opposed Home Rule bill for Ireland

Prevention of cruelty to Children act

Creation of Rhodesia

New Unionism

Second Boer War

Anglo-Zanzibar War

Question 22

What did they do?

Arthur Balfour

Answer 22

Poor relations with Edwar VII

Cobinet split over free trade

Established committee of Imperial Defence

Entente Cordial

Taff Vale case

Question 23

What did they do?

William Ewart Gladstone

Answer 23

Made peacetime flogging illegal;

failed to prevent the Franco-Prussian War;

First Boer War

Third Reform Act

Home Rule Bill for Ireland (split the liberal party, ended the elected governement)

Question 24

What did they do?

David Lloyd George

Answer 24

Welsh-speaking: only Prime Minister whose mother tongue was not English.

End of World War I;

Paris Peace Conference;

attempted to extend conscription to Ireland during the First World War;

Chanak Crisis.

Question 25

What did they do?

Clement Attlee

Answer 25

Initiated the post-war consensus;

introduced nationalisation of utilities;

foundation of the National Health Service;

extended national insurance scheme;

Independence of India and the end of the British role in Palestine;

foundation of NATO;

beginning of the Cold War;

the Berlin Blockade and the resulting Berlin Airlift;

the start of British involvement in the Korean War.