Wilson And The Labour Govermant (1964-1970) Flashcards
Who was Harold Wilson?
Prime minister (1964-1970) And (1974-1976)
ST
Had personal image of great moderniser and down to earth image(in touch/ self mockery)
-Oxford educated
-promote socialism whilst promote affluent society
-maintain good relation with US
-show courtesy to queen
-linked Labour Party to modernisation
-support nuclear deterrents
WK
-cabinet large proportion of men
-criticism of being more opportunistic than pragmatic
-inherited stop to economy with £800 million deficit
-“kitchen cabinet”
-not have coherent governmant from putting rivals against eachother
-troubles in northen island (IRA)
-unable to stop strikes
-paranoid (with cameras )
-won by smal majority
Who was Barbara castle?
Labour no (1845-1879)
-bevanite
-introduce white paper “in place of strife”
-fifty labour mps threatens to rebel including Callaghan against her. (Paper not became law and make labour gov. Look weak
Who was Roy Jenkins?
Home secretary from (1965-1967)
-chancellor of the exchequer from (1967-1970)
-part of right labour
(1981 found social Democratic Party)
-ended capital punishment
-publish new race relation act
-(1968) deflated pound
Who was George brown?
Part of right labour
-deputy leader of Labour Party (1960-1970)
-impulsive drinker and unpredictable
-clashed with cabinet colleagues
-resigned in (1968)
-defeated by Wilson In leadership election (1963)
-led DEA which clashed with treasury
Who was James Callaghan?
Chancellor of exchequer (1964)
-served as foreign secretary and Home Secretary
-had good links to trade unions
-became prime minister in (1976)
-led treasury
-decided to devalue pound
Who was Edward heath?
Conservative
-politican leader
-less experienced and less good at campaigning than Wilson
-won election in (1970)
What is deflation and devaluation and there issues to labour government?
—Deflation: support pounds value & preventing inflation
(not break away from stop go system, stop spending on tech)
—Devaluation: imports more expensive and exports cheaper to improve balance of payments
(Britain looked weak, reducing global activity . Party reputation of devaluation)
What was the DEA?
Department of economic affairs:
• led by George brown
• set growth targets & system of ‘economic planning councils’
Made attempts to establish agreement about wages & prices with industrialists, trade unions, & civil servants to prevent inflation rising
-failure in economic modernisation
(1967) abandoned
What were the success and failure of devaluation? (5,4)
SUCCESSES:
-(1964) £800 million deficit—-(1969) balance of payment surplus
-Jenkins deflationary methods: tighten government spending and raise taxes to give balance of payments priority
-satisfied people who thought exchange rate was too high [1964, £2.89 to $]
-fix balance of payments
-achieved balance of payments surplus
FAILURE:
-(1967) pound value dropped by 14% to $2.40 (damage labor’s credibility
-EEC application rejected, during devaluation made governmant economy look futile
-Wilson had been desperate to not make labor party “party of devaluation” as it makes Britain weaker in world
= by (1967) refusal to devalue pound cause governments fail to build promised amount of houses
What was “in place of strife”?
(1969) A white paper produced by Barbra castle
It had stated:
-28 day “cooling off” period before strikes went ahead
- government impose settlement when there was ‘demarcation disputes’ between unions
- imposed strike ballots
- industrial relations court could persecute people who broke law
(Was hated by union leaders , jack jones, leading to TUC negotiating face-saving compromise 1969)
What we’re the success and failures towards governments economic policies towards unions?
SUCCES:
-voters like ‘in place of strife’ and labour standing in poll was up initially
-(1964) Wilson made trade unionist frank cousin minister of technology
FAILURE:
-(1966) sterling crisis caused strikes by national union of seaman
-(1967) was major dock strikes affecting London and Merseyside
-(1964-1970), 150,000 members left the party
-relations were strained by the continuity of conservative freeze on pay increase
-seamen & dock ‘wildcat’ strikes show old union bosses lost control (less authority control)
-unions and left labour hate in place of strife (joe Gormley, James Callaghan)
-(1969) Wilson gave in as reported by whitehead
“Government had lost both trade union support for being too tough and some public support by appearing in the last analysis to be too weak”
What success and failures was there to economic modernization (1964-1970)? (6)(3)
SUCCES:
(1963) robins report implementation led to seven new universities developing (Sussex, east Anglia, Kent, York, Essex, Lancaster, Warwick) by 1966
-collides of advanced technology given extra funding
-high profile projects (Concorde & Nuclear energy)
-new government department of technology
-department of education and science strengthened
-brown national plan agreed, bringing down prices and income to keep inflation down (1966)
FAILURE
-investment in research and development of new products was swallowed by arms industry
- DEA was in competition with treasury and in confusion from lack of stable leadership
-national plan by George brown not have enough United government support (1965) =(1966) DEA started disappearing when brown moved to foreign office
What had the Northern Ireland divisions before (pre -1968)
•(1919-1921) Irish war of independence: fought over issue of home rule of Ireland
• (1922) Northern Ireland created: include 6 counties part of UK, unionist, primarily Protestant and had loyalists (RUC)
•(1949) Irish republic created, remaining 26 counties, formally Irish free states, primarily catholic and nationalist (IRA)
• mid 1960s: catholics felt they were discriminated upon in housing, to prevent them being elected, &RUC causing violence
•(1964) civil rights movement, caused unionist fear IRA would start new campaign. So these loyalist set up parliamentary organisations
What had started the troubles in Northern Ireland (1968-1969)
(1968) civil rights march was attacked by loyalists. With allegations of RUC not protecting the marchers
(1969) battle of bogside: apprentice boys (loyalists) did annual march in Derry & attacked by nationalist catholics in bogside… cause RUF officers to beat up catholics
=riots spreading=stormint gov make concession on housing= riots from loyalists
(1969) Wilson sent troops to Northern Ireland intervene to try and keep peace
What is the RUC?
Royal Ulster constabulary
(majority Protestant police force)
