Chapter 4

Cards (22)

  • Conservative strengths in 1951 election
    • Churchill was popular - 'he won the war'
    • Promised more 'red meat'
    • Promised 300k new homes
    • Promised to maintain welfare
  • Labour weaknesses in 1951 election
    • Cabinet seemed old and exhausted
    • Associated with rationing, austerity and tax
    • Took GB into Korean war which had financial burdens
    • Charges for dentists, prescriptions and glasses went against manifesto
  • Reasons for Conservative win in 1951 election
    • Liberal only entered 109 constituencies
    • Boundary changes due to Blitz in 1948 – representation of the peoples act led to more Tory votes
  • Unemployment in 1951 was 367,000
  • Unemployment in 1964 was 501,000
  • Conservative economic successes 1951-1964
    • GB GDP = 2.3% so above 0%
    • Weekly wages £8.30 to £18.35
    • 4 to 91% TV ownership
    • 500 % car increase
    • 1.7mil new homes
  • Conservative economic failures 1951-1964
    • Italy = 5.6% GDP
    • World trade from GB 25% to 15% compared to West Germany who went form 7% to 20%
    • Traditional industries got smaller
    • Full unemployment never achieved
  • Conservative leaders 1951-1964
    • Churchill 1951-55
    • Eden 1955-57
    • Macmillan 1957-63
    • Douglas Home 1963-64
  • Churchill
    Popular with people, but 77 years old in 1951 and had strokes meaning poor health
  • Eden
    Increased majority in 1955 election and popular with women and the most qualified PM on paper, but misjudged Suez
  • Macmillan
    'Super mac' and good on TV and 'never had it so good', but 'mac the knife' and losing grip on party due to scandals
  • Douglas Home
    Popular with some, but old/out of touch and Etonian so posh and even Enoch Powell would not work under him
  • Labour party split
    • Gaitskell and the right (he died of heart attack in 1963)
    • Bevan and the left
  • Gaitskell and the right
    Introduced NHS charges, wanted to modernise parts, yes to nukes, no to nationalism, trade unions to have less power
  • Bevan and the left
    No charges to the NHS, traditional, no nukes, yes to nationalism, trade unions have more power
  • Unemployment in 1963 was 800,000
  • Orpington - Labour overturn a 14k Tory majority and won by 7,000 votes, leading to the 'night of the long knives'
  • The 4 scandals
    • Vassal – USSR spy in the Navy, it was never proved however some said that the Admiralty covered it up, created deep mistrust
    • Philby- Senior official foreign office passing information to the USSR, he fled to Russia in 1963 to avoid arrest- he had been giving USSR information for 10 years and the government took blamed for this
    • Argyll- Duke Argyll sued his wife for having affairs, 88 men's names were read out in court who she cheated with and some of them being MP's/ ministers
    • Proformo- War secretary having an affair with Christine Keeler who was also sleeping with a Russian
  • Reasons for Conservative decline
    • Economy- balance of trade deficit (800 mil), GB lagging behind EU in GDP (Italy 5.6%)
    • Strikes and unemployment- full unemployment never delivered, more strikes
    • EEC rejection- de Gaulle rejected us on live TV and made us seem weak
    • Night of long knives- Macmillan sacked 1/3 of his cabinet- 'Mac the knife'
  • Notting hill race riots - racist attacks on ethnic minorities from white people, tension rose as immigrants were blamed for job + house shortages
  • Salmon enquiry – people believed trouble was due to immigration therefor in 1962 commonwealth act was signed limiting immigrants based on skin colour
  • Mods and Rockers