1960s Britain

• Rhodesia Crisis


  - The UK had made it clear that an end to minority rule was required before African colonies were granted independence. Trying to avoid this, Southern Rhodesia made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.

  - The UK attempted to blockade Southern Rhodesia but France, South Africa and Portugal helped Southern Rhodesia continue.

  - The UK refused to use military force, but funded independence movements led by black majority forces in South Rhodesia. It would eventually return to UK administration in 1979 before the nation was given independence as Zimbabwe in 1980
• Developments in women's rights

  - Demonisation of feminists with many being painted as more extreme than they actually were

  - Labour-saving devices gave housewives more free time, but advertising reinforced stereotypes of women's role as a housewife

  - Increased education and access to higher education encouraged women to develop higher expectations, but workplaces were still biased against them

  - Increased availability of jobs increased women's independence, but they were still responsible for children and the home

  - Greater control over family planning liberated women from unwanted planning, but men could avoid responsibility for family planning

  - Easier divorce created gender reforms, but women still lacked economic independence
• Reductions in censorship

  - Lord Chamberlain's office had censorship powers and had been used to ban Edward Bond's play Early Morning in 1967

  - George Strauss, a Labour backbencher, introduced a bill to abolish theatre censorship and it passed into law in 1968 with Jenkins' support

  - Films remained subject to strict categorisation, but screen violence became increasingly acceptable and explicit as the decade went on
• Expansion of mass media

  - 75% had a TV in their home in 1961

  - BBC2 was launched in 1964 and became the first channel to broadcast regular colour programmes in 1967

  - TV accounted for 23% of leisure time
• Liberalising legislation


  (This legislation came from free votes on Private Member's Bills)

  - End of Capital punishment trial period in 1965 (on a free vote) and this was made permanent in 1969

  - Jenkins refused to authorise the beating of prisoners, which ceased after 1967, and ended the requirement for unanimity in English courts

  - Divorce Reform Act 1969 allowed for 'no fault divorces' after 'irretrievable breakdown' if couples had lived apart for 2 years with both wanting a divorce or having lived apart for 5 years and one wanting a divorce

  - 1967 Abortion Act legalised abortions within the first 28 weeks with medical supervision, 2 doctors' written consent and the justification of either physical or mental suffering

  - 1967 Sexual Offences acts decriminalised homosexual acts in which both parties consented and were over the age of 21 and they had to be in private

  - Comprehensive schools were pushed over the old tripartite system, particularly by Anthony Crossland who used grants to incentivise grammar schools becoming comprehensive

  - Establishment of the Open University in 1969
• Start of Troubles in Northern Ireland


  In 1969, Catholics in Northern Ireland, a protestant-dominated section of Ireland that had been split off when the Irish Free State (later to be the Republic of Ireland) was given independence, had long been discriminated against through electoral boundaries (gerrymandering) and by the RUC (NI police force) and a civil rights movement was beginning to challenge this. At the same time, fears grew that the IRA would start a new campaign, leading to the creation of unionist paramilitary organisations.

  
  

  The Apprentice Boys, a unionist paramilitary, went ahead with their annual march in 1969 and were attacked by nationalists in a Catholic area of Bogside. The RUC tried to storm the Bogside, but were held back in two days of rioting, leading to the television broadcast of RUC officers beating Catholics. Riots spread and Stormont government concessions only sparked rioting from unionists. In August 1969, Wilson deployed British troops to try and keep the peace.
• Labour divisions in the 1960s

  Labour was more united than it had been in the 1950s after the deaths of figureheads Bevan and Gaitskell, and with Wilson uniting the party over modernisation and due to Wilson's scheming to ensure he could never suffer a leadership challenge by his ministers.
• In Place of Strife (1969)


  - A white paper to restrict trade unions proposed by Labour and headed by minister Barbara Castle, including a 28 day cooling-off period before a strike took place, strike ballots, government powers to impose a settlement when unions were in dispute with each other and an industrial relations court to prosecute those who broke the rules.

  - Strong backlash by trade union leaders such as Jack Jones of the Transport and General Workers' Union and the Labour left, including 50 MPs and James Callaghan, as well as fears of trade unions withdrawing their funding for Labour caused the policy to be scrapped
• Economic outlook of the late 1960s


  - Labour was forced to make defence cuts, introduce hire purchase restrictions and higher interest rates. These were deflationary policies that seemed little different to Tory stop-go policies of the late 50s

  - Labour's credibility was damaged by holding off on devaluation for so long and Britain's second application to the EEC was rejected weeks later

  - Callaghan, Wilson's first chancellor, was replaced by Roy Jenkins who had strongly favoured devaluation in 1964

  - Jenkins used deflationary methods, raising taxes and cutting government spending with priority given to improving the balance of payments, achieving a balance of payments surplus by 1969

  - Inflation from 1969-1970 was still at 12%
• November 1967 Devaluation


  - Despite surviving sterling crises in 1965 and 1966, the outbreak of another Arab-Israeli war with the Seven Days War affected oil supplies and a major national dock strike in August, Labour decided devaluation could not be avoided

  - Wilson gave a speech on television announcing that the pound had been devalued by 14% to $2.40. He misjudged public feeling, however, and his optimistic lines about it 'not affecting the pound in your pocket' did not go down well
• 1966 National Union of Seamen strike


  A wildcat strike by the NUS that caused delay of exports and a sterling crisis
• Prices and Incomes policy


  Policies introduced by Wilson alongside a Prices ad Incomes Board to limit prices and wage rises to prevent inflation
• Department for Economic Affairs


  A failed department of economic oversight meant to be led by George Brown that would have set up a national system of economic planning councils. It failed due to resistance by the Treasury and civil service, eventually leading to the DEA being abandoned in 1967 while Brown was moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1966
• Opposition to deflation and devaluation

  - Deflation was too similar to the Conservative stop-go policies that Labour was so keen to avoid

  - Devaluation would make imports more expensive and would be deeply unpopular as well as giving Labour a reputation for devaluation (it had done the same under Attlee in 1949)
• How much debt did Labour inherit when they came into government in 1964?

  £800 million
• 'White heat of scientific revolution'

  A new Labour government was elected in 1961 on promises of modernisation and scientific revolution after the 'wasted years' of Tory government, with Wilson's public image of pipe-smoking and state education matching
• Colonial developments in the 1960s

  1960: Nigerian and Cyprian independence, Winds of Change speech

  1961: South Africa leaves the Commonwealth to preserve white minority rule, Tanganyika and Sierra Leone gain independence

  1962: Ugandan independence

  1963: Kenyan independence

  1964: USA escalates Vietnam war and Zambian and Malawian independence

  1965: South Rhodesia declares UDI

  1966: Second EEC application agreed by Wilson government, Wilson-Smith talks on the HMS Tiger

  1967: EEC application vetoed by De Gaulle, British withdrawal East of Suez and Prague Spring

  1968: Wilson-Smith talks aboard HMS Fearless
• Winds of Change'


  Harold Macmillan gave his 'winds of change' speech outlining a new policy of peaceful decolonisation in 1960 in Cape Town, South Africa
• Burgess and Maclean affair

  Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, two highly placed British intelligence officers, defected to the USSR in 1951 and this hampered trust between the UK and USA even into the 1960s
• Cuban Missile Crisis


  The 1962 confrontation between US and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba, during which Britain was kept informed but remained largely a bystander
• Britain's first application to join the EEC

  Submitted in 1961 after negotiations led by Edward Heath for the British, the UK government's application was vetoed by Charles De Gaulle in 1963 because he was suspicious of the UK and of US influence via the UK
• Failure of Blue Streak Missile programme

  In 1960, the independent British nuclear deterrent was abandoned in favour of USA Polaris Missiles
• Establishment


  The ruling class of a society with strong political influence. Many in Macmillan's government were nobles (1 duke, 1 heir to a barony, 1 marquess and three earls) and the Prime Minister who succeeded him, Alec Douglas Home, has formerly been the 14th Earl of Home, highlighting class divisions in Britain
• Profumo affair


  The British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, was exposed a relationship with a 19 year old and then lied when questioned about it before the House of Commons. When the truth came out, it led to his own resignation and undermined the credibility of the Prime Minister.
• Elections during the 1960s

  1964: Labour victory with slim majority

  1966: Labour victory with strong majority
• Governments during the 1960s


  Conservatives (Previous decade-1964)

  Labour (1964-70)
• Prime Ministers during the 1960s

  Harold Macmillan (Previous Decade-1963)

  Alec Douglas Home (1963-64)

  Harold Wilson (1964-70)