Conservative government

• • Labour: 48.8% of the vote and 295 seats
  • Conservative: 48% of the vote and 321 seats
  • Liberal: 2.5% of the vote and 6 seats
  • Even though Labour won more votes, the conservative Party won due to the FPTP system as they had won more seats. This was surprising as Churchill was regarded as tired, old and that the Conservative Party would struggle with economic difficulties by the Labour Party.

  Results of the 1951 election:
• Led Britain through WW2 and was Prime Minister twice. 1940-45 and 1951-1955.

  Winston Churchill:
• Always regarded as a future prime minister, was Churchill's right hand during WW2 as Foreign Secretary and was one of ministers who worked in government as a result of Churchill's absenteeism. Was PM from 1955 to January 1957. 


  Anthony Eden:
• 'The best PM the Conservatives never had', was seen as possible leader after Churchill, Eden and Macmillan but never actually made it. 


  R.A. Butler
• 1957 he emerged as the new Conservative PM after Eden's resignation. He was a one-nation conservative who's politics was shaped by the two wars and the Great Depression. 


  Harold Macmillan:
• He wasn't that good of a post-war PM. He was 80 years old when he retired in 1955, suffered a stroke in 1953 which lead to him having impaired speech. 


  Why were people so concerned with Churchill's health?
• • His poor health
  • He regarded himself as an international statesman so he spent more time abroad, meeting world leaders or in his favourite holidays spots than Downing Street. He believed that he needed to spend more time avoiding conflict abroad, with the dangers of a new war.
  • He believed he was above party politics and bounced between Conservatives and Liberals as well as trying to get them to join his party.

  Reasons for Churchill's absenteeism:
• Macmillan, known as Supermac, called a general election due to the approval from voters due to the economic successes of the party. This time the results were:

  • Conservative: 48.8% of the vote and 365 seats
  • Labour: 44.6% of the vote and 258 seats


  1959 election:
• An understanding that after WW2, there needed to be some sort of agreement on major issues between the main parties in Parliament. Elements of the post-war consensus:

  • belief in mixed economy (state and private enterprise involvement)
  • support for welfare state and NHS
  • full employment and avoid mass unemployment
  • working with trade unions and employers

  What is the post-war consensus:
• Promised to build 300,000 houses a year. Aim; rebuild housing stock destroyed during the war and replaced slums. Macmillan was largely responsible for this. 


  Domestic policies of Con' on housing:
• Tripartite system developed under the Butler Act 1944. As a result, 3 types of schools emerged: grammar, technical and secondary modern. Children would take an 11+ exam at the end of primary school to determine which one of these schools they would go to. 


  Domestic policies of Con' on education:
• • Clean Air Act 1956: prevent smog.
  • Housing and Factory Acts: improve living and working conditions.
  • Homicide Act of 1957: restricted where death penalty would be imposed.
  • Wolfenden Commission: recommended that homosexual behaviour should no longer be regarded as a criminal act. 


  Domestic policies of Con' on social reforms:
• Architect of the NHS and was very much left of the Labour Party. He resigned in 1951 to protest against introduction of prescription charges.

  Bevan:
• Gaitskell:

  Chancellor of Exchequer from 1950-51, introduced prescription charges. He was on the right of the party and won against Bevan, becoming leader in 1955.
• • More socialist
  • 1957 Bevan announced his opposition to the unilateral nuclear disarmament.
  • Many left-wingers joined the CND which turned some voters away from Labour.

  Labour left-wingers:
• • Abolishing Clause IV and commit to nationalisation.
  • Reject unilateral nuclear disarmament. 


  Labour right-wingers:
• 1956: became leader of one the most powerful unions, TGWU :Transport and General Workers Union). He led an opposition move against Gaitskell over Britain's nuclear weapons (left-wing approach) in October 1960. 


  Frank Cousins:
• Gaitskell's emotional speech to try to convince the conference to reject unilateral nuclear disarmament. 


  The Scarborough Conference: 1960
• • Lost of his political touch
  • He tried to radically reshuffle his cabinet in July 1962, sacking a third of it in response to the problems the government was facing. Known as Night of the Long Knives.
  • Appeared out of touch: his image as Edwardian gentlemen and aristocrat marriage made him seem out of date.
  • Spy Scandals building up
  • Suffered from a serious illness (abdominal operation and he was kept in the hospital for several weeks) then he resigned. 


  Why did Macmillan resign in 1963:
• • Rationing ended in 1954
  • Steel industry denationalised in 1951
  • Conservatives planned to build 300,000 houses per year
  • Continued Keynesian policies
  • Accession Queen Elizabeth II in 1952
  • Korean War ended in 1953


  Developments in 1951-55:
• What is Butskellism?

  Mix of conservative and labour values, hence the name.

  Industrial Charter presentation in 1947: proposed that Britain should operate on a mixed economy, resulting it trade unions having a legitimate and respected role.

  Aims:

  • maintain full employment
  • expand welfare state
  • keeping Britain's heavily committed military defence programme
  • developing nuclear weapons
• Why was Butskellism better?

  It identified that Labour's economic policies only worked short-term, exports of goods starting increasing in Britain and it needed a solution for the amount of debt Britain was in after WW2.
• Personal political gain:

  • After having to wait so long for coming to power, living in the shadow of Churchill, Eden was in a hurry to achieve success in foreign affairs.
  • His motivation behind this was to stop criticism of domestic policies which were said to lack 'the smack of the firm government'. 


  What was Eden's motivation behind entering the Suez crisis?
• Colonel Nasser (President of Egypt since 1952) was promised loans from the US and Britain to build the Aswan Dam on the upper Nile river which staked the future of Egypt. When the US found out that Nasser also approached the Soviet Blocs for financial support, July 1956 Nasser introduced the nationalisation of the canal to raise the financial means necessary. 


  What caused issues to start over the Suez Canal in 1956?
• • Nasser could not be allowed 'to leave his thumb on Britain's windpipe' (threat Britain's essential oil supplies)
  • Eden approached the French, who had been resentful of Egypt for quite some time, who were willing to join them at first. He also approached the Israeli's to join them as they also had a feud with them.
  • He assumed that the US would also be ok in joining this attack

  What was Eden's response to the nationalisation of the Suez Canal?
• • After the Israeli's initiated the attack on Egypt and the Anglo-French ultimatum was delivered, the UN entered an emergency debate in which the American's were infuriated by Eden's totally ignoring them.
  • Over the special telephone, Eisenhower order Britain to stop and pull out. To which Britain used it's veto for the first time and demanded an immediate ceasefire. 


  Why did the attack on the Suez Canal fail?
• Khrushchev used this to his advantage and in November he issued a special note to Britain condemning the invasion as the bullying of a weaker nation by a stronger one. It also warned that the USSR was prepared to use rockets against them. 


  How did the invasion of the Suez Canal affect their relationship with the USSR.
• • Israeli's were bitter as Britain left the job half done, withdrawing their soldiers.
  • Eden feared the consequences and didn't want to be internationally isolated, showing Britain cannot act alone anymore. 


  Significance of Suez crisis:
• • He made a speech after the Suez crisis, telling his colleagues that they need to learn from the consequences of it but not to be overwhelmed by it.
  • He made Butler his Home Secretary after becoming PM which was good as he took a more liberal approach to legal and social issues which hinted the conservative government was ready to change their traditional values. 


  Macmillan: selection
• • Inquiry into John Vassal who was caught spying for the Soviet Union in 1962.
  • There was no clear evidence to show he did what he was accused of but there was talks of cover's ups did showed the government was not fully in control of its departments.

  Vassall Inquiry 1963:
• • Duke of Agryll sued his wife on the grounds of adultery, including a list of names she was involved with at some point during their marriage. Two of which were government ministers. 


  Agryll divorce 1963:
• • March 1963: Minister of War Profumo made headlines in the news. It was revealed he was having an affair with a member of the Soviet embassy Christine Keeler.
  • This was a risk to national security, to which he resigned but it still left a mark on the government.
  • Macmillan was criticised for this as he downplayed the situation by saying that he wasn't to blame for the entirety of the situation and that he was lied to about where she is from by his friend.
  • Weakening the conservative's claim to be able to lead a nation.

  Profumo Affair in 1963: