The Conservative Governments 1951-1964

• When was Churchill in power?

  1951 to 1955
• When was Eden in power?

  1955 to 57
• What policies did the Conservatives carry on with?

  • Welfare state and NHS
  • Mixed economy - Nationalism and state direction of economy
  • Keynesian approach
  • No return to 1930’s policies
• Churchill played no part in the government. He was a figurehead at 77, old and frail. The Government was effectively ran by Butler.
• The government saw themselves as a patriarchy
• What policies did R. A Butler keep in continuation?

  • Maintaining full employment whilst achieving economic growth
  • Expanding the welfare state
  • Keeping Britain‘s heavily committed military defence program
  • Developing a nuclear weapons program
• Conservative policies

  • Income tax cuts
  • Interest rates reduced
  • Excess profits tax
  • Cut imports
  • Full employment
  • Expand welfare state
  • Food rations abolished
  • Road transportation, iron and steel were denationalised
• How did they control the economy?

  Prosperity

  Recover from war

  New Jerusalem
• What was the deficit in 1951?

  £700 Million - balance of payments deficit between imports versus exports
• Was it a success?

  Yes

  • Shock rise of living standards, increase in home ownerships, personal savings and consumer good spending
  • This was due to new jobs and guaranteed employment
  • In 1945 - indepemeant television start because the government stop subsidising - adverts pay
  • Post 1953, 300,000 houses were made
  • 30% of houses were privately owned
  • All social services had improved with 4% increase in spending
  • Income tax cuts
  • Employment and education carried on
• What was Butskellism?

  • In 1954 The Economist invented the word 'Butskellism' because the policies and attitudes of the current Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, R.A Butler (51-55) were so similar to those of his Labour predecessor, Hugh Gaitskell (45-51). While they had differences, Butler and Gaitskell shared similar approahces e.g. Economic control and government direction.
• 1955

  • Full employment
  • Low inflation
  • Low tax
  • Rising prosperity - Home ownership - consumer good rise - real wages
  • Positive balance of payments - exporting more
• Eden 1955

  • Deputy for 15 years prior
  • Opposed appeasement
• 13 years of Tory dominance wasn't obvious after they won the 1951 election.

  
  

  Three reasons why:

  1) Labour won more votes in 1951 (48.8% vs 48%)

  2) Many Labour politicians regarded Churchill as a tired, old force- he was 76 when he was elected PM

  3) Many Labour politicians believed that the Tories would struggle with the intense economic difficulties that Britain faced
• Give seven parts of the post-war consensus?

  1) Mixed economy (involvement by the state as well as private enterprise)

  2) Full employment

  3) Working with trade unions and employers

  4) NHS

  5) Welfare state

  6) Nationalisation

  7) Investment in arms
• What was the post-war consensus sometimes nicknamed, after who?

  Butskellism, after Tory Rab Butler and Labour Hugh Gaitskell
• Situation in Britain: Politics

  ->Conservatives and Labour main parties in 1951

  ->Great deal of agreement about the need for Welfare state and also policies to maintain full employment

  ->Labour-committed to nationalising industries

  Conservatives- in theory believed in free enterprise

  consensus politics by 1951
• Situation in Britain: Britain overseas

  ->Britain had granted independence to India, Pakistan and Palestine but in 1951 still had a great deal of imperial territory ad many Britons still went overseas to live and work.

  ->Still had conscription and its national servicemen still defended the empire (important bases in South East Asia and the Suez Canal was still seen as a British routeway)

  ->Imperial attitudes influenced attitudes to race within the UK and there was no legal bar to racial discrimination

  ->Leading figure in the Cold War/Russia as major enemy, and the USA as major ally. Leaders did not see the future mainly in Europe but in being the link between the Commonwealth countries, Europe and the USA.
• Churchill: dates, notes


  PM 1951-1955. Had been a cabinet minister in both Liberal and Conservative governments and became PM in the war crisis of May 1940, ultimately leading Britain to victory. After the war he played the role of world statesman, even in opposition
• Anthony Eden: dates, notes


  PM 1955-1957. A talented politician and always thought of as a future PM. Considered a foreign policy expert after serving three terms as Foreign Secretary, including during the war, and resigning from the government in 1938 to protest Appeasement. Was the acting PM under Churchill's second stint on several occasions
• Rab Butler


  Seen as the possible successor to both Eden and Macmillan but past over both times- 'best PM the Tories never had'. Came to prominence as the architect of the 1944 Education Act and played a role in reorganising the party for its return to power in 1951. Chancellor from 1951-1955
• Harold Macmillan: dates, notes

  PM 1957-1963. Churchill's military liaison officer during WW2, then Housing Minister under Churchill and Foreign Secretary under Eden. 'Emerged' as the new PM after Eden's resignation. A one-nation Conservative who Attlee said had almost joined Labour in the 1930s
• Not much changed under Churchill. What did? (x4)

  1) End of rationing

  2) Steel industry denationalised

  3) New monarch

  4) UK detonated its first atomic bomb
• Tory domestic policies- housing

  1951 manifesto pledged to build 300,000 homes a year to replace those damaged in the law and the slums from before the war. Overseen by Macmillan as Housing Minister
• Tory domestic policy- education: what was the system and when was it introduced?

  Continued the tripartite system after the Butler Act of 1944. Grammar schools for the intellectually gifted, technical schools for practical and vocational skills, secondary modern for a basic education to the majority
• Tory domestic policy- education: more explanation

  Children would take an 11+ test in their last year of primary to decide which school to go to. Financial restraints under Churchill reduced technical schools, though Eden tried to promote these. By the 1960s some were starting to question the fairness of the system
• What was Butler's role?

  Home Secretary, 1957-62. More liberal than many other Tories
• Churchill was not a great PM from 1951-55 and was largely inactive in domestic politics. Give five reasons why

  1) Old (80 when retired)

  2) Many serious ailments- even a stroke in 1953 that left him with impaired speech

  3) Thought of himself as an international statesman, not a domestic politician; spent more time abroad than in Downing street

  4) Believed his priority was to help prevent (nuclear) war

  5) Believed he was above party politics. Had served as a Liberal Cabinet minister and in the 1950s as PM tried to persuade Liberals to join his cabinet and non-Conservative peers to oversee ministries
• The post-war consensus and Churchill


  Appointments were made with the aim of avoiding conflicts. Tories who were critical of the post-war consensus had limited roles in government
• Tensions under Churchill?


  Butler, Macmillan and Eden did not get on well, and relations became strained between Churchill and Eden who, as Churchill's heir-apparent, became impatient waiting for his shot at the top
• Eden becomes Prime Minister


  Eden took power in 1955 and called an election, increasing their majority from 17 to 60. Butler becomes Chancellor and Macmillan becomes Home Secretary
• However, after the initial high hopes over his premiership...

  Only six months in things were starting to deteriorate
• Five problems with Eden

  1) Weak leadership

  2) Lack of experience and interest in domestic affairs

  3) Anxious about making decisions

  4) Conscious of his lack of knowledge on the economy

  5) Aimed to prevent industrial conflict but led to him being accused of being too close to trade unions
• An example of Eden's weakness


  Eden wanted to move Macmillan from the Foreign Office to the Treasury in October 1955. Macmillan didn't want to move and managed to delay it for two months
• However, it was Suez that really finished Eden off. Six reasons why it was such a disaster

  1) Came under heavy attack from Labour and the national press

  2) Accused of lying to Parliament when he said he didn't know Israel was going to invade Egypt in December 1965

  3) Colonial minister resigned

  4) Rebellion by nearly 40 Tory MPs

  5) Chief Whip, Edward Heath, disagreed

  6) Showed economic vulnerability and dependence on America
• Eden to Macmillan


  Eden never recovered from Suez and resigned early in 1957 from ill-health. However, the Tories were not seriously damaged. The new leader, Macmillan, beat Butler
• Five reasons why Macmillan beat Butler to the leadership in 1957

  1) Butler was not nearly as popular within his party as he was with the country

  2) Butler's reputation damaged when introducing tax cuts before the 1955 election, only to reverse them after as the economy overheated

  3) Butler closely linked with 1930s Government of Appeasement

  4) Most of Eden's cabinet preferred Macmillan

  5) Macmillan seen as the same choice as he had few enemies
• Under Macmillan, ... became ...


  Butler became Home Secretary
• Macmillan became nicknamed Supermac. Give five reasons why

  1) Continued post-war economic boom

  2) Appeared to be in full control

  3) Seemed to have the media in the palm of his hand and was able to perfectly manipulate the new opportunities given my television

  4) Labour in disarray

  5) Majority of 100 seats from October 1959 election
• Economics under Churchill


  Butler modernised Conservative economic policy in line with Attlee's success. This saw the establishment of the post war consensus