Era of consensus: 1951-79

• Britain in 1951: consensus over big issues like welfare and the NHS, food rationing did not end until 1954, India gained independence, closer relationship with the EU, still relied heavily on imperial products, cold war and economic crash on the horizon
• Key event damaging the Tory reputation: Suez crisis 1956 - Gb invaded Egypt to take back control of Suez as it had been nationalised by the government, it succeeded militarily but Eden had to withdraw as the USA threatened to pull the plug on the UK economy, it was clear Eden lied about mediating between Egypt and Israel. This threatened the special relationship, creates distrust with gov, shows US superiority and led to Eden's resignation
• Key event damaging the tory reputation: 'Night of the long knives' 1962 - Macmillan sacked 7 cabinet ministers, 1/3 of cabinet, showed the government was unstable and there was no party unity.
• Key event damaging the tory reputation: sex scandals - John vassall, British civil servant supplied naval secrets to the USSR after being blackmailed for being gay (1962) OR the Profumo affair - Conservative minister, John Profumo, had an affair with a call girl and lied about it to the PM the girl was later revealed to also have a one night stand with a soviet spy (1963). This would create distrust in the government and show the hypocrisy of the 'party of family values'
• Key event damaging tory reputation: joining ECC 1961 - the ECC was formed in 1957 and Britain saw it as a threat to the economy and refused to join as ties with the USA were seen as more important, however, Macmillan decided to go back on his word. This showed how Britain was caught in the middle between Europe and the US as well as how weak the government was to go back on their word.
• The conservatives won the 1951 election because of their strengths:

  • Labour vote rose by 2 million while the tory vote rose by 4 million, (labour got more votes, but the Tories had more constituencies)
  • They learnt from their 1945 defeat reformed their policies and organisation (party finances)
  • They accepted the popular labour policies like full employment, welfare state and housebuilding and ditched unpopular ones like rationing and high tax
• the conservatives won the 1951 election because of labour weakness:

  • 1945 was a bad election to win as the war had crippled the economy and austerity was necessary, taxes had to be raised and rationing made worse (bread wasn't rationed until after the war)
  • Labour was accused of going too far in nationalising iron and steel, by 1951 nationalisation was far less popular than in 1945
  • 6 years in opposition had united the tories while Labour was divided e.g. health minister Aneurin Bevan resigned over health charges and there was criticism of their strong anti-Soviet policy
• The conservatives won the 1951 election because of the electoral system:

  • Labour actually got more votes than the conservatives but due to FPTP this was useless as they all piled up in safe seats
  • There had recently been boundary changes designed to equalise the population in each constituency, this favoured the Tories, on average it took 47,000 votes to elect a Labour MP and 43,000 to elect a tory MP.
  • the Tories benefitted from the decline of the liberal vote (stood in 20% of seats) as most of their electorate were middle class in the south
• Reasons for conservative dominance 1951-64

  • Social change & prosperity
  • strong leadership
  • labour weaknesses
• Factors relating to social change and prosperity that favoured the Tories 1951-64 (7)

  1. Number of working class voters fell

  2. Middle class voters rose

  3. Population shift from cities to suburbs

  4. More seats in the countryside

  5. Fewer city seats

  6. World economy improved

  7. Wages more than doubled
• social change and prosperity facts of tory dominance 1951-64:

  • the percentage of people who owned a home rose from 25% to 44% 1951-1964
  • the Tories kept their promise of building 300,000 houses a year ahead of schedule
  • 5x as many people owned a car 1951-1964
  • TV ownership rose form 4% to 91%
• Factors relating to strong conservative leadership explaining conservative dominance 1951-1964

  • Churchills popularity was an asset to the tories in 1951
  • Macmillan timed elections skilfully to ensure victory: he delayed the election under premiership until 1959 when the economy was booming and memories of Suez had failed
  • Leaders were charismatic and well liked, Eden was an asset in 1955 (before Suez) and Macmillan was nicknamed 'Supermac' by the press and contributed to the landslide victory of 1959
• Factors suggesting strong leadership wasn't the reason for conservative dominance 1951-64

  • Churchill in 1951 was little more than a figurehead, focusing only on foreign policy and leaving domestics to others.
  • Eden also mainly focused on foreign policy and made serious blunders such as sending British troops without US support to Suez in 1956 leading to a resignation after a seat for only 2 years
  • Macmillan severely misjudged the 'night of the long knives' and made the gov look panicked by sacking 16 gov ministers in 1963, this and the profumo scandal led to his resignation in 1963
• factors suggesting labour weaknesses were the reasons for conservative dominance 1951-64

  • People associated Labour with the post-war period and unpopular policies
  • Labour was bitterly divided, when High Gaitskell succeeded Atlee as leader in 1955, the left led by Aneurin Bevan strongly opposed his plan to scrap clause 4 which committed them to nationalisation
  • The Labour left undermined Gaitskell's leadership by keeping clause 4 and persuading the part conference in 1960 to adopt unilateral nuclear disarmament, this was reversed a year later, showing how confused their policies were.
• Reasons that the economy was why the conservatives lost in 1964

  • GB growth had lagged behind other countries like W Germany and France
  • tory economic policy had been very short term, focused on manufacturing booms during election years (1959) + 'stop, go' economy, raising taxes if it was growing too fast, causing inflation or cutting them to stimulate growth if stagnated (no long term)
  • More days in the early 60's lost to strikes (esp dock workers)
  • stagflation and 800,000 unemployed in 1963
• reasons that conservative weaknesses were the reasons that they lost the 1964 election

  • scandals like vassall, Profumo and Duchess of Argyll discredited the party and made it seem hypocritical
  • Macmillan was forced to resign in 1963 because he seemed increasingly tired and out of touch e.g. Night of the long knives 1962
  • The next PM was Home, disastrous choice as he was an aristocrat and deemed out of touch, especially since he wasn't elected
• reasons that Labour strengths were the reason the conservatives lost in 1964

  • Labour had a new leader named Harold Wilson who came from a working class background, was charismatic and gave the impression of modernity with his 'white hot of technology' speech
  • promised faster economic growth, improved public services and more equality of opportunity for working class people
  • HOWEVER they did get less votes than in 1959 showing that the rise of the liberal revival may have aided labour
• Macmillan DID deserve the nickname 'supermac'

  • He had the sense to keep popular labour policies like full employment, more housing (which he pioneered as housing minister 1951-4, building 300,000)
  • Good presentational sills such as 'never had it so good' and 'life is better under conservatives, don't let labour ruin it' struck a chord with voters
  • After Suez he focused on restoring the relationship with USA, during the Berlin Wall crisis 1961, and the Cuban Missile crisis 1962.
  • He was modern, "winds of change speech" in 1960 recognised the need for GB to give up African colonies
• Macmillan DIDN'T deserve the nickname 'supermac'

  • Night of the long Knives (16 ministers) in 1962 was a serious misjudgement
  • the economic stagnation of the early 60's led to a decline in popularity seen in the loss in Orpington byelection 1962
  • although the GB economy grew it grew less quickly than other countries partly because of his stop/go policies
• 'never had it so good' is more accurate than '13 wasted years'

  • living standards continuously rose 1951-64 with wages rising faster than prices
  • had virtually full employment
  • managed to cut taxes while improving public services
  • better than the austerity years during the 1930's, during ww2 and under labour 1945-51
• '13 wasted years' is more accurate than 'never had it so good'

  • Eden and Churchill were preoccupied with foreign policy
  • a stop go economic policy as well as excessive defence spending (inflated view of GB as a great power) led to slower growth than other countries
• key events which damaged labours reputation

  • the devaluation of the pound in 1967 by 14% to tackle the trade deficit , Wilson claimed it was still worth the same
  • 'in place of strife' trade union reform plan, made ballots be held before, govt could force a return to work, made by Barbera castle
  • IMF loan in 1976, Callaghan secured a 3.9 billion loan but public spending had to be cut by 2 billion
  • Winter of discontent, inflation up 30%, public sector strikes cuts in public spending, coldest winter in 16 years
• order of British PM's

  Harold Wilson 1964-70, Ted Heath 1970-74, Harold Wilson 1974-76, James Callahan 1076-79
• How effective was Wilsons government in economic policies 1964-70

  • got into gov with 800 million in debt
  • introduced the Department of economic affairs (DEA) to create a planned economy and out came the national plan
  • he believed technology would bring the economy forward "white heat"
  • devalued the pound by 14%, did show economic improvement but was widely criticised for his handling 'will not effect the pound in your pocket'
• How effective was Wilsons government in dealing with industrial relations 1964-70

  • 1968, press criticises him on not tackling unions, gets employment minister to publish 'in place of strife' harsh measures of needing a ballot to strike if it threatened national interest, the govt could order a return to work for a month
  • wildly unpopular, and govt had to back down, labour was meant to be the party of the working class
• How effective was Wilsons government in tackling foreign policy

  • Applied to the ECC in 1967 but De Gulle veto's GB, able to keep the party unified after this
  • denounced communism and allowed America to use British bases in Vietnam but refused to send troops
  • appeases white minority govt in Zimbabwe
• labour governments 1964-70 and 1974-79 tackled social reforms well

  • equal pay and sex discrimination acts 1970 & 75
  • race relations act 1968 and 1976
  • legalisation of abortion and homosexuality 1967
  • making contraception available on NHS
  • lowering voting age from 21 to 18
• the Labour governments 1964-70 and 1974-79 didn't tackle social reforms well

  • conservatives argued that regarding abortion, homosexuality, contraception and censorship encouraged sexual promiscuity and undermined family values.
  • the abolition of the death penalty in 1965 was also opposed by most of the public
• the Labour governments 1964-70 and 1974-79 tackled the economy well

  • The IMF loan despite being controversial averted economic crisis and enabled labour to reduce inflation from 36% to 10% in 2 years 1975-7
  • improved transport infrastructure by building motorways, especially in the north
• the Labour governments 1964-70 and 1974-9 didn't handle the economy well

  • Labours national plan introduced in 1965 failed bc the Treasury's deflationary policy made it impossible to expand the economy as labour hoped
  • failed to tackle fundamental problems, unemployment rising, reaching 2.3 million by 1967
  • prices rose 33% 1964-70 despite deflationary policies
• the labour governments 1964-70 and 1974-9 handled public services well

  • Wilson set up the Open university in 1969 to give workig class peple more access to education, contributed to a rapid expansion of higher education 1964-7
  • comprehensive education improved access to good schools for all children
  • improved GB's transport infastructure, motorway building
• the labour governments 1964-70 and 1974-9 handled public services badly

  • economic failure forced labour to reintroduce prescription charges
  • comprehensive schools were controversial as grammar schools and the plus 11 test arguable provided intelligent working class children with a chance to succeed
  • labour spent too much on defence + deflationary policies limited industrial investment ad slowed growt
• Ted Heath won the 1970 election because of labour failures

  • the number of strikes increased after in place of strife failed in 1969 which undermined their claim of being the only party that could manage them
  • raised tax revenue by 923 million in 1968, also didn't improve trade figures
  • labour party membership fell 1964-70 because they were disappointed with no upkeeping of promises made in 1964 + too much spent on defence and not welfare
• Ted Heath won the 1970 election because of Tory strengths

  • former grammar school boy and first democratically elected tory leader, represented something new
  • promised to stimualte growth and end 'stop-go' economic policy by cutting taxes and reducing govt interference
  • promised to enter the EEC which would make Gb prosper
• Heath was successful as leader of the conservative party (opposition 1965-70 and 1974-5)

  • Origins of lower middle class, grammar school, democratically elected, showed the Tories had moved on from Macmillan
  • won the 1970 election showing the public liked him and were willing to forgive scandals like profumo and being out of touch
  • sacked Enoch Powell after his rivers of blood speech 1968, showing he wouldn't tolerate racism
• Heath wasn't successful as leader of the conservative party (opposition 1965-70 and 1974)

  • lost 2 of the 3 elections he contested as leader of the opposition, in 1966 and October 1974
  • his victory in 1970 was much more due to labour weaknesses as their failures in economic policy and industrial relations, they were still expected to win
  • His replacement with Thatcher (despite distrust) in 1975 showed his party resented his failures and poor presentational skills
• Heath was successful as leader of the conservative party (prime minister 1970-4)

  • He succeeded, unlike Macmillan, at getting GB into the EEC
  • he made some progress in reforming taxes and benefits
• Heath wasn't successful as leader of the conservative party (prime minister 1970-4)

  • Failed to follow through on policies he was elected on e.g. reducing govt interference as he bailed out Rolls Royce in 1971 and in 1972 introduced statutory wage controls
  • failed to improve industrial relations, his industrial relations act in 1971 was introduced too quickly without consolidation and caused twice as many days lost to strikes in Heath's 4 years than Wilson's 6
  • inflation doubled 1970-4 and GB's trade balance deteriorated form surplus to deficit
• examples of circumstances out of Heath's control

  • GB's trade balance depleting
  • Arab-Israeli war which caused a shock to oil prices, as oil was relied on for 50% of energy so natural prices rose
  • Wilson had also failed to deal with industrial disputes and arguably Heath was in a tougher position
• Wilson was more successful as a labour M than Callaghan

  • Wilson won 2 of the 3 elections he fought as PM (only losing in 1970) where as Callaghan suffered a decisive defeat in 1979
  • Wilson increased his majority while Callaghan lost his majority (inherited) within a year of taking office and lost a vote of confidence in 1979 which led to an election defeat
  • Wilson had a more progressive record of social reform e.g. the legalisation of abortion and homosexuality (1967), abolition of death penalty (1965) and sex discrimination acts (1970-75)