1939-45 Churchill Wartime Coalition

• Wartime Coalition led by Churchill

  1939-45
• Ernest Bevin


  Minister of Labour, organised the war industries such as output targets and negotiations with bosses, managers and unions
• Anthony Eden


  Secretary of State for War (40) and Foreign Secretary (40-45), attended international conferences
• Stafford Cripps, Herbert Morrison and Hugh Dalton


  Key figures
• Keynesian Economics


  Total war increased the demand on Keynesian policies and overspending in the short term to provide prosperity and jobs, this wasn't entirely intentional
• Following the war, the depression ended but National debt was £3500 million
• Herbert Morrison


  Minister of supply (40), Home Secretary (40-45), oversaw the defence of London during the Blitz
• Hugh Dalton


  Minister of Economic Warfare (40-42) and President of the board of trade (42-45), including the scheme of rationing to combat falling coal production
• Emergency Powers Act


  Increased state power such as rationing, restrictions on press freedom, suspended legal rights, conscription, working conditions and control of exchange rates
• Total War increased women's involvement as 45% of women were involved in war service and 93% of men (14-64 years old)
• Rationing and Home Grown food drives

  Began to make up for lost food imports, items that weren't rationed ran out quickly and long queues formed, people were encouraged to 'make do and mend', mothers and their children were provided with cod liver oil, orange juice and milk
• The Blitz


  Caused damage to 3.5 million homes and evacuation was used to protect children in London
• Atlantic Charter 1941


  Churchill and Roosevelt agreed on the construction of a better world following the war, this became the basis of the United Nations
• Beveridge Report 1942


  Commissioned to plan for the future following the war, 5 key principles: want, ignorance, idleness, squalor and disease, full employment and a national insurance scheme without a means test was important
• Advancements for women between the wars

  • 1922 Criminal Law Act raised the age of consent from 13 to 16, 1937 Matrimonial Causes Act extended the terms under which a couple could divorce, the role of women through the war led to the establishment of the Women's Consultative Committee
• Holidays with Pay Act 1938

  Increased seaside holidays and parks such as Butlins
• Youth Hostel Association 1929 and Ramblers Association 1931


  Key to changes in leisure and travel
• Car ownership


  Increased dramatically, 1934 Driving tests were introduced, Road Traffic Act 1930 and 1934 introduced the highway code and 30mph speed limits in towns, establishment of British Airways 1935
• Antisemitism


  Saw an increase in the interwar years, the BUF led by Moseley provided a vehicle for this racist hatred, the Battle of Cable Street 1936 occurred when the BUF marched through the East End targeting communists and Jews
• 'Colour Problem'


  Due to the sheer minority, most white people viewed themselves as superior, the Special Alien Seamen Act increased this attitude, councils and committees such as the League of Coloured People were formed to tackle the 'Colour Problem' with a Pan Africanism attitude of advancement
• Butler Education Act 1944


  Established the compulsory tripartite system which involved the 11 plus determining which school children progressed to: grammar schools, secondary moderns and technical schools, designed to tackle ignorance but technical schools weren't established and it became linked to middle-class status
• Healthcare


  Provided by a variety of authorities: Poor Law, Public Health Authority and Education Authority, by 1937 18 million workers were covered by state health insurance however this was flawed as some societies were too small and went bankrupt, there were voluntary and state hospitals, the Tredegar Medical Aid Society was a healthcare scheme in a Welsh Town