1945-1997

• why conservative strengths were important (1951 election)

  -appealed to a wide demographic by taking on younger politicians

  -promised 350,000 houses which was more than labour

  -acceptance of post war consensus

  -promised to stop rationing red meat
• why conservative strengths werent important (1951 election)

  - manifesto was just an acceptance of labour policies

  - didnt win the popular vote (fptp)
• first-past-the-post system

  An electoral system where the candidate with the most votes wins regardless of whether that person has a majority of the votes cast
• labour weakness (1951 election)

  -continued rationing

  -brought britain into korean war

  -divided party, split on eyecare and dentistry as part of nhs, how far right/left wing the party was
• why labour weakness wasnt important (1951 election)

  -labour policies are popular

  - performed better than 1945- 13.9 mil votes, most votes ever polled

  -divisions werent a major issue
• how was the electoral system important (1951 election)

  -labour win popular vote but not the most seats

  -1948 representation of the people act

  -labour had to work harder for votes

  -liberal decline
• how electoral system was less important (1951 election)

  -conservative growth in popularity
• Bevanites

  The Left Wing of the Labor party.

  Believed in staying commited to socialism

  Led by Aneurin Bevan.
• Gaitskellites

  The right wing of Labor party.

  Wanted to reform the party as socialism had run its course and wanted to abandon clause IV
• 1948 Representation of the People Act

  End of plural voting
• Zeitgeist

  the general spirit of the time
• why did conservatives dominate for so long?

  -timing of elections escaped backlash from suez

  -appealing policies (350,000 houses)

  -continuity with nhs

  -end to rationing

  -churchill was a wartime hero

  -increased expenditure on public

  -labour divisions

  -labours reputation for austerity

  -boom in economy

  -rise of credit

  -rise in homeowners

  -people are content with conservatives
• Churchill strengths

  - won the war- nostalgia

  -acceptance of post war consensus

  -experience makes him trustworthy
• churchill failure

  - just a figurehead, most of his work carried out by butler

  -doesnt have large majority

  -less of peacetime prime minister
• Eden strengths

  - foreign secretary 3 times- experienced

  - increases conservative majority

  -appealed to female voters-women found him attractive
• eden failures

  suez crisis
• Suez Crisis


  secret negotiations between france israel and britain, israel attack egypt and britain and france come to their aid and take over the Suez canal
• macmillan strengths

  -utilised tv and media

  -booming economy

  -increased conservative majority

  -recognisition of decolonisation
• macmillan failure

  -profumo affair

  - gets Douglas home elected over butler and lord haversham

  -night of the long knives

  -rejected from eec

  -downturn in economy
• Profumo Affair

  The scandal in 1961 with John Profumo engaging in a sexual affair with a 19 year old
• night of the long knives

  Macmillan's cabinet reshuffle when he sacked a third of his cabinet
• douglas home strength

  -defeat is narrow

  -efficient in short premiership

  - safe option
• douglas home failure

  -arisocrat

  -out of touch

  -up against wilson
• Stop-go economics

  Derived it's name from the tensions between an expanding economy (go) and the results of the economy overheating (stop)
• vassall affair

  spy for soviet union protected by admirality
• Philby Case

  Government took the blame for the security office's failure to identify a traitor in the foreign office for so long.
• Argyll divorce case

  - 1963: Duke of Argyll sued his wife for divorce for adultery

  - A list of 88 names was produced of whom she had an affair with including multiple cabinet ministers
• why conservative weakness led to labour victory in 1964

  -aristocratic leadership didn't fall in line with treatment of the public- made the public feel alienated having an upper class prime minister while they were unemployed and poor

  -complacency exacerbated already declining global economy

  -scandal shows the government can't be trusted
• conservative weakness in 1964 election

  - high unemployment

  - complacency, ignored issues with unions and lack of investment in industry

  - no long term economic plans

  -aristocratic leadership

  -scandal
• labour strengths in the 1964 election

  -socialist policies in line with zeitgeist

  -harold wilson was from a working class background

  -internal disputes were somewhat solved, both bevanites and gaitskellites in the cabinet

  -gaitskell dies in 1963
• What movement is mentioned in relation to the Cold War context?

  CND movement
• What is the growing demand mentioned in the study material?

  Demand for liberal government