Powerpoint

• Imbalance of the electoral system

  Favoured Labour
• Conservative Party


  Associated with the grim depression years
• Failure of the Conservative-dominated National Government

  Failed to prevent war
• Conservatives' poor electioning


  Churchill's blunders
• Zeitgeist (spirit of the times)

  Favoured Labour's reforming ideas
• Quality of Labour's leaders

  • Attlee
  • Cripps
  • Bevin
  • Morrison
  • Dalton
  • Bevan
• Government's response

  • Rationing of essential items
  • Deflationary budgets
  • Financial control
  • Wage freeze
  • Devaluation of £ sterling
• Nationalisation programme


  • 1946: coal, civil aviation, cable and wireless, Bank of England
  • 1947: road transport, electricity
  • 1948: gas
  • 1949: iron and steel
• Government's financial problems


  • Wartime debts
  • Balance of payments crises
  • Declining exports
  • Dollar gap
  • Defence expenditure
  • Heavy demand on fuel and power supplies
• Marshall Aid


  Europe received $15 billion, Britain's share being 10%
• Labour's Handicaps


  • Heavy financial and economic difficulties
  • Government exhausted by 6 troubled years in office
  • Serious divisions had developed within the party over economic, welfare and foreign policies
  • Resentment among trade unions at Labour's policies
  • Britain's entry into the Korean War angered Labour's left wing
• Conservative Advantages


  • Had begun to recover from the shock of their defeat in 1945
  • The 1950 election saw an influx of bright, young Conservative MPs eager for battle against a tiring government
  • The Conservative Party had reformed its finances and constituency organisation and was much better positioned to fight for seats and votes than in 1945
  • The attack on the government's nationalisation provided a strong platform for opposition attacks
• Labour government's achievements


  • Welfare State
  • Nationalisation
  • Indian Independence
  • NATO
  • Nuclear Power
• Consensus politics


  Pushed Britain towards consensus in economics, welfare, education, and foreign affairs
• The 1951 election was won by the Conservative Party, but the election results were very close. In fact, the Labour Party won most votes, but the First Past the Post electoral system meant that the majority of MPs elected were Conservative.
• Winston Churchill


  • Strengths: Reputation from wartime leadership, International statesman, Had able ministers - Eden, Butler, Macmillan

  Weaknesses: Uninterested in domestic affairs, Age and infirmity
• Anthony Eden


  • Strengths: Foreign policy expert, Experienced - acted at Churchill's deputy, Charming and popular

  Weaknesses: Inexperienced in domestic affairs, Weak-leader, sometimes indecisive, Ill-health
• Harold Macmillan


  • Strengths: Reputation from success as housing minister under Churchill, Calm, reassuring presence, Good on TV, One-nation Conservative supportive of post-war consensus

  Weaknesses: Became seen as old-fashioned, Latterly suffered ill-health
• R.A.B. Butler


  • Strengths: One-nation Conservative supportive of the post-war consensus, Experienced, holding a series of high ranking ministries, Responsible for influential policies such as the Tripartite education system and review of capital punishment

  Weaknesses: Divisive and unpopular with some colleagues
• Alec Douglas-Home


  • Strengths: Conciliatory figure in comparison to more divisive figures such as Butler

  Weaknesses: Not elected as leader of party, A member of the aristocracy or "The Establishment" so seen as out of touch
• Post-war Consensus


  The policy agreement between the two major parties, known as the post-war consensus, is also sometimes known as Butskellism after R.A.B. Butler and Hugh Gaitskell (the Labour leader)
• The Theory of the Post-war Consensus

  • Mixed economy: emphasis on both government and private business action
  • Support for NHS and welfare system
  • Full employment
  • Working in partnership with trade unions and employers
• The Practice of the Post-war Consensus

  • Housing: House building programme - as housing minister, Harold Macmillan fulfilled the Conservative's pledge to build 300,000 houses a year by 1953

  Education: Continuation of the tripartite system (grammar schools, technical high schools, and secondary schools) set up by the Butler Act of 1944

  Social Reforms: Welfare and NHS continue to be funded, Acceptance of government regulation: Clean Air Act 1956, Factory Act 1959, Some more liberal social reform: Homicide Act 1957, Wolfenden Report 1957

  Industrial Policy: Some key industries remained nationalised: only iron and steel were denationalised in 1953, Conciliatory attitude towards trade union
• Reasons for Conservative Political Dominance

  • Economic policies seemed successful with minimal unemployment and significant increases in the standard of living

  The Conservatives were associated with a new Elizabethan Age of optimism and prosperity after Queen Elizabeth became queen in 1953

  Britain still seemed a world power, with nuclear weapons and a commendable record in the Korean war

  Over 6000 new schools were built and plans were made for a doubling of university places

  The first motorways were built with part of the M1 opening in 1959

  Britain became an atomic power with the explosion of the first British nuclear bomb in 1952
• Reasons for Labour Divisions

  • Prescription Charges: Left wanted NHS free, Right saw charges as necessary

  Clause IV: Left wholly supportive of nationalisation, Right saw it as just one policy

  Nuclear Weapons: Left supported unilateral disarmament, Right against
• Reasons the Conservatives lost the 1964 election

  • Conservatives looked out of touch: Social change, Douglas-Home unelected aristocrat, Target of satire

  Scandal: Profumo Affair, Spy scandals

  Labour Unity: Deaths of Bevan and Gaitskell, Election of Harold Wilson

  Conservative Failures: Growing economic concerns, Rejection of EEC membership, Macmillan's leadership
• Economic Developments - The Post-War Boom

  1. Productivity rises

  2. Increased investment

  3. Higher employment

  4. Higher wages

  5. Higher demand and consumption

  6. Growth in business confidence
• Despite the fact that British people were feeling richer, economic growth in Britain was not as strong as other countries, such as Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, and the USA
• Downsides to the Post-War Boom

  • Consistent danger of balance of payments deficit from increased consumer demand leading to more imports than exports

  Danger of inflation from demand outstripping supply
• "Stop-Go" Policies


  When economy slowed, government encouraged growth by lowering interest rates and allowing wages to rise

  When economy began to overheat and inflation rose, government slowed the economy down by raising interest rates and controlling wage increases
• The Suez crisis of 1956 demonstrated the problems of the "stop-go" policy
• Some Tories like Peter Thorneycroft and Enoch Powell argued that the government ought to control the money supply - neo monetarism, but Macmillan did not support this
• The British economy recovered quickly after Suez. Sterling recovered against the US dollar. The government was able to make big tax cuts in 1959, helping to secure election success, and the economy grew at its fastest rate between 1960-64
• It became increasingly difficult to keep the economy stable with "stop-go" policies
• Measures taken in response to economic difficulties

  • 1961: Government needed IMF loan and introduced pay pause

  1961: National Economic Development Council set up to plan economic growth

  1962: National Incomes Commission established to manage wages and prices

  1961: Government rethought attitude towards Europe and made EEC application

  Public expenditure cuts e.g. branch lines and bus stations closed in response to Beeching Report
• At the time of the 1964 general election there was a deficit of £800 million
• Impacts of Rising Living Standards

  • Increasing productivity and full employment led to higher wages

  Access to credit through hire purchase enabled more people to access new consumer goods such as fridges, cars, and new furniture

  Housing improvements: slums cleared and replaced with new towns, Macmillan's house-building programme created more affordable houses

  State subsidies to farming kept the price of food low and food rationing ended in 1954
• Impact of Affluence and Consumerism

  • More people able to buy household goods such as washing machines, television sets and fridges

  Watching television became a leisure activity, Advertising became more prevalent

  Television programmes reflected growing affluence and consumerism, Programmes about DIY and gardening became popular

  Car boom - ownership rose by 25% between 1957-59, Encouraged infrastructure improvement such as motorways
• Reasons for the Decline in Deference in 1951-64

  • Trust in politicians shaken by the discovery that the government had lied during the Suez crisis

  Debates over issues like nuclear disarmament encouraged challenges to established ideas

  The behaviour of members of the Establishment in, for example, the Profumo affair tainted their reputation

  The satire boom ridiculed leading figures in society, declining the deference

  WW2 had seen some levelling of society and had engendered a sense of "all being in it together"

  The growing affluence led to embourgeoisement, reducing class divisions to some extent
• Position of Women - At Home

  • 75% of women were married and the average age at which a woman got married was 21

  Their lives tended to be dominated by looking after children, cleaning, cooking, shopping and laundry

  Household appliances became more common, making tasks quicker but also leaving women feeling more unfulfilled by their limited lives