1979 UK General Election

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  • Created by: AnyaSea
  • Created on: 13-12-21 16:08

Turnout

-Turnout was a little lower for this election mainly due to the abstention of the working class & trade union members, presumably due to the Winter of Discontent

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Voting statistics

-Conservatives won 339 seats(gained 62 seats from the last election), won 43.9% of the vote

-Labour: won 264 seats(lost 50 seats from the last election), won 36.9% of the vote

-Liberal: won 11 seats, 13.8% of the vote

-Ulster unionist: five seats

-Democratic Unionist: three seats

-Plaid Cymru: two seats

-SDLP, United Ulster Unionist & Ulster Popular Unionist: one seat each

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Hot issues/valence factors

-Jim Callaghan ‘Sunny Jim’ was Prime Minister from 1974, and had struggled massively with the economy & popularity within the government, could’ve called for an election in 1978 but decided not to, which led to the Winter of Discontent in 1978; one headline in particular about this issue from The Sun newspaper said ‘Crisis? What crisis?’

-The Labour government was considered weak

-Callaghan failed to control militant trade unions

-The election was triggered because of the withdrawal of support for the government due to referendums for Scottish & Welsh devolution

-There was a sharp decline in the number of people describing themselves as ‘working-class’, which may have led to a higher middle-class population, therefore increasing support for the Conservative Party and reducing support for the Labour Party

-Labour was seen as the ‘party of trade unions’

-The Winter of Discontent

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The campaign & role of media

-Thatcher’s policies included(what we call now) neoliberalism, free market, controlling trade unions & enabling people to buy their own homes

-TV coverage dominated the campaign

-All three major parties(Conservatives, Labour, Liberals) did conferences specifically co-ordinated for the cameras

-Thatcher worked particularly hard to provide the media with photo opportunities; she was pictured doing everything, from drinking tea to holding a baby calf, perhaps this made her seem a little more ‘relatable’ & down-to-earth, whereas a lot of people may have viewed her as posh & out-of-touch

-Callaghan warned that the Tories were ‘too big a gamble for the country to take’

-It’s hard to measure how effective these campaigns actually were, as in the opinion polls the Conservatives were winning, however when asked who they thought would be a better Prime Minister, Jim Callaghan won by 20 points

-Thatcher also turned down a televised debate

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The role of the party leader

-Margaret Thatcher was the first female leader of the Conservatives, and also the first female Prime Minister

-Thatcher moved the party more to the right(radicalisation), and introduced ‘Thatcherism’ & neoliberal ideas

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Impact on the political system

-Privatisation of the economy, notably the railway system

-Thatcher advocated for neoliberalism

-Deindustrialisation

-Thatcher introduced ‘Thatcherism’- a ‘politics of freedom & choice’

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