A2 history unit 3:the making of modern britain 1951-2007. Section 1

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A2 History Unit 3: The Making of Modern Britain 1951-2007

 

 

Section 1

The post-war consensus? 1951-1964

 

 

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How did the Conservatives react to losing in 1945?

  •  Why did the conservatives lose the 1945 election:
    •  Anticonservative sentiment
      •  Memory of Chamberlain (conservative Prime minister before ww2) 
        •  Followed appeasement. 
        •  Appeasement- Gave Hitler what he wanted to avoid a war.
        •  Made conservatives unpopular- Let the situation spiral
      •  Macmillan - “It was Churchill who lost the 1945 election, it was the Ghost of Neville Chamberlain.”
    •  Labour Philosophy
      •  Government intervention
        •  Planning and equality
        •  Change in Public mood
      •  Attlee- “I am certain That the world that must emerge from this war, must be a world attuned to our ideals”
    •  Beveridge report 1942
      •  5 ‘Giant evils’
        •  Want, disease, ignorance, Squalor, idleness
      •  635,000 copies sold= very popular
      •  Labour- strongly supportive of the report
      •  Conservative-Luke warm
    •  Labours ministerial experience during ww1
      •  Attlee was deputy Prime minister
    •  Election campaign
      •  Manifesto- ideas and promises of the party
      •  Conservatives attacked the Labour party as being a socialist radical party
      •  Churchill was focused on foreign policies
      •  Labour:- 
        •  No emphasis on personality
        •  Manifesto: positive/prog of reform/domestic issues Linked to the Beveridge report.
  •  Conservative Party reaction 
    •  Immediately after the election:
      •  Share off vote had dropped 5.9% since the last election (1935) 
      •  Had an enormous of reforming the structure and rethink policies to win the next election.
    • Structural reorganisation:
      • 1945 campaign – run on a shoestring (no money) and had almost no professional staff
      • Built up the party from scratch and recruiting staff after the election
      • Lord Woolton (Party Chairman July 1946) was famous. People knew him as he was the minister for food during the war.
        • Successful propositions:
          • Membership offers 
          • Fundraising drives
      • 1950s- Conservative support had raised to 3 million members from England Scotland and wales.
      • Wooltons fighting fund (sorted out the finances) 
        • Vital for election campaign and employment:
          • Small member donations
          • Sponsorship from industry 
          • Wealthy patrons
        • Party tried to change image to be democratic and younger
          • Young conservative movement
        • By 1950 it had been fully restored.
    • Policy development:
      • Labour- introduced NHS and nationalised key industries such as coal steel and the railways. (Left wing policy) 
        • This increased employment 
          • No competition
          • Some inefficiency
      • Conservatives opposed this and thought that they had to face facts that it was popular.
      • Conservatives didn’t know how to present an appealing alternative
      • RAB Butler (chairman of the conservative research dept)
        • Think tank on policy development
        • Under his leadership, the party attracted young conservatives: Enoch Powell ( rivers of blood speech) 
        • We needed “to convince a board section off the electorate… that we had an alternative policy to socialism… it was by no means easy to convince Churchill of this”-Lord Butler, The art of the possible
      • Committee chaired by Butler to look into industrial policy (this

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Hermella

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these notes are amazing: clear and concise