Making of Modern Britain 1951-1964 politics

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Who won more votes in the 1951 election?
Labour
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What meant that Conservatives won the 1951 election?
Past the post system
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Why did the middle class not vote for Labour in the 1951 election?
They were tiring of Labours austerity
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Why did the middle class vote for the Conservatives in the 1951 election?
The Conservative Party promised freedom and prosperity
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How many houses did the Conservatives promise to build in the 1951 manifesto?
300,000 houses
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What was the Conservatives base their manifesto on?
Based on the growing prosperity in virtually all sections of the community
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What were the Conservatives opinions on Welfare State?
They were committed on maintaining the Welfare State.
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What economic problems did the Labour Party face running up to 1951?
War time debt, balance of payment crisis, defence expenditure
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How did Labour try to solve the economic problems they faced in running up to 1951?
It had rationed essential items, introduced financial controls, introduced wage freezes and devalued the £.
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What problems did the way Labour deal with economic problems cause?
Image of a party of rationing and high taxation
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What foreign policy problems did Labour face running up to 1951?
Entry into the 1950 Korean War
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Why did entry into the Korean war cause problems for Labour?
Angered the left within the Labour Party
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Why did entering the Korean War anger the left of Labour? (2)
1) Left argued that the party should be independent in foreign affairs 2) this event showed that Britain was becoming too pro-American
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Who was there a split between in Labour in 1957?
split between Bevan and Gaitskell
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What was the image of Labour in 1957?
The party had a major identity problem
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What did the left of Labour want for their manifesto in 1957 in terms of nationalisation?
More state control of the economy and society
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What did the left of Labour want for their manifesto in 1957 in terms of the unions?
They wanted greater power for the unions
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What did the left of Labour want for their manifesto in 1957 in terms of foreign policy?
Many of the left were unilateralists, as well as not being overly pro-America.
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What were 2 key features of Gaitskill's manifesto in 1957?
Gaitskell restricted giving unions power and nuclear disarmament.
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When was the CND set up?
1958
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Who set up the CND?
'Bevanites'
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What was the CND set up for?
Condemn nuclear weapons
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Why did some people march for multilateralism?
Didn’t want to become dependent on USA.
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What problems did nuclear weapons cause for the relationship of Labour and the Trade Unions?
Led to trade unions challenging Labour leadership with Cousins leading fierce opposition to Gaitskell.
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Why would unilateralism not be a vote winner?
The context of the Cold War
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What problems did Labour fail to exploit in 1957?
Suez Crisis 1956- if called a general election could have won from Edens disgrace.
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What system did government follow during the war?
A three-way system
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What system followed the three-way system after the war?
After the war the liberals lost out in the party stakes and a two-party system became more apparent.
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What did Labour and the Conservatives set up after the war?
A post war consensus was set up.
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Why was a post war consensus set up?
After WW2, the country was very united and there had been a coalition government through the war.
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What was the post war consensus?
A set of agreements that government should try to follow when in power.
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Why did the Conservatives keep the welfare state when they won the election?
There could be no outright rejection of the welfare state and the NHS had already become iconic
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Why did the Conservatives not privatised industries when they won the election?
There could be no total reversal of nationalisation
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Why was nationalisation more popular when the Tories came into power?
Experience of war had meant that people were far more ready to accept the need for state intervention and planning
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How was the country different in 1951 then it was when the Conservatives were last in power in the 1930s?
attitudes towards industry, the trade unions and social policy were going to have to be very different from that of the 1930’s
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Name 3 economic problems that faced the Conservatives when they came into power in 1951?
1) Britain were in debt 2) Rationing was still in place 3) Other foreign economies were growing at a quicker rate- France, Germany and Japan
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Why were other foreign countries like France growing at an economically faster rate when the Conservatives got into power?
Due to recovering from WW2
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What was Britain's position in the world in 1951? (2)
1) Decolonisation was well under way 2) post war superpower
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What country had already been decolonised when the Tories came into power in 1951?
India
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What were Britain economically doing well in in 1951? (2)
Industries like coal and steel were nationalised and leading exporter and manufacturer
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What type of leader was Churchill seen as?
Churchill was seen as a wartime leader.
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Where did Churchill sit on the political spectrum?
Centre right on the political spectrum
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What were Churchill's opinions on nationalisation and the welfare state?
Agreed with nationalisation and keeping the welfare state
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What nature of government did Churchill stress?
Non partisan
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Why did Churchill stress a non partisan nature of his government?
This was to try and capture more peoples votes; Atlee ran things on tightly controlled cabinets, but this wasn’t particularly liked by everyone.
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What 3 reforming politicians did Churchill have in his cabinet?
Eden, Butler and Macmillan
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What role did Eden have in Churchill's cabinet?
Foreign Secretary
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What role did Butler have in Churchill's cabinet?
Chancellor of the Exchequer
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What role did Macmillan have in Churchill's cabinet?
Minister of Housing
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What was the conservatives aim for Trade Unions?
Strongly committed to maintaining good relations with the trade unions that Labour had already started.
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What event ruined Churchill's relationship with Trade Unions when he was last in power?
General strike of 1926
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What act did Churchill make clear to Trade Unions that he would not repeal?
1946 Trade Unions Act
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What balance of payments deficit did Churchill face in 1951?
£700 million
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How did Churchill deal with the balance of payments deficit?
A series of cuts especially on imports.
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What surplus had Churchill made by 1952?
£259 million
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Who do politicians argue was the key figure in Churchills government?
Butler
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What 4 things did Butler do for the economy by 1955?
Near full employment, low inflation, no balance of payments problems and rising standards of living.
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What was set up to report on finances for the NHS?
Guillebaud Committee
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When was the Guillebaud Committee set up?
1953
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What did the Guillebaud Committee show?
It showed that the NHS was cost effective and efficient.
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How did the Guillebaud Committee effect the governments policy when they came into power?
The conservatives were content to accept the structure of the Welfare State.
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What did the conservatives increase expenditure on?
Social Services
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What percentage of public expenditure was spent on social services in 1951?
39.2%
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What percentage of public expenditure was spent on social services in 1955?
43%
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When did Eden take power?
1956
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What did Eden increase the Tory majority to and from?
17 to 60
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What role did Butler have in Eden's government?
Chancellor of the exchequer
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What role did Macmillan have in Eden's government?
Foreign Secretary
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Why was the Conservative party voicing discontent with Edens leadership?
Almost all of Eden’s political experience had been in foreign policy, and he had a lack of experience and interest in domestic affairs.
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What position did Eden try to move Macmillan to in 1955?
Treasury
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How did Macmillan react to Eden trying to move him to the treasury?
Macmillan did not want to move and managed to delay it until December.
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How did Macmillan being able to delay his move to the treasury make Eden look?
Weak leader
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What ultimately ended Eden's career?
Eden taking military action in the Suez Crisis
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What did Macmillan increasing the party majority make Eden look like?
He was a strong leader and the public had faith
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How had Macmillan gained the public's faith?
Gained public's trust as housing Minister.
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Who did Macmillan have in the palm of his hand?
The media
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What event made Macmillan's election success even more impressive?
The amount of damage the Suez called
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What made the Suez Crisis irrelevent?
New leader and booming economy.
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Who was Britain preforming poorly economically compared to?
France and Germany
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What was Britains GPD compared to others in Western Europe?
Lowest in Western Europe
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What did Conservatives often use to buy votes in elections?
Conservative budgets
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When did Conservatives introduce a series of tax cuts?
1959
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Why did the Conservatives introduce this series of tax cuts?
To stimulate support for the conservatives in the run up to the election.
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What did these tax cuts cause in the long run?
Critics argued that this damaged the economy long term because it created debt.
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What was the balance of payments deficit in 1964?
£800 million
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What was there a consensus of in foreign policy?
There was a consensus that the age of imperialism was dead
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What event made it hard for Britain to justify their empire?
After fighting in the war of freedom (WW2)
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What other reason didnt Britain keep their empire (economic)?
Couldn't afford to keep it
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What was the process of decolonisation of Africa like?
Remarkably smooth
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What is an example of a country where decolonisation didn't go smooth?
Kenya
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How many new houses did the Conservatives build?
1.2 million
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What meant that people could afford to buy a house?
The availability of credit
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What did the Conservatives believe in in terms of housing?
'property owning democracy'- encouraging people to buy houses
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What did the availability of credit mean?
This meant that people could buy things like cars and TVs that they previously couldn’t afford.
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How much did the sale of cars increase to and from?
1.5 million to 5.5 million
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When did Britain apply to join the EEC?
1961
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When did Britain refuse to join?
1957
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Why did Britain not join in 1957?
Politicians like Churchill believed Britain had more important commitments with the USA and the Commonwealth.
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What happened to Britain application to join the EEC?
The application was turned down because it was vetoed by France.
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What did Macmillan cut spending on?
Cut defence spending
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What meant that Britain could cut spending on traditional forms of defence?
The detonation of Britain's first atomic bomb of 1952
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What were the traditional forms of defence?
The navy and the army
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What percentage of the GDP was defence spending in mid 1950s?
10%
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What percentage of the GDP was defence spending in 1964?
6%
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What was there a boom of in 1960s? (terms of tv)
A boom in the satire industry
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What appeared on these satire shows?
These shows mocked the political establishment and Harold Macmillan was often the brunt of these jokes.
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What did these satire shows show about the conservatives?
Showed how the conservatives were out of touch.
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How did these satire shows challenge the establishment?
They publised scandels and brought about questions like could public schooled politicians be trusted to run the country.
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Who did Macmillan introduce as his chancelllor of exchequer?
Selwyn Lloyd
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Why did Selwyn Lloyd introduce a paypause?
To combat rising wages and higher consumer spending.
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When did Selwyn Lloyd introduce the paypause?
1961
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What was the publics reaction to the paypause?
This caused outrage.
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What did Macmillan do to solve the problem of the outrage from the paypause?
Introduced a new chancellor
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What was the publics reaction to Macmillan introducing a new chancellor after the paypause?
They believed this didn't solve the problem
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What was the Night of the Long Knives?
Macmillan abruptly dismissing a 1/3 of his cabinet including Selwyn Lloyd.
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Why did the Night of the Long Knives happen?
The governments unpopularity in 1962
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What was the effect of the Night of the Long Knives?
Macmillan had intended to strengthen the government but in fact it weakened it. Macmillan was made to seem clumsy and out of touch.
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When was the Vassal Affair?
1963
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What was the Vassal Affair?
When a civil servant John Vassal was caught spying for Soviet Union.
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What was the effect of the Vassal Affair?
This made government look like it wasn’t in control of their departments.
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Who was the Profumo Affair a disaster for?
Macmillan
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What was the coverage of the Profumo affair by the press like?
Given sensational treatment by the press.
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What was the effect of the Profumo affair on Macmillan?
The image of Macmillan was made to look like he was old and out of touch was reinforced
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What did Eden do after the Suez crisis?
Eden fled after Suez Crisis to live with the James Bond author
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How many Macmillan's ministers were related to him?
35
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Card 2

Front

What meant that Conservatives won the 1951 election?

Back

Past the post system

Card 3

Front

Why did the middle class not vote for Labour in the 1951 election?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Why did the middle class vote for the Conservatives in the 1951 election?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

How many houses did the Conservatives promise to build in the 1951 manifesto?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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