Politics and the economy, 1951-64

The numbers in brackets on each question card refer to the number of 'points' you can get, as if it were a test - there's usually one point per piece of key detail.

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  • Created by: MsDiagram
  • Created on: 18-01-16 19:49
How did professor Peter Hennessy view the Attlee legacy? (1)
Hennessy believed that the Attlee legacy was the foundation stone of all that is best about post-war Britain.
1 of 28
Who was Nigel Lawson, and how did he view Attlee? (2)
Lawson was one of Margaret Thatcher's chancellors, and he believed that Attlee set the direction Britain would follow for a generation.
2 of 28
How did Coates regard the Attlee years? (3)
In his book on the 'struggle for socialism', Coates denounces the Attlee years as a lost opportunity, as it failed to bring about true equality.
3 of 28
How did Correlli Barnett view the post-war consensus? (2)
Barnett believed the post-war consensus to be a mistaken policy, and that the Conservative Party should have broken with it sooner and prevented Britain becoming a 'nanny state'.
4 of 28
What was the name of Barnett's book in which he espoused these views? (1)
The Audit of War.
5 of 28
In which month was the 1951 general election held? (1)
October.
6 of 28
How old was Churchill when he retired in 1955? (1)
80.
7 of 28
In which year did Churchill suffer a particularly serious stroke, and what were the effects of this? (2)
1953. He was left with impaired speech.
8 of 28
In his 2000 book, The Prime Minister, what did Hennessy say about Churchill? (1)
“One has to be careful not to overdo the depiction of the old warrior in his final premiership as a kind of walking off-licence-cum-pharmacy.”
9 of 28
Give four pieces of evidence to suggest that the 1950s were an age of affluence. (4)
1. Men's weekly wages went up, 2. Massive increases in private savings, 3. Boom in car ownership, 4. Home-ownership increased, helped by easy access to cheap mortgages
10 of 28
What were men's wages on average in 1951, and what did they go up to in 1961? (2)
£8.30 in 1951 to £15.30 in 1961.
11 of 28
How many new homes were built per year? (1)
Over 300,000.
12 of 28
When did food rationing end? (1)
1954.
13 of 28
Name four popular consumer goods in which there was a surge in ownership in the 1950s (4)
1. Televisions, 2. Washing machines, 3. Refrigerators, 4. New furniture bought on hire purchase
14 of 28
When did ITV launch commercial programming? (1)
1955.
15 of 28
How did Butler boost election prospects in 1955? (3)
A 'give-away' budget, which provided the middle classes with £134 million in tax cuts.
16 of 28
What was the Conservative majority in the 1955 general election? (1)
70 seats.
17 of 28
Who replaced Clement Attlee as Labour Party leader? (1)
Hugh Gaitskell.
18 of 28
When did Eden take military action against Colonel Nasser? (2)
October 1956.
19 of 28
Which minister resigned from the cabinet after Suez? (2)
Anthony Nutting, the Colonial Minister.
20 of 28
How many Conservative MPs rebelled after Suez? (1)
Nearly 40.
21 of 28
Who was the chief whip of the Conservative Party at the time? How did he react to Suez? (3)
Edward Heath. He kept the party in line, despite being firmly opposed to Eden's actions.
22 of 28
How was the economy affected by pressure from the USA due to Suez? (2)
Britain's financial weakness was exposed and there was a run on the pound.
23 of 28
What role did Macmillan play in the Suez Crisis? How was he affected by it? (5)
Macmillan was Chancellor, and was initially in favour of intervention in Suez, though he changed his mind after he realised how it had weakened the economy. He wasn't really affected in the long-term, and became PM after Eden's resignation.
24 of 28
When did Eden resign? (1)
1957.
25 of 28
By 1959, what had Macmillan been nicknamed due to the economic prosperity under his leadership? (1)
'Supermac'.
26 of 28
What factors led to the Conservative victory in 1959? (3)
1. Continuing affluence of the consumer society, 2. Internal problems of the Labour Party under Gaitskell, 3. The change in Tory leadership was managed “without too much blood being spilt in power struggles” (Rowe)
27 of 28
Why was Butler not selected as the next Conservative Party leader? (4)
1. Macmillan's success as housing minister (provided 300,000 new homes per year, as per the 1951 manifesto). 2. Macmillan was more of a showman than Butler. 3. Butler was not as popular in the Party as he was in the country as a whole
28 of 28

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Who was Nigel Lawson, and how did he view Attlee? (2)

Back

Lawson was one of Margaret Thatcher's chancellors, and he believed that Attlee set the direction Britain would follow for a generation.

Card 3

Front

How did Coates regard the Attlee years? (3)

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

How did Correlli Barnett view the post-war consensus? (2)

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What was the name of Barnett's book in which he espoused these views? (1)

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

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