Labour lost power in 1970 because of it's own failings in the years 1964-1970

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A Levels History (The Making of Modern Britain) Mind Map on Labour lost power in 1970 because of it's own failings in the years 1964-1970, created by foison2810 on 24/12/2015.
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Mind Map by foison2810, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by foison2810 over 8 years ago
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Resource summary

Labour lost power in 1970 because of it's own failings in the years 1964-1970
  1. Failings
    1. Economic
      1. George's Brown's national plan 1965
        1. George brown's behaviour and inconsistency, completion, competition wigh james Callaghan and orthodox economists, disagreements with Wilson and his resignation
          1. 1968 devaluation both the delay in implement it and the effect of its acceptance in novermber 1967
        2. Failure to negotiate entry into the EEC
          1. public spending cut this reminded the idea of stop go economics which Wilson promised to avoid
            1. This clashed with the fact that he had a progressive agenda to remove the class divide.
          2. Leadership
            1. Wilson's lack of trust in colleagues and reliance on 'kitchen cabinet' government; his reputation for being devious
            2. Trade Union reform
              1. breakdown of relations with Trade unions 1966/67 and seamen's and dockers' strikes; the failure of 'in Place of Strife', 1969 and the resultant splits
                1. 1969- 3,000= strikes in Britain = 7 million days of lost work
              2. Foreign
                1. problems over Rhodesia and Northern Ireland
                  1. involvement with Biafra famine Igbo- famine 1967-70. Wilson sent arms to Nigeria
                2. Immigration
                  1. Wilson refused to make the popular topic of immigration an election issue but Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' speech gained support from labour voters.
                3. Other Reasons
                  1. that election defeat was not primarily caused by Labour's failings:
                    1. the economic situation was not of Labour's making; a difficult situation had been inherited from the Conservatives.
                      1. Once Roy Jenkins replaced Callaghan, tough deflationary measures helped to achieve a balance of payments surplus by 1969
                        1. from 1966 George Brown was moved to the Foreign Office and from 1968 was no longer in the cabinet and causing trouble
                          1. a face-saving compromise was negotiated with the trade unions before the Election in 1969
                            1. in 1970 Wilson's political position was looking strong and the economy was growing
                              1. Heath had a clear programme of policies for the modernisation of Britain – particularly better industrial relations and entry to EEC – 'One Nation Toryism', which had voter appeal
                                1. at the Selsdon Park Conference, January 1970, tough approaches to economic modernisation, influenced by Sir Keith Joseph, were adopted.
                  2. Conclusion
                    1. Conservative victory was more the result of their own strengths than Labour's failings
                      1. Labour's 'failings' were more the product of circumstances than their own ineptitude although Conservative victory came as a surprise to both sides and that the fragility of Labour's position in 1970 was not as obvious at the time as it might seem in retrospect.
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