1951-1957

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Politics - period of Conservative Dominance and a period of prosperity when the people had 'never had it so good' - Also known as the era of consensus politics

Churchill Government 1951-1955

- won a majority of 321 seats

Positives/Strengths

- 'Butskellism' - refers to the continuation of labour economic policy under Gaitskill, advocating welfare state, a mixed economy, limited nationalisation (only steel and road haulage were denationalised)

- Churchill talked of a healing and revival where he worked to move the party to middle ground, a more consensus political idea

- set people free from controls e.g. food rationing was abolished, tax cuts in the budget 1952&53

- 1954 first time there was a commercial TV

- By 1955 there was nearly full employment, low tax, low inflation and no balance of payment issues proving that Butler's reactive 'stop-go' policies proved effective

- Strong leadership under both Churchill and Macmillan (1957-63) as both consistent in their approach and were regarded as stable and respectable leaders who both campaigned on consolidation which was in touch with the public mood - Macmillan made effective use of the media and was a confident speaker became known as 'superman' by 1959

Negatives

- When Eden became PM in 1955 his reputation was quickly tainted after his handling of the Suez Crisis in 1956 - he lied about his collusion with Israel and was seen as a political liability

- However party remained united throughout and Eden resigned quickly in 1957 saving the party from any further damage

- Failure to gain membership into the EEC meant Conservatives could not now appeal to voters as having securing Britain’s position in Europe

Labour in opposition

- spilt in 1951 over prescription charges

- split again in 1952 over the Con's government rearmament programme as 57 Bevanites had voted against even though it had been agreed that the party would abstain and he resigned after Gaitskell was favoured over him for party treasurership

- Gaitskell demonstrated inconsistency with his proposal to get rid of clause 4 in November 1959 and controversially supported rearmament and led to the creation of the CND by a section of the Labour Party

The Liberal Party 1930-1960

- The Liberal vote had decreased by over 3 million since 1929

- party had split - Liberal Nationals led by John Simon and the Official Liberal Party led by Samuel

- lack of distinction between them and the Labour party as both parties supported free trade

- poor local organisation was the reason for their poor results in parliamentary and local elections e.g. only 200 local liberal associations functioning in 1946 and didn't have a single councillor in cities like Birmingham and Liverpool in the 1945 and early 1950 elections

- however did establish the foundation fund in 1946 to revive local associations but it was too little too late - only won 6 seats in the 1951 election

- the Liberals main problem was that in order to gain office of influence it would have to cooperate with other parties, thereby almost inevitably compromising its principles

- only won 12 seats in the 1945 election lost 9 seats since 1935

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Society - How Far had Britain never had it so good?

Improvements to Living Standards

- got rid of all austerity measures e.g. food rationing ended in 1954

- ITV new channel 1955 which included game shows, soaps and comedy shows by 1953 there was 83% ownership of Tvs

- wages rose on average by 72% while prices only rose by 45% this meant people could afford more consumer goods than ever - e.g. number of cars rose from under 3 million to over 7 million

- easy repayment schemes like hire purchase influenced a consumer boom and Butler's budget 1958&59 included tax cutes = marked the end of austerity - however bad effects in the long-term as this excessive credit and spending produced high inflation and an increase in imports

- increase in house building e.g. Macmillan produced 327,000 houses in 1953 and 354,000 in 1954, clearance of slums and cheap mortgages however neglected council housing and the Rent Act 1957 abolished rent controls

Extensions to the Welfare State

- the Mental Health Act 1959

- however criticisms that there were very few hospitals built during the 1950s

Education

- 6,000 new schools built and 11 new universities

- however a tiered education system developed making it unequal as there were more grammar schools in certain areas than others e.g. the wealthier lived in better school areas

Class and Social Mobility

- breaking down of class barriers to make way for an 'affluent society' for all

- increasing criticism of the class system i.e. the number of aristocracy owning big estates was decreasing e.g. by 1967 only 200 families owned large estates

- 1956 Suez Crisis suggested politicians were fallible and liars this was expressed by 'the angry young men'

Women

- number of women working increased in the 1950s e.g. 1/5 were working in 1951

- increase in equal pay e.g. teachers 1952 and civil servants 1954 but still 40% less than men

- more leisure time due to labor saving devices

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Economy

- clear continuity in the problems of the economy i.e. balance of payments issue however clear changes in the approach taken to resolve the issue

- adopted a reactionary 'stop-go' policy to deal with the problems of the economy - increased unemployment = 80,000 end of 1962 and resulted in stagflation

- e.g. when the balance of payments deficit was high Butler decided he needed to reduce demand therefore raised the bank rate to discourage people from borrowing money and placed strict limits on imports however the fact that these stops hindered economic growth was ignored but when the economy was in a state of boom Butler issued a 'go' phase, cutting the bank rate and encouraging investment

Problems

- by 1960 GDP growth rate was the lowest in Western Europe due to its heavy defence expenditure

- balance of payment deficit due to mass imports, increase in wages and increase in consumer spending - by 1964 a record balance of payments deficit of £748 million

- Failure to join the EEC in 1957 which had unfortunate consequences for British Production and exports

- L-T issue of not enough investment in industry especially staple industries like textiles and shipbuilding as too much money was being spent on defence

- new industries were expanding like aircraft and cars but production costs were high which made British goods more expensive and therefore faced tough foreign competition

- not enough expenditure on social services - e.g. gov didn't build enough council houses and led to rising structural unemployment

Did Cons successfully manage the economy? - did not find a permanent solution to the problems within the economy instead adopted a reactionary policy that only dealt with issues in the short term but didn't create long-term efficiency, only managed to stimulate short-term economic growth

Balance of Payments

- e.g. Butler adopted a stop-go policy - The Korean War created a balance of payment deficit of nearly £700 million and so he implemented controls on credit - the bank rate was increased from 2% to 4% and he set strict limits on imports - so that by the end of 1952 the deficit had been converted into a surplus of £300 million

- 1955 another stop phase due to unfavourable balance of payments to which he raised purchase tax and hire purchase deposits to reduce demand

- 'go' periods only encouraged imports therefore created this vicious cycle

- failure to join the EEC had unfortunate consequences for british production and exports as it would have helped Britain to sustain more central planning

Unemployment

- during one of Butler's 'go' phases he cut the bank rates which encouraged investment producing full employment and rising wages

- structural unemployment remained e.g. in the North of England and in Scotland in 1963 there was almost 900,000 unemployed

Staple Industries

- his stop phases meant there was very little investment industries and while there were 'go' phases industrialists didn't want to risk long-term investment especially in unstable industries as a 'stop' phase might then damage potential profits, furthermore when there was available money it was invested abroad

- Government was spending too much on defence at the cost of other industries declining such as textiles and shipbuilding

- even though some industries were expanding like aircraft and cars they faced tough foreign competition and high production costs making their products less desirable and harder to export

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The Suez Crisis 1956 - Key Dates

July 1956 - Nasser (ruler of Egypt) nationalised the Suez Canal when US refused to give him the grant due to relations with the USSR

2/3 of all Britain's oil supplies came via the Suez Canal and these could now be potentially cut off

Many influential leader like Churchill and Hugh Gaitskell were in favour of implementing some sort of action against Nasser due to the failed memories of appeasement - even though Nasser had offered compensation and promised that the ships of all nations would be able to use the canal

Gb and France came up with a plan to conspire with the Israeli troops so that they could send them in to invade Egypt and then come in with an ultimatum to look like they were restoring order and then occupy the canal

Oct 1956 - Eden however was still willing to negotiate with Egypt and he had called off the military operation as there seemed a good chance of a compromise being reached - however Eden was under pressure to use force e.g. from the MI6 and some cabinet members such as Macmillan and Selwyn Lloyd who were in favour of military action

29 Oct 1956 - the plan was carried through and Israeli troops invaded Egypt - however the US was furious and the UN accused them of aggression demanding an immediate ceasefire and threatened oil sanctions

6 Nov 1956 - GB and France agreed to a ceasefire

showed the British gov as being weak and incapable of conducting a foreign policy independent of the USA however only one politician resigned over it - Eden - relations between the US were quickly restored under Macmillan and it could be seen as a watershed leading into a new era and a new role for Britain

Nonetheless Eden had lied to the commons had lied to the house of commons denying that the British had planned to attack Egypt or had known in advance of the Israeli invasion

1957 - Eden resigned