Britain transformed - notes PDF

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Whole of the Edexcel Britain Transformed course summarised.

Britain Transformed Notes 1918-79

Claudia

Contents A changing political and economic environment 1918-1979 ............................................................................ 3 Timeline ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 Changes in the political landscape ................................................................................................................. 4 Rise of Labour .............................................................................................................................................. 6 Conservative Dominance 1918-1931 .......................................................................................................... 8 The National Government ......................................................................................................................... 10 Consensus 1945-1979................................................................................................................................ 13 Changes in the economic landscape ............................................................................................................ 21 Changes in industrial relations ..................................................................................................................... 29 1918-1939.................................................................................................................................................. 29 1939-1964.................................................................................................................................................. 30 1964-1979.................................................................................................................................................. 32 Creating a Welfare State 1918-1979 ................................................................................................................ 34 Timeline ......................................................................................................................................................... 34 Welfare support ............................................................................................................................................ 34 Pre-1918 .................................................................................................................................................... 34 Interwar years ........................................................................................................................................... 35 Impact of WW2 ......................................................................................................................................... 38 The Atlee government .............................................................................................................................. 39 Challenges to the welfare state 1964-1979 ............................................................................................. 40 Healthcare ..................................................................................................................................................... 41 Pre 1918 .................................................................................................................................................... 41 The Interwar years .................................................................................................................................... 41 Impact of WW2 ......................................................................................................................................... 42 The Creation of the NHS ........................................................................................................................... 43 Healthcare 1951-1979............................................................................................................................... 44 Education....................................................................................................................................................... 45 Early 20th Century...................................................................................................................................... 45 40’s onwards ............................................................................................................................................. 46 University 1918-1979 ................................................................................................................................ 48 Society in transition .......................................................................................................................................... 49 Changes in class ............................................................................................................................................. 49 The Upper Class......................................................................................................................................... 49 The Middle Class ....................................................................................................................................... 50 The Working Class ..................................................................................................................................... 51

The Growth of the Permissive Society 1951-1979 ........................................................................................ 52 Liberal laws ............................................................................................................................................... 52 A more sexual society? ............................................................................................................................. 53 Changing attitudes to homosexuality ...................................................................................................... 54 Opposition to the permissive society....................................................................................................... 55 Immigration ................................................................................................................................................... 56 Women .......................................................................................................................................................... 60 Changing Quality of Life.................................................................................................................................... 61 Living Standards 1918-1979 .......................................................................................................................... 61 Boom, crisis, recovery and war -1918-1945 ............................................................................................. 61 Growth of a consumer society 1951-1979 ............................................................................................... 63 Mass Popular Culture .................................................................................................................................... 64 Cinema....................................................................................................................................................... 64 Radio.......................................................................................................................................................... 64 Music ......................................................................................................................................................... 65 Television .................................................................................................................................................. 66 Youth Culture ............................................................................................................................................ 66 Leisure pursuits ............................................................................................................................................. 67 Football - growth and decline of live spectatorship ................................................................................ 67 Holidays and tourism ................................................................................................................................ 68 Travel Developments ................................................................................................................................ 68 Impact of Thatcher 1979-90 ............................................................................................................................. 70 Margaret Thatcher ........................................................................................................................................ 70 Economics...................................................................................................................................................... 70 Monetarism............................................................................................................................................... 71 Privatisation .............................................................................................................................................. 71 Deregulation ............................................................................................................................................. 72 Taxation..................................................................................................................................................... 72 Trade Unions ............................................................................................................................................. 73 Was the state ‘rolled back’? .......................................................................................................................... 74 Thatcher’s views ....................................................................................................................................... 74 Civil Service ............................................................................................................................................... 75 Local Government ..................................................................................................................................... 75 NHS ............................................................................................................................................................ 76 Education................................................................................................................................................... 76 Overall: ...................................................................................................................................................... 76

Political and Social Division ........................................................................................................................... 77 Political Division ........................................................................................................................................ 77 Social Division ........................................................................................................................................... 78 Effects of politics and party development .................................................................................................... 79 Conservatives ............................................................................................................................................ 79 Labour........................................................................................................................................................ 79 Other Parties ............................................................................................................................................. 80

A changing political and economic environment 1918-1979 Timeline Prime Minister HH Asquith David Lloyd George • ‘Coupon election’ • Splits Liberal party • ‘Cash for honours’ Andrew Bonar Law • ‘Unknown Prime Minister’ • Died of throat cancer Stanley Baldwin

Time in office 1908-1916 1916-1922

Reason for fall

Events in this time

Lost election Conservatives ended coalition

1922-1923

Ill health

• • • • • •

1914 WW1 begins WW1 ends 1918 ROPA 1922 ‘Chanak incident’ 1922 ‘Geddes Axe’ Speech in 1922 encourages conservatives to end coalition

1923-1924

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

First Labour Prime Minister 1925 Return to Gold Standard 1926 General Strike 1927 Trade Disputes Act 1928 vote extended to women over 21 1929 Wall St. Crash Unemployment 2 million Forms National Government 1931 Abandons Gold Standard 1936 Abdication Appeasement - ‘peace in our time’ 1939 Germany invades Poland - WW2 begins WW2 1940 Emergency Powers Act

• • •

1954 End of rationing Suez Crisis 1963 ‘Profumo Affair’

Ramsey Macdonald Stanley Baldwin

1924-1924 1924-1929

Lost vote of confidence Lost election Lost Election

Ramsey Macdonald • Minority government • Seen as a traitor Stanley Baldwin Neville Chamberlain

1929-1935

Ill health

1935-1937 1937-1940

Retirement Resigned

Winston Churchill • Won the war Clement Atlee Winston Churchill Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan

1940-1945

Lost Election

1945-51 1951-1955 1955-1957 1957-1963

Lost Election Retired Retired, ill health Resigned - ill health

Alec Douglas-Home Harold Wilson • White heat Edward Health • Break with consensus • ‘Who governs Britain’ Harold Wilson • Minority government, then majority of three seats after Oct 1974 election James Callaghan Margaret Thatcher

1963-1964 1964-1970

Lost Election

1970-1974

Lost election

1974-1976

Resigned - ill health

1976-1979 1979-1990

Resigned

•

1967 devaluation of the pound

• • • •

Britain join EEC (precursor to EU) 1973 Oil crisis 1974 ‘three day week’ 1976 IMF loan

•

1979 ‘Winter of Discontent’

Changes in the political landscape How did the Liberal Party develop in interwar British politics?     

In the 1910 General Elections, the Liberal Party retained power and formed a government. In 1915, the Liberal Party had strong representation on the coalition wartime government. During the First World War, the Liberal Party begins to split which leads those who support Lloyd George forming a coalition government with the Conservatives after the 1918 General Election. The Liberal Party loses the 1922, 1924, 1929 and 1931 General Elections by large margins - 1922 Labour gains more seats then the Liberals and become the main opposition to Conservatives During this time, the Liberal Party supported the minority Labour governments of 1924 and 1929-31.

Why did the Liberal Party fall as a political force in the interwar period? 1. 2. 3. 4.

Collapse of party unity. Impact of the Representation of the People Act. Impact of the 1918 General Election. Failure of Lloyd George after 1922.

How did the First World War impact upon Liberal unity? 

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 

The First World War saw the government implement the Defence of the Realm Act [1914] which gave the government extended powers, such as economic controls, conscription and rationing to avoid defeat. These illiberal measures were opposed by many in the Liberal Party. However, DORA was supported by leading and popular Liberal, David Lloyd George. Lloyd George in 1916 managed to oust traditional Liberal, Herbert Asquith as Prime Minister. This was as much to do with Asquith’s wartime leadership as well as policies. Asquith’s ousting outraged many traditional Liberals who saw Lloyd George as a traitor and continued to support Asquith. This split was crystallised in the Maurice Debate which was sparked by a public letter by General Maurice who accused Lloyd George of lying to Parliament about the number of troops on the Western Front. Asquith attacked Lloyd George when the issue was debated in Parliament and demanded an inquiry.



Asquith led an attempt to oust Lloyd George with the support of the majority of Liberal MPs, but this failed.

To what extent did the Representation of the People Act of 1918 damage the Liberals? Significant damage  ROPA extended the electorate by 13 million people, including young, working class men - the working class made up the majority (80%) of the electorate - and (some) women  The Representation of the People Act led to a growing number of working class voters which the Liberals failed to win over.  Effectiveness of the Labour Party in adapting to the new areas of the electorate took votes away from the Liberals.  Between 1910 (before ROPA) and 1923 (after ROPA) the Labour party went from having 7.1% of the vote to having 30.5%, meanwhile the Liberals share of the vote declined – from 43.9% to 29.6% - evidence that the new influx of voter led to a rise in the Labour Party’s power – and a decline of the Liberals.

Limited damage  The working class vote did not increase to the extent where it could have led to such a decline in Liberal seats.  Liberals failed to challenge the development of the first past the post system and this only really damaged the Liberals in the 1930s – by then the decline was too far gone.

Was the 1918 ‘Coupon Election’ a turning point in Liberal fortunes? •

•

• •

Because the divisions within the Liberal Party did not heal in time, the 1918 General Election was contested by two Liberal Parties – one which supported Lloyd George and the other who supported Asquith. Lloyd George made a coalition with the Conservatives – who were desperate for office after an absence of 18 years and allied themselves with the popular Lloyd George, who did not have enough Parliamentary Liberals to support him. Any candidate who stood for election on behalf of the Lloyd George/Conservative coalition was issues with a ‘Coupon’ – a letter confirming they stood for the coalition. The coalition won by a landslide with the Conservatives as the dominant partner with 335 seats and Lloyd George Liberals with 133 seats. Only 28 Asquith Liberals won seats with Asquith losing his.

The impact of the ‘Coupon Election’ was far reaching on the Liberals –  Asquith’s leadership never recovered.  The Lloyd George Liberals were dependent on the Conservatives and had a weak position in Parliament.  The split between the party deepened - Lloyd George was ejected from the Leamington party conference in 1920 by Asquith and his supporters  Lloyd George tried to make the coalition permanent with the formation of an anti-Labour ‘Centre Party’. This attempt failed and divided Liberals even further.

How did Lloyd George’s conduct damage the Liberal Party in 1922?  

   

Lloyd George had made his name as a champion of limiting the rights of the privileged and the ‘man who won the war’. In June 1922, a scandal emerged where he was selling knighthoods and peerages amassing a huge political fortune - a knighthood could be bought for £10 000 -[which he refused to share with the Liberals unless they followed his ideas]. The scandal did much damage to his credibility and he was portrayed as corrupt. At the same time, he was seen as a warmonger, threatening Turkey if it sought to revise the terms of the peace treaty in the Chanak Incident. These events led to the Conservatives withdrawing from the coalition and forcing Lloyd...