An understanding that after WWII, there was a great deal of agreement between the main political parties on the major issues
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Key Elements of the Post-War Consensus
• A belief in a mixed economy: involvement by the State as well as private enterprise
• Support for the NHS and the welfare state
• A wish to ensure full employment
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Key Elements of the Post-War Consensus contd.
• Working with both trade unions and employers
• Foreign policy based on support for the USA and opposition to the USSR and Communism
• Independence for the colonies of the Empire.
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Why did the Conservatives continue with the mixed economy?
Experience of war had meant that people were far more ready to accept the need for state intervention and planning.
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Why did the Conservatives continue with the NHS and Welfare State?
The NHS had become iconic and the Conservatives had warmed to it.
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Why did the Conservatives continue with full employment?
Memory of the impact of the Great Depression still lingered and the Conservatives did not want to be a party of unemployment.
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Why did the Conservatives continue with trade union-employer relationships?
Conservatives understood the importance of the trade unions and wanted co-operative relationships between all parties.
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Why did the Conservatives continue with the foreign policy that supported the US and opposed communism?
USA provided Britain with loans and the fact that was communism was spreading (China, 1949) was a concern for future governments. American heavily involved in the Cold War and needed to depend on Britain.
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Why did the Conservatives continue with independence for colonies?
Seen as features of an imperialist Britain. Recognised imperialism played a role in the outbreak of both WW1 and WW2. There was also an economic strain on maintaining colonies.
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What was the overall reason why the Conservatives continued with the Post-War Consensus?
The Conservatives had to be practical. Their victory in the 1951 election gave them a narrow majority in Parliament (321 to 295) and they did not feel strong enough to dismantle Attlee’s legacy.
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Conservative Domestic Policy 1: Housing
In 1951, their manifesto promised to build 300,000 houses a year. This would rebuild the housing stock destroyed during the war and replace many of the slums that people had lived in before the war. Housing Minister Macmillan oversaw the success of this.
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How successful was the housing policy?
It was quite successful- house building increased by 50% from 1952-55. In 1953, the target was exceeded- 318,750 houses were built.
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Policy 2: Education
The Conservatives also continued the tripartite system in education which had developed under the Butler Act (1944). Three kinds of school emerged:
1. The Grammar School for the ‘intellectually gifted’
2. The Technical School, which concentrated on practi
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Policy 2: Education contd.
3. The Secondary Modern which would provide a basic education to the majority.
Children would sit the 11+ test in their last year of primary to determine where they’d go.
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How successful was the education policy?
Financial restraints under Churchill meant that, in practice, most schools were either Grammar or Secondary Moderns, although Eden did try and promote a greater emphasis on technical education under his brief time as PM.
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How successful was the education policy? contd.
By the beginning of the 1960s, some people were starting to question whether the system was fair.
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Policy 3: Social Reforms
• Clean Air Act (1956) aimed to prevent the smog of the early 1950s
• Housing and Factory Acts aimed to improve living and working conditions.
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Policy 3: Social Reforms contd.
• Butler as Home Secretary (1957-62) was more liberal than many other Conservatives and action started to be taken on some more controversial social issues such as homosexuality and the death penalty.
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Policy 3: Social Reforms contd.
- Homicide Act 1957: Restricted when the death penalty could be used.
- Wolfenden Commission 1957: Recommended that homosexuality be decriminalised.
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Key Elements of the Post-War Consensus
Back
• A belief in a mixed economy: involvement by the State as well as private enterprise
• Support for the NHS and the welfare state
• A wish to ensure full employment
Card 3
Front
Key Elements of the Post-War Consensus contd.
Back
Card 4
Front
Why did the Conservatives continue with the mixed economy?
Back
Card 5
Front
Why did the Conservatives continue with the NHS and Welfare State?
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