Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64 There are four important leaders of the Conservatives during this 13 year period Churchill 51-55, his son-in-law Eden 55-57, Macmillan 57-63, Douglas-Home 63-64, They were all important personalities and in this deferential age were generally well respected
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64 The Conservative leaders maintained many of the ideas of the Labour party 1945-51 which gave rise to the phrase a Post War Consensus This meant in economic matters; Keynesianism, Tripartitism, Mixed economy, full employment, involvement of the Trade Unions, In other areas the PWC meant commitment to the Welfare State, Nuclear Weapons, NATO, The closeness of the Labour and Conservative party on economic matters was called Butskellism
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64 Butskellism
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64 Conservatives did not always dominate in this period Churchill was a well respected leader after the War but his health seriously declined 1951-55 Anthony Eden was involved in a disastrous foreign policy campaign involving the Suez Canal in 1956. It led to his resignation in 1957
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64 Macmillan was a one nation Conservative He had built a record number of Council houses in 1953 300,000 He became PM in 1957 and restored the party’s fortunes leading them to a comprehensive victory in 1959. He was very good on the new medium of TV and was known as ‘Supermac’ by a cartoonist of the time
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64 UK grew richer in this period It was known as the age of affluence after 1951 War time rationing finally came to an end in 1954 Macmillan reamaked ‘we had never had it so good’ in July 1957 referring to the affluence of the UK There were more TV’s cars, consume goods generally
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64
Conservative Political Dominance 1951-64 Macmillan’s other famous speech was the ‘Winds of Change’ in 1960 This marked a change from Britain's Empire to being a Commonwealth