Why The Conservative Party Remained In Power From 1951 To 1964
Assess the reasons why the Conservative party remained in power from 1951 to 1964
Focus: evaluation of the reasons for the dominance of a political party during a specific period.
Conservative leadership:
Effective as
1) Churchill maintained consensus
2) Eden pre- Suez
3) Macmillan
His skilful exploitation of television and the media
His ruthlessness- Night of Long Knives
But
1) Churchill also old
2) Eden made mistakes over Suez
3) Home was unsuitable
Conservative policies:
Focus on economy as this was an important factor:
1) Economics recovery
2) The end of austerity
3) Period of relative affluence, all of which were credited to the Conservatives
Impact on the standard of living
1) Housing
2) Wages and credit
3) Unemployment
4) Social mobility
Labour failures
1) Labour failed to modernise its policies to a move affluent Britain and the party was constantly divided
2) The parliamentary party was split between the Left and Right: left-wing Bevan’s wanted an expansion of the public sector & hostile to Gaitskell, who did not
3) Gaitskell became leader after Wilson and agreed on a social democracy rather than a socialist one, but failed to remove Clause IV in 1961
Labour weakness enabled the Conservatives to avoid the electoral consequences of their mistakes, partially
1) Suez 1956
2) Resignation of Eden
Conclusion
The Labour party was dominating in votes up to 1950, however that year the difference between Labour and Conservative parties was very neglectful. There are several factors that might have contributed to Labours loss of power in 1951. The Labour government was associated with the period of austerity when people had to overcome rationing and devaluation. Additionally, many key members of the Cabinet were exhausted or unwell. Moreover, they were split internally and the event with Gaitskell that led to Bevan’s resignation in 1951, undermined the cohesion of the government. In comparison to them, the conservative party seemed to be more
Focus: evaluation of the reasons for the dominance of a political party during a specific period.
Conservative leadership:
Effective as
1) Churchill maintained consensus
2) Eden pre- Suez
3) Macmillan
His skilful exploitation of television and the media
His ruthlessness- Night of Long Knives
But
1) Churchill also old
2) Eden made mistakes over Suez
3) Home was unsuitable
Conservative policies:
Focus on economy as this was an important factor:
1) Economics recovery
2) The end of austerity
3) Period of relative affluence, all of which were credited to the Conservatives
Impact on the standard of living
1) Housing
2) Wages and credit
3) Unemployment
4) Social mobility
Labour failures
1) Labour failed to modernise its policies to a move affluent Britain and the party was constantly divided
2) The parliamentary party was split between the Left and Right: left-wing Bevan’s wanted an expansion of the public sector & hostile to Gaitskell, who did not
3) Gaitskell became leader after Wilson and agreed on a social democracy rather than a socialist one, but failed to remove Clause IV in 1961
Labour weakness enabled the Conservatives to avoid the electoral consequences of their mistakes, partially
1) Suez 1956
2) Resignation of Eden
Conclusion
The Labour party was dominating in votes up to 1950, however that year the difference between Labour and Conservative parties was very neglectful. There are several factors that might have contributed to Labours loss of power in 1951. The Labour government was associated with the period of austerity when people had to overcome rationing and devaluation. Additionally, many key members of the Cabinet were exhausted or unwell. Moreover, they were split internally and the event with Gaitskell that led to Bevan’s resignation in 1951, undermined the cohesion of the government. In comparison to them, the conservative party seemed to be more