At the time Labour was a significantly divided party with the Gaitskillites and the Bevanites meaning some support of voters was lost through lack of assurance that the party would lead with strength and could make decisions that were right for the nation and not selfish. The Labour economy policies are also a reason why they lost. Gaitskell promised to increase public spending without increasing taxes. This put his credibility under question. Another reason is that although voters were happy with the nationalisation of electricity, gas, atomic energy and airline industries they thought public ownership of coal and the railways had been a failure when they were last in government and there was little enthusiasm for further nationalisation which Labour was committed to by Clause Four of the Labour Party Constitution.…
The 3rd May 1979 saw the greatest parliamentary swing since the war, with the Conservative Party polling 43.9% of the vote; thereby winning 339 seats (up 62 since the last election). It is due to these figures, therefore, that historians such as Eric Evans believe that it was the strength of the Conservatives under their new, forward-thinking leader, Margaret Thatcher that led them to victory. However, when one looks at the context of the time itself, it seems apparent, as Marr sums up, that ‘it was likely that the current social climate left the Labour Party in an unfavourable position’. In reality, it seems more likely that Labour weaknesses, particularly those of the Labour Leader James Callaghan during the Winter of Discontent, led to the huge parliamentary swing of 1979.…
It is undeniable that between December 1832 and the election of 1841, under the leadership of Peel, the Tory party enjoyed a revival in terms of its popularity and organisation, under the leader ship of Robert Peel. Although some historians believe that this success can mainly be attributed to the actions of Peel, such as the Tamworth Manifesto, strong evidence, argued by reputed historians such as Eric Evans exists to suggest that the successes of the Conservative Party in the 1830’s can only partially be attributed to Peel himself.…
Many believed that Thatcher offered an alternative to the Labour government, a change, so after Callaghan’s government was destroyed by economic crises, rising unemployment, hostile trade unions and political misjudgements the Conservatives had a landslide victory with 43.9% of the vote. Before the Conservative rise to power with Thatcher, the Labour party had experience many troubles during their time in government, perhaps this is why the Conservatives won the General election. However was this win purely down to the conservatives and their policies or was it down to the failure of the Labour party.…
to produce policies with clarity. In the 1950 election Labour’s majority was reduced to 5 and it was…
In the1870s, the Conservative Party won three out of four elections and formed the government for 17 years out of a total of 20 years. It reflected the Conservative Party was the most powerful party in England at that time; they even had an overpowering majority of seats in the House of Lords. They had support from everywhere. However, the situation changed dramatically when the Liberal party won the general election in 1906 with an overwhelming majority of 400 seats as against 157 seats for the Conservatives party. This event was marked as the well-known ‘Liberal landslide’. There are several reasons why the Conservative lost such a large amount of seats; national efficiency, the imposition of Education Act and Licensing Act, tariff campaign and Neglect of social reform.…
Want' aimed to provide cash benefits to the people who needed them; 'Disease' aimed to provide the National Health Service; Ignorance aimed to provide free compulsory education; Squalor aimed to help people who were homeless due to the war by providing more houses; Idleness aimed to provide full employment. These were all major issues during wartime Britain and the Labour Party's support in their cleansing was a huge factor in their victory at the 1945 general…
To what extent is the Conservative Party under David Cameron still a 'New Right' party?…
The Liberals created many reforms which impacted the lives of British people differing between aid and attention for well being of all ages and insurance for the unemployed or sick. This essay will investigate whether they were of positive or negative on the British people.…
Perhaps, the most ‘revolutionary’ reform that Labour introduced was the NHS. Although there was liberal influence and consensus between the parties over welfare, the clear historical fact remains that Atlee’s Labour party introduced this. The public were in dire need of better healthcare – especially those who couldn’t afford it. Unfortunately, the majority of the population after the war were still living on a very small income and not many people in society could afford health services.…
Labour weakness was the most important reason for Conservative dominance from 1951 to 1964. How far do you agree? Between 1951 and 1964, the Conservative's time in power, the Labour party were providing ineffectual opposition. One of the reasons for this was their internal disputes over issues such as unilateralism. However, there were also more important reasons for Conservative dominance, such as the economy and growing prosperity in Britain, the property owning democracy and the greater availability of credit, modern conveiniences and luxury items. Prosperity during this time was growing, and people were in general wealthier than they had been before. A reason for this could have been the manipulation of the economy by the Conservatives; their stop-and-go stagflation lowered and rose taxes in accordance to the election date in order to gain more votes. Though they had no real long-term economic plan and their wily manipulation was often criticised, it did help them to gain votes. The wages also rose during this time meaning people were able to more freely afford luxury items and other things such as mortgages, which links to the property owning democracy.…
When the war ended in 1945, the Labour Government, led by Clement Atlee, were faced with tackling numerous problems that existed in Britain. Their aim was to meet the welfare needs of the British people who, during the war, got used to support provided by the government. In 1942, a Civil Servant and an experienced worker on social welfare named William Beveridge constructed a report which would go on to become the basis for the Labour reforms. By 1951, Labour had introduced many different reforms aiming to tackle the problems that faced Britain. The Beveridge Report identified what is known as the 5 giants; these include disease, want, squalor, idleness and ignorance. Arguably the most important and successful were the acts introduced to tackle disease and want, but some may disagree. Nevertheless, it is clear that the Labour government met most of the needs of the British people between 1945-1951.…
Secondly, First Past The Post has had a big impact on UK democracy. The system we use to elect our MPs has a real impact on how politics works in Britain. It has a direct effect on whether politicians truly represent us and whether we can hold them to account if they let us down. The defeat of the 2011 Alternative Vote (AV) referendum means it is now more important than ever to discredit our failed system and we are continuing to build the case for change at Westminster. This in turn means any of our votes just don’t count. Millions of people have no chance of deciding who their MP will be. And our votes are wasted by the system. Additionally, parties continue to focus all their time, money and effort on a handful of 'marginal seats', so just a few thousand voters can decide who runs Britain.…
Indeed, a major reason for Labour’s victory was because Harold Wilson advocated a campaign for economic modernisation of Britain so the nation did not fall behind the excelling economies of European rivals such as West Germany. Economists raise the significant point that economic modernisation looks at the internal dynamics of a nation while referring to social and cultural structures and the adaptation of new technologies. The Conservatives failed in every social and economic aspect of this theory, as shown in 1963, as unemployment reached approximately 800,000 making a mockery of Macmillan’s, ‘never had it so good speech.’ The inability of the Conservative Party to economically modernise Britain led not only to their downfall in the 1964 election, but also to the collapse of Britain’s economy during this era. Economists point out that as a result of Conservative mismanagement of the economic sectors, Britain faced financial hardships, including a huge balance of payments deficit, which undeniably caused higher levels of inflation, causing the cost of living for ordinary British people to rise. Moreover, the economic boom of the late 1950s and the, ‘Age of Affluence,’ had reached its end, with great saturation in the markets for consumer goods. Inevitably, poor…
“Despite its flaws the ‘First past the post’ electoral systems for general elections suits Great Britain”…