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Summary A-level AQA 2S Modern Britain History revison
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A-level AQA 2S Modern Britain History revison, the economic, social, political and cultural policies and effects.
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The Conservatives● Coalition Government / Churchill's War Ministry : combination of the
Conservatives and Labour
● Clementine Attlee :Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951
● Hugh Gaitskell : Chancellor of the Exchequer 1950-1951, introduced
prescription charges. Became leader of the labour party in 1955, defeating
Bevin in the election
● Aneurin Bevan : Minister of health in Attlee's government. Had large
amounts of support from labour MPs and Trade Unions
● Winston Churchill : served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from
1940 to 1945 (WW2) and again from 1951 to 1955
● Rab Butler : Conservative, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1951–55, introduced
the education act and adopted keynesian policies
● Keynesian policies : government should increase demand to boost growth
● 1951 Bevinite quarrel: The split in the Labour Party when Aneurin Bevan
resigned as Minister of Labour because of prescription charges
● First past the post system : the candidate who wins the most votes in each
constituency is elected. This is the system which allowed the Conservatives to
win the 1951 election and onwards
● Anthony Eden : Conservative, served as Foreign Secretary including
Churchills during WW2 and then as Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957
● Harold Macmillan aka “Supermac” : Conservative Prime Minister from 1957
to 1963.
● He is best known for:
- Restoring Britain's confidence and fortunes
- Reorientation British foreign policy
- Was a ‘one nation conservative’
● One-nation Conservative : Believes that all classes in society have
obligations for each other and those better off hold the responsibility to ensure
the wellbeing of those worse off
● Conservatives dominated British politics from 1951-1964
- Conflict within labour such as Bevin and Gaitskell weakened Labour
, - The individuals were well likes eg “Supermac”
- 1951 marked the end of austerity (economic policies that aim to reduce
government budget deficits through spending cuts and/or tax
increases) and was the start of the long post-war boom
- The conservatives recognised the importance of public approval for
the legacy of Attlee governments (post-war consensus politics) eg
continued on with the NHS and state welfare after it gained iconic
status
- Mixed economy with both private and state owned industries
- Now had a legacy of national unity (Churchill)
- Full employment
- Recognised the importance of trade unions (wanted a cooperative
relationship)
● Housing
- 1951 Conservative Manifesto promised to build 300,000 / year
- This would rebuild the houses destroyed during the war and replace
many of the slums that people had lived in before the war
- Macmillan oversaw the success of this
● Education
- Conservatives continued the tripartite system which developed after
the 1944 Butler Act
- 3 kinds of schools emerged :
➢ Grammar schools (intellectually gifted)
➢ Technical schools (practical and vocational skills)
➢ Secondary modern (basic education to majority)
- Children would take the 11+ to decide which one they would go to
- Most either went to grammar or secondary modern although Eden tried
to promote technical schools when he was PM
By the 1960s people began to question how fair these systems were
● Social reforms
- The Clean Air Act 1956 = aimed to prevent smog
- Housing and Factory Acts = improve working conditions
- Butler was more liberal than many other conservatives, he began to
take actions on social issues such as homosexuality and the death
penalty
➢ The Homicide Act 1957 = restricted when the death penalty
would be used
➢ The Wolfenden Commision 1957 = recommended homosexual
behaviour should no longer be a legal act
, Labour Divisions
● Hugh Gaitskell : Chancellor of the Exchequer 1950-1951, introduced
prescription charges. Became leader of the labour party in 1955, defeating
Bevin in the election
● Aneurin Bevan : Minister of health in Attlee's government. Had large
amounts of support from labour MPs and Trade Unions
● Divisions
- Labour had 14M votes in the 1951 election
- Left wanted labour to be more socialist - there was growing opposition
through trade unions
- Labour couldn't decide which stance to take on Britain's nuclear
weapons
- Bevanite quarrel
- Further disagreements between Gaitskell and Bevin as party leader
- Failure to exploit opportunities such as the 1956 Suez Crisis
- Gaitskell forced to back down on his suggestion of clause IV
● 1959 election :
➔ Labour entered with optimism
➔ Gaitskell was confident and promoted moderate policies which he
believed would’ve been popular with voters
➔ Macmillan (Conservative) won. Labours defeat was surprising and
disappointing
● Frank Cousins : Leader of the ‘Transport and General Workers Union’
[TGWU], one of the most powerful trade unions.
● Clause IV
➔ After Labour's loss, Gaitskell suggested the idea of abolishing Clause
IV
➔ Part of labours constitution - sets out its aims and values
➔ The original 1918 clause committed the party to nationalism
➔ This angered some of the Labour left and some union members
Britain's weapons
● Unilateral nuclear disarmament (UND)
➔ A policy to renounce, reject and remove nuclear weapons
➔ Was a recurring object of Peace Movements
● Britain wanted to be a nuclear power but the US had stopped sharing nuclear
secrets with Britain so they would have to create their own weapons
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