Consensus And Conflict 1945-90

Front 1

Debt 1945

Back 1

Britain had fought much of the Second World War with aid loans from the USA. By 1945, Britain owed the USA £4198 million. Debt repayment cost the Government £70 million every day.

Front 2

Trade Production 1945

Back 2

As a result of the war, British GDP shrunk by 25 per cent. Britain was experiencing a balance of payments crisis.

Front 3

Balance of Payments

Back 3

Essentially, Britain was spending far more overseas than it was earning from other countries.

Front 4

What caused the Balance of Payments crisis of 1945?

Back 4

A decline in British Trade - shrunk by 66% after war.
A decline in proportion of British Industry for overseas markets.
Military commitments - Britiain's overseas military spending increased by 400 per cent between 1938 and 1946.

Front 5

Britiain's infrastructure 1945

Back 5

German bombing had destroyed a great deal of Britain's infrastructure. During the war, around 4 million homes were destroyed or damaged, leaving 2.25 million people homeless. Approximately 20 per cent of schools and hospitals were destroyed or damaged.

Front 6

The Beveridge Report

Back 6

1942
A detailed plan for the welfare system which would eliminate material poverty.
It proposed a system of social insurance that all working people would pay into, which, in turn, would provide for them when they were unemployed or sick.
Beveridge argued it would destroy the '5 giants' of war.

Front 7

The Five War Giants

Back 7

1. Want
2. Ignorance
3. Disease
4. Squalor
5. Idleness

Front 8

Keynesianism

Back 8

Large scale un-employment was a continual feature of the interwar period. The British economist John Maynard Keynes propose a new economic approach which he claimed would help governments ensue full employment. Keynes argued that governments could stimulate economic growth by spending money and cutting taxes during recessions.

Front 9

1944 Education Act - The Butler Act

Back 9

Named after the conservative politician Rab Butler and committed by the Government to provide free secondary education. The Tripartite System was set up consisting of Grammar Schools, Technical Schools and Secondary Modern schools, designed to teach different skills. The 11 plus exam determined which school students would attend.

Front 10

New Jerusalem

Back 10

During the 1945 election campaign, Labour leader Clement Attlee set out Labour's vision of New Jerusalem. He wanted to achieve full employment, address social inequalities by using a social employment system. Nationalise key industries, resolve Britain's B.O.P Crisis and to solve the problem if homelessness by building 400,000 new houses a year.

Front 11

Why was Labour's victory unexpected?
(1945)

Back 11

1. Winston Churchill had been an extremely popular wartime leader.
2. The Conservative Party had a bigger election campaign, on average they spent £780 on their campaign whereas Labour spent about £595.
3. The election was based on an out of date electoral register which over represented older voters who tended to support conservatives.

Front 12

What was the perception of the Conservatives in 1945?

Back 12

1. The Conservatives were