Britian 1964-70 (KO)

Question 1

When was the Labour election victory? (With narrow majority)

Answer 1

1964

Question 2

When was the National plan created?

Answer 2

1964

Question 3

When did Labour increase their parliamentary majority with a second election?

Answer 3

1966

Question 4

When did the government devalue the pound?

Answer 4

1967

Question 5

When were the Race Relations Acts?

Answer 5

1965 and 1968

Question 6

When was the Abortion Act

Answer 6

1967

Question 7

When was ‘In place of strife’?

Answer 7

1969

Question 8

When were there protests against Vietnam? Where were they?

Answer 8

1968 - Grosvenor Square

Question 9

When was the Commonwealth immigration Act?

Answer 9

1968

Question 10

When do Labour lose the general election to the Conservatives?

Answer 10

1970

Question 11

What majority did Labour have in the 1964 election?

Answer 11

4 seats

Question 12

What majority did Labour have in the 1966 election?

Answer 12

98 seats

Question 13

What majority did the Conservatives have in the 1970 election?

Answer 13

27 seats

Question 14

What was Wilsons backstory?

Answer 14

• Grammar school educated
• From Yorkshire
• Started as a Bevanite left but moved centre

Question 15

Who was the very liberal Home Secretary of this period?

Answer 15

Roy Jenkins

Question 16

What was some of the liberal reform passed in this period?

Answer 16

• 1967 Abortion Act (pushed by David Steel)
• Sexual Offences Act 1967
• Death Penalty abolished 1969
• some censorship of sexual themes lifted (e.g. Lady Chatterley’s lover)

Question 17

When was Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of blood’ speech?

Answer 17

1968

Question 18

What did this government do for Race relations?

Answer 18

• made discrimination harder (Race relations Acts)
• made immigration harder (Commonwealth immigration Act)

Question 19

What was the counter culture that emerged in this period?

Answer 19

• psychedelic drugs and hippy culture
• protest culture among students e.g. Vietnam

Question 20

Who opposed the liberal culture?

Answer 20

Mary Whitehouse - clean up TV campaign - ‘small c’ conservatism.

Question 21

When was the open university set up?

Answer 21

1969

Question 22

What happened with women’s liberation in this period?

Answer 22

• contraceptive pill becomes widely accessible
• increased female education
• laid groundwork for feminism of the 70s

Question 23

What is the Wilson quote about technology for this period?

Answer 23

‘The white heat of technology’

Question 24

What happened to the National plan?

Answer 24

It was quietly abandoned in 1967

Question 25

How was British industrial relations in this period described?

Answer 25

‘The sick man of Europe’

Question 26

What did Wilson do to try and combat inflation?

Answer 26

- Proposed a Prices and Incomes Board to curb prices, and also urge unions to restrain wage demands.

Question 27

How did the unions respond to Wilsons measures?

Answer 27

They refused to stop demands, and a wave of strikes such as the Seamen and Dockers strikes in 1966-67 occurred.

Question 28

How did Wilson respond to the increased strikes?

Answer 28

‘In place of strife’ white paper with Barbara Castle

Question 29

Why did Wilson devalue the pound? How did he do it?

Answer 29

- Trade deficit and balance of payments deficit - He got loans from the IMF and dropped the pound from $2.80 to $2.40 so he could more easily pay back debts.

Question 30

Why did Labour lose in 1970?

Answer 30

- failure on most policy fronts - impression of divides - Powell’s racism was estimated to have gained the Conservatives 2.5 million votes

Question 31

What happened in Northern Ireland in this period?

Answer 31

- The ‘Troubles’ - The Catholics form a civil rights movement to protest oppression - The Battle of Bogside lead to Callaghan needing to send British troops in to keep order in 1969

Question 32

Who resigned because of economic issues?

Answer 32

- Frank Cousins resigns as Minister of Technology as he used to be connected to the Unions - James Callaghan resigns over humiliation of devaluation (he urged Wilson to abandon ‘In place of strife)

Question 33

What happened in East of Suez in this period?

Answer 33

- As Britain had high defence spending, Wilson felt he had to withdraw from foreign territories - Withdrew from Malaysia in 1967-71 - Popular with the left but opposed by the US - Reflects Britain’s loss of confidence in its world policing role

Question 34

What happened in Vietnam in this period?

Answer 34

- Wilson refuses direct help but provides diplomatic support to the U.S. (no boots on the ground) - Left felt this support was too much, hence Grosvenor Square demonstration where over 10,000 showed anti-war views

Question 35

What happened with Europe in this period?

Answer 35

- Wilson applied to the EEC in 1967 but was vetoed again by De Gaulle

Question 36

What happened in the 1966 snap election?

Answer 36

- Wilson called snap election because the party had an unworkably small majority of 4 seats - Landslide victory for Labour, much larger majority of 98 seats