John Major 1990-97

Question 1

One key reason why John Major’s rise to leadership

Answer 1

Thatcherites saw him as ‘one of them’

Question 2

When was the poll tax abandoned?

Answer 2

November 1991

Question 3

3 key things that happened in John Majors first term (1990-1992)

Answer 3

• removal of poll tax 1991
  -Gulf War: supported President Bush in removing the Iraqis from Kuwait 1991
  -Signed the Maastricht treaty (dec 1991) which committed Britain into greater integration in Europe

Question 4

What did the option polls place the conservatives as in the 1992 election?

Answer 4

29% compared to labours 41%

Question 5

How did John Major run his electoral campaign in 1992

Answer 5

• won a lot of respect for old fashioned ‘soapbox’ politics, making impromptu speeches in tows such as luton on top of a soapbox

Question 6

How did labour lose the 1992 election

Answer 6

• Kinnock ‘we’re alright!’ Speech did not go down well with supporters
  -John Smith’s ‘alternative budget’ relentlessly attacked by torries which gave voters second thoughts about wisdom of labour
• Legacy of Thatcher still apparent with labour shifting to the left e.g people could no afford foreign holidays
• Not seen as trustworthy as Major

Question 7

Effect on the Lawson boom on house prices

Answer 7

House prices rose rapidly.
Contributed to a feeling of prosperity.
Rising prices led to people doing anything to buy a property.

Question 8

Situation after the Lawson boom in early 1990s

Answer 8

House prices begin to fall.
Many people were left owning a property less than the loan they had taken out (negative equity).

Question 9

Figure of houses in negative equity at start of 1992 compared to end of 1992

Answer 9

300,000
To
900,000

Question 10

When did Britain join the ERM

Answer 10

October 1990

Question 11

When was the run on the pound

Answer 11

Wednesday 16 September 1992
(Black Wednesday)

Question 12

What were the events of Black Wednesday

Answer 12

Run on the pound
Bank of England puts interest rates up to 15% to defend its international valuation
Government forced to leave the ERM, devaluing the currency.

Question 13

Consequences of Black Wednesday

Answer 13

• Economy picks up
  -lower unemployment
• lower inflation
  (Not everyone agrees this was due to leaving the ERM)
• Rise in interest rates led to increased mortgages- sinking government popularity

Question 14

Economic situation by 1997

Answer 14

• Car ownership increased, negative equity a thing of the past but people reluctant to credit major for this due to Black Wednesday

Question 15

What was ‘cash for questions’

Answer 15

MPs were paid by commercial businesses to ask questions in the House of Commons.
Neil Hamilton most accused

Question 16

“Arms to Iraq” scandal

Answer 16

Matrix Churchill company caught help supply parts for the Iraqi weapons programme. MOD found to have provided advice on how best to obtain export licenses.

Question 17

2 other scandals

Answer 17

• John Aitken accused of allowing a businessman to pick up his hotel.
• Jeffery Archer resigned in October 1986, accused of having been a sex workers customer.

Question 18

Satire- Major

Answer 18

Major’s frustration and supposed lack of imagination were mocked in Private Eye magazine

Question 19

When were the coal industry acts

Answer 19

1987 and 1994 paved a way for mines to be privatised

Question 20

What was the Citizens Charter

Answer 20

Announced by Major in 1991
Project promised to increase accountability and responsiveness in the public sector, treating the public like more valued customers

Health care reorganised as an internal market this meant that different units within the NHS were free to buy services from one another.

Question 21

When was the teacher training agency and national curriculum created

Answer 21

1994 and 1997

Question 22

When and what was the ‘council tax’?

Answer 22

March 1991, Heseltine presented the idea of the the new tax.
Based and property values and is paid by everyone.

Question 23

4 developments in homosexuality

Answer 23

• first case of AIDS recorded in 1981
  -Section 28, a law which banned the promotion of homosexuality
• Although not directly aimed at schools may people believe it made it illegal to discuss homosexuality in schools.
  -Reduction of age of consent from 21 to 18 for gays

Question 24

What did the divorce levels rise to from 1970 to 2000?

Answer 24

1970- 1% of men and 1% women divorced
2000- 8% men 9% women

Question 25

What % of babies were born to unmarried parents?

Answer 25

from 12% to 30%

Question 26

How was the anti-estblishment culture shown by the royals?

Answer 26

-marriages of 3 out 4 of the Queens children broke down
-debate led to the Queen paying tax on private income and reduction in the civil list

Question 27

When was the start of the rave culture and what did this culture lead to?

Answer 27

1989, linked to the use of ecstasy and a moral panic about drug taking- criminal justice e and public order act 1994

Question 28

What environmental campaigns were led?

Answer 28

protests against road developments in 1992, used various methods such as blocking roads

Question 29

What changes were there for women?

Answer 29

• Start of ‘third- wave feminism’
  -by mid 1990s message of ‘girl power’ became more prominent e.g spice girls
• 1994 rape within marriage became a criminal offence
• by 1993, 68% of women of the age of working were in work

Question 30

Who and when was the first woman speaker in the House of Commons?

Answer 30

1992, Betty Boothroyd

Question 31

When and what impact did the death of Stephen Lawrence have on race relations?

Answer 31

1993, five suspects arrested however suspects released and there was no convictions for 20 years
Suspicion the police did not take the case as seriously as they could of have done.

Question 32

Divides with conservatives of Maastricht

and what was the in the Maastricht treaty

Answer 32

Ken Clarke and Chris Patten backed the decision

Michal Portillo a eurosceptic did not.

EEC to turn into the EU and there to be single currency

Due to Major having good relations he managed to secure an opt-out clause for this currency

Question 33

Back me or sack me

Answer 33

did not improve majors relations with eurosceptics