Win Three Elections: 1983

Question 1

How was the Falklands war important to the 1983 election ?

Answer 1

• sign of British confidence and unity
• increased popularity of Thatcher standing up to General Galfieri
• continuation of Britannia and the ‘iron lady’ perceived as symptomatic of Britain really being Great
• favourable press coverage ‘Thatcher triumphs’- The Guardian June 1982
• patriotic sentiment which increased support for Thatcher as people felt confident in Britain once again

Question 2

Why was the Labour Party important to the 1983 election ?

Answer 2

• Labour Party split 1981: moderates broke away from the party
• the new Social Democratic Party with their Allie’s the Liberals polled 7.7 million votes
• No incentive to vote Labour for many centrists as their policies seemed unfavourable with nuclear disarmament and industry of industry
• failed to appeal outside of traditional voters
• Michael Foot’s manifesto, Labour leader election Nov 1980, was dubbed the ‘longest suicide note in history’
• Foots image: lacked assured manner on TV which contrasted poorly to the confident and assuring Thatcher

Question 3

How did Thatchers economic
Policy help the 1983 victory ?

Answer 3

• By this point Thatchers economic policy had shown the early signs of economic upturn
• Thatcher encouraged new business: loan guarantee scheme 1982 enabled 13k small businesses to borrow £440 million
• inflation had been reduced from 22% in 1980 down to 4% by 1983 but the rate of price rising fell from 18% to. 4.5%
• signifcant social cost of her monetarism policies as it was a moral issue with people complaining of being unable to provide for the future due to the decreased money in circulation
• further divided by the right to buy scheme as council tenants could buy their homes aimed to create a ‘property owning democracy’
• reduced state involvement and encouraged conservative voting amongst the middle class, reduced public spending and generated revenue from sales
• 500k houses sold by 1983 however it rescued the availiabutly of-housing and in the long term damaged the housing market rescuing availability

Question 4

What was the outcome of the 1983 election ?

Answer 4

397 conservative seats
209 Labour seats
- general sign of confidence in Thatchers approach

However in terms of votes the Conservatives polled fewer votes than 1979 but Labour had also called by 3 million to 8.5 million by 1983

Question 5

What was this mainly down to ?

Answer 5

Short term benefits of Thatcher economics combine dieht the recent success of Falklands
- the split in Labour encouraged a feeling on content

Question 6

What factors affected the 1983 victory ?

Answer 6

Falklands
Labour weakness
Economic policy