why did labour lose the 1951 election

Overall, it was the first-past-the-post system that won Labour their 'landslide' victory in 1945 and in 1951 allowed the Conservatives to win despite polling less votes. This is especially so when one considers the crises they faced in that year, making the 1945 blue-skies, New Jerusalem thinking incredibly difficult to sustain. The 1942 Beveridge Report was the most important report that contributed to Labour's success in 1945. Both clearly agree that the pre-war period was significant, however they differ on why it was significant. The war had played a crucial role in Labours 1945 victory, by bringing them into the public eye - they were left effectively to their own devices to rule the homefront as Churchill struggled on with the war effort. Morisson, the Deputy Prime Minister, believed that The very honesty and simplicity of the campaign helped enormously. conservatives into a modern party, Beveridge aimed to create a minimum standard of living and full employment and believed the five evils blocking these aims and reconstruction were: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. The dynamic nature of our site means that Javascript must be enabled to function properly. fundamentals called for further In 1951 Labour attained 48.8% of the vote, and the Conservatives only got 48% of the vote. In the 1992 election 11.5 million people voted Labour. While it cannot be disputed that Labour kept their campaign simple, it would be ill-advised to declare that it helped enormously. Paul Addison, however, argues that the campaign was important because Attlee's reputation rose during the 1945 electoral campaign. It was not Churchill who lost the 1945 election, it was the ghost of Neville Chamberlain. The 1959 General Election gave the Conservatives their third successive victory, the first time that a party had won three successive general elections since Napoleonic times. spectacles and dentures. The Conservatives' campaign focused on Churchill and international relationships rather than any major new reforms that the electorate so desperately wanted. Looking at the Labour government in these four sections of reform, of crisis, of consolidation and of division helps us to see where the party lost its huge majority. The Conservatives voted against the creation of a centralised health service in 1946, preferring rather the idea of state provision of healthcare administered at local level. Britain to become a world exporting power, Gaitskell and Morrison (Deputy Prime Minister) both doubted whether Labour would be able to defeat the Conservatives in 1951, owing to their loss of seats in the 1950 election. In 1951, Labour was pilling on votes in seats they had already won, while the Conservatives won narrow victories. Why did Harold Wilson win the 1964 Election. Clement Attlee was leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955, and served as Britain's Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951. Mainly because the Brexit Party split off some of their voters. Understandably, the architect and far left member of the party, Bevan, was enraged at this suggestion. Between 1948 and the election year 1950, Labour was committed to a period of tighter spending and more austere demands placed upon citizens. 20thcentury British politics had been dominated by the conservatives, and Labour had never formed a workable majority before 1945. Why did the Conservatives win/ Labour lose the 1951 UK general election? The first-past-the-post system ensures that the elected government has a workable majority. How Labour Governments Fall: From Ramsey MacDonald to Gordon Brown, Aspects of British Political History 1914- 1995, The Lessons of 19451951 Tories in Opposition. The campaign is all too often seen as the most important factor in Labour's landslide victory in 1945, however it is of less importance than the war or their policies, for example. authority, 1950-1951 labelled as an Conservative opposition fell off quickly, however, when the popularity of the NHS became increasingly apparent following its inception in 1946. But Labour didn't lose in 1983 because it was too left wing; rather, Thatcher won because of the Falklands War. drugs. Conservatives 1 to 10, Election of 1950 Conservative opposition fell off quickly, however, when the popularity of the NHS became increasingly apparent following its inception in 1946. Extremely cold weather met with insufficient stockpiles of coal, and much industry ground to a halt as a result. The Conservative victory in 1951 is typically attributed either to the failures of Attlee's government - devaluation, the Bevanite revolt - or to the achievements of Churchill's opposition, including Lord Woolton's reforms and the acceptance of the "post-war consensus". The Labour party had suffered after 10 years in government, and their MPs had begun falling ill, some even dying. time of economic downfall- seen to be short lived as by 1952 the Finally, splits over the Korean War both over the political justifications for British deployment, and over the cuts in public spending domestically brought about splits in the party which made it poorly placed to fight the 1951 election. This caused widespread discontent as even during the war, bread had not been rationed. failing industries. 'consolidation', Division also came as Bevan was resentful in Essay on why Labour failed to renew itself after it fulfilled its 1945 manifesto As a response to the housing problem, Dalton committed to building one million new homes, 80% of which were council houses to be rented cheaply to those who most needed them. how the radical Labour Evidently, the Conservatives were punished in 1945, when they were lucky to not have been in 1935 and, arguably, if elections had taken place in 1940, Labour may have won. and failed to outline their The party had achieved many of the reforms put forward in their 1945 manifesto, most noteably the implementation of the welfare state, and now lacked new policy ideas. Most significantly, Labour established the NHS in 1948, they also brought about various other reforms pertaining to welfare. So a better question is why did labour lose so many seats in '50. The first years, between 1945 and 1946, saw fervour for rapid reform in many areas of government. should remain, Bevan an Labour Hugh Dalton's administration of the response of Tory MP to Increase in liberal votes in 1964 meant that conservative vote decreased, therefore labour required less votes to win. After the shock of the 1945 election, Labour appointed Lord Woolton as their party chairman: he was central to the revitalisation of the Conservatives and reorganised the conservative party effectively. His frugality extended to his welfare policies, which involved the further tightening of benefit payments. hoped for, Marshall Aid 1948 Statisticians calculated that should it be repeated, Labour would secure a majority of 85 seats at the next election. commons meant that there was an Extremely cold weather met with insufficient stockpiles of coal, and much industry ground to a halt as a result. Gaitskell had imposed upon the health service prescription charges for glasses and false teeth, which to Bevan and other NHS idealists represented the betrayal of NHS founding principals. ministers to show their political competence, Work of Butler in transforming the George Washington Bridgeopened in 1931.Two lanes were added in 1946, and a lower deck added in 1962. Conservative (48.0%) Dunkirk triggered many people to blame the conservatives and their previous leaders for appeasement. Americas way of Attlee's downfall: why did Labour lose the 1951 General Election? Following their post-war election defeat, the Conservatives were able to make significant improvements to the party between 1945 and 1951. The changes appear to have been hugely beneficial to the majority of the population. In the summer of 1950, the Korean War broke out. Attlee's reputation rose during the 1945 electoral campaign. The electorate clearly did not see it this way though, believing that the Labour party had lied to them, this feeling of betrayal saw many voters return to the reliable Conservatives in the 1951 election. Labour has suffered one of its worst general election results in living memory with dozens of seats that the party had held on to for decades falling to the Conservatives. disadvantaged by 1st Past post 419 million in 1951, Increase in defence expenditure by 4.7 billion, Issues rose in However, in 1951 they could only manage 109 candidates, gaining just over 700,000 votes (2.6% of entire vote). Most obviously, because the campaigns importance is overshadowed by the larger, more influential issues. Economically the Labour government of 45-51 struggled, with the electorate all too aware of he post-war shortages, the continuing rationing, increased taxes, and the general dislike of austerity the feeling of being under the thumb of the Americans. Following the 1966 General Election, the Labour Party's Home Policy Committee observed that the party had, "for the first time, obtained a majority of the female vote" and remarked, "it would be very satisfactory if we could retain it." 1951. Between 1948 and the election year 1950, Labour was committed to a period of tighter spending and more austere demands placed upon citizens. After being elected in 1945, the Labour Government introduced changes to welfare, employment and housing that would last a generation. Ultimately, the Conservatives profited from the decreased presence of Liberal candidates as they were able to win their votes through appealing to middle class needs, more so than Labour, who was affliated with the continuation of rationing, high taxes, wage freezes and unfulfilled promises for housing. After gaining such a large majority in 1945, most Labour politicians felt relatively assured that they had at least 10 years in office secured. The Conservative Party made some political headway by attacking the governments credentials with regard to the 1948 devaluation of the pound, which was designed to bring about the much needed rise in exports. Labour's achievements, or rather what they did not achieve, can be linked as to why they lost: they had arguably successfully set up a welfare state but had also induced an economic crisis. For all of my fellow A2 AQA historians out there, I hope this helps! After his 1945 defeat, Churchill remained party leader and led the Conservatives into the following general election in February 1950. why did labour lose the 1951 election. electricity-1948 Britain's involvement in the Korean War had not been a popular decision. Labours answer focused on working class interests. Furthermore, the Conservatives were able to exploit Labours failures to improve living standards. socialist the party 2% interest How Did The Petrov Affair Affect Australia. Then, in the summer of 1947, problems arose with the US war loan to be paid to the British government, in the form of the convertibility clause. Why did Labour lose the 1951 election? For the first time, the government provided a catch-all benefits system which hypothecated a proportion of tax revenue thence to be paid against sickness, elderliness and unemployment to name but three key entitlements. sects ( religion/ groups), Issue in Iran with Oil efiniry nationalised, wasn't handles, Election results 1951 Liberals 6, Note how Labour actually achieved a The campaign is all too often seen as the most important factor in Labour's landslide victory in 1945, however it is of less importance than the war or their policies, for example. Certainly a major factor in the 1951 election was the redrawing of constituency boundaries, which dwarfs in significance the factors which should have mattered indeed electoral systems were crucial to both elections. The party's manifesto was named Mr Churchill's Declaration of Policy to the Electorate, in the hope of taking advantage of Churchill's huge popularity. Gaitskell, would gut defence expenditure by 400 not gaining the role of foreign sec- given to H. 4.86: $1 to 2.80:$1, Rationing increasingly unpopular with middle classes, Eg. 9% swing against Labour. He set in motion key reforms to wipe out the image of the Conservative party being upper class elitists who do not understand the people that had been so prevalent in the last election. He lost again, but was given one more opportunity in 1951 . They suggested the election should take place the following year, in 1952, hoping the government would be able to make enough progress towards economic improvement to win the election. Labour paper the Tribune, Paul Adleman points out In 1945 Labour had won 11.99m (47.8%) of the vote, and went on to attain 13.95m (48.8%) of the vote in 51. Here i looks at the reasons behind Labour's worst defeat in an election campaign since 1935. The Conservatives voted against the creation of a centralised health service in 1946, preferring rather the idea of state provision of healthcare administered at local level. This was at a time when the econo. million if some charged could be made on The Conservatives' campaign focused on Churchill and international relationships rather than any major new reforms that the electorate so desperately wanted. However by 1945 Labour was a strong, organised and well respected party, whilst the Conservatives were weakened by the war and internal splits. Labour had made so many promises before the 1945 election that peoples hopes were set too high, many felt that Labour failed to deliver. In February 1957, Labour won the seat of North Lewisham in what was their first by-election gain from the Tories in almost twenty years. Gaitskell and Morrison (Deputy Prime Minister) both doubted whether Labour would be able to defeat the Conservatives in 1951, owing to their loss of seats in the 1950 election. On Friday morning the. assortment of industries', Following clause IV Sarah from CollectifbdpHi there, would you like to get such a paper? Whilst in 1951 the Labour government was punished for its unrealistic promises made in 1945. Resource summary. Similarly, Labour simply made too many promises that were out of their reach, however they did fulfil most of their promises. The year 1947 brought an abrupt end to the honeymoon, as the government was forced to shift focus from massive reform to crisis management in response to fuel and trade shortages. The economy's recovery was further hindered by the short-sighted need to remain a world power. Although this was not much in terms of the popular vote, Labour lost 78 seats and the Conservatives gained 101; Labour were left with a majority of just five seats. opportunity for the other Conservative These problems, however, would have been inherent to any government of Britain at the time, but the fact was, Labour were held accountable. The popularity of the 1942 Beveridge Report, which laid much of the groundwork for the establishment of the NHS and the Welfare State, was an endorsement of Labour politics. Why Did Labour Lose Power in 1951 | PDF | Labour Party (Uk) | National Health Service Why did Labour lose power in 1951 - Free download as Word Doc (.doc / .docx), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. This committed the UK government to keeping the value of sterling at a stable rate against the US dollar, and this meant that the governments hands were tied as they sought to address Britains balance of payments deficit by means of international trade. higher percentage of votes Gaitskell 1950, Bevan failed to accept compromised proposed by However, the electorate did not empathise with this view, many now believing that the Conservatives were a more trustworthy option. excessive class orientated These reforms had a deep effect on Britain, however the electorate evidently felt not enough was done to fulfil the promises of a near utopian post-war Britain. Unpopular policies like high taxes. How about receiving a customized one? Between 1948 and the election year 1950, Labour was committed to a period of tighter spending and more austere demands placed upon citizens. Also the Conservatives were much better funded in 1951, by business men afraid of further nationalisation the only major labour reform that the Conservatives dared to take a firm stance against. Named Let Us Face the Future, it emphasised that Labour were the only party that could be trusted to deliver a strong Britain and Beveridge's plans. But it was not. Prior to the war of April-June 1982, the Conservative Party was slumped at a consistent 27 per cent throughout late 1981, with a slight recovery in early 1982. Then, as the Cripps years failed to bring an end to food scarcities and food queues, Labours perceived impact upon the national way of life was minimal to voters in the most crucial swinging constituencies. The financial strain of rearming subsequently led Gaitskell, who at this point was Chancellor of the Exchequer, threatening the idea of introducing prescription charges to the NHS (although it was not implemented until the Conservtives gained power in 1951 ). Labour actually gained fewer votes than in 1959, but the Conservatives lost 1.6 million votes and the Liberals gained over 1.5 million votes. This led to complacency with Labour relying too heavily on support from voters who felt betrayed. The Conservatives reluctance to accept this report was hugely beneficial to Labour who capitalised on the huge of public support behind it. The first-past-the-post system emphasised each election's result. Then, in the summer of 1947, problems arose with the US war loan to be paid to the British government, in the form of the convertibility clause. ","created_at":"2015-05-24T10:39:56Z","updated_at":"2016-02-19T08:09:05Z","sample":false,"description":"","alerts_enabled":true,"cached_tag_list":"britain, history, 1951, labour, defeat, alevel, attlee, churchill, election, victory","deleted_at":null,"hidden":false,"average_rating":null,"demote":false,"private":false,"copyable":true,"score":35,"artificial_base_score":0,"recalculate_score":false,"profane":false,"hide_summary":false,"tag_list":["britain","history","1951","labour","defeat","alevel","attlee","churchill","election","victory"],"admin_tag_list":[],"study_aid_type":"MindMap","show_path":"/mind_maps/2798048","folder_id":675903,"public_author":{"id":348222,"profile":{"name":"alinam","about":null,"avatar_service":"gravatar","locale":"en-GB","google_author_link":null,"user_type_id":141,"escaped_name":"alinam","full_name":"alinam","badge_classes":""}}},"width":300,"height":250,"rtype":"MindMap","rmode":"canonical","sizes":"[[[0, 0], [[300, 250]]]]","custom":[{"key":"env","value":"production"},{"key":"rtype","value":"MindMap"},{"key":"rmode","value":"canonical"},{"key":"sequence","value":1},{"key":"uauth","value":"f"},{"key":"uadmin","value":"f"},{"key":"ulang","value":"en_us"},{"key":"ucurrency","value":"usd"}]}. As he struggled to justify his November emergency budget tightening spending and committing to an exchange rate policy subservient to US demands, Dalton resigned as Chancellor. As Labour struggled to legislate effectively, and following another badly-handled balance of payments crisis in the summer of 1951, Attlee dissolved Parliament in September and Labour subsequently lost - albeit narrowly - the October election. In 1945 the Conservatives had suffered from being divided and disorganised, while Labour had been strong and united. Act. nationalisation of a 'ragbag The new Chancellor Sir Stafford Cripps expected of the country an austere realism which entailed the retention of rationing. Bevin's speech 1948 where he referred to Why did Labour lose the 1951 General Election? This divided party had stood no chance against the organised, well-funded Conservatives. Finally, splits over the Korean War both over the political justifications for British deployment, and over the cuts in public spending domestically brought about splits in the party which made it poorly placed to fight the 1951 election. Before the war, Labour were all too often seen as inexperienced and even unpatriotic due to their left wing ideologies. While Labour managed to retain much working class support largely because of the role class identification was playing in determining partisan support at this time the middle class had quickly become disaffected. So, at the 1950 election there was a 2. This brought about a little unrest within working class support but it was the effect on middle class attitudes and the cracks opening among the Parliamentary partys support which began to harm electoral credibility. They had beaten the Conservatives by a clear 8% however in 51 they only had a 0.8% lead on the votes, as to why they didn't win after getting more votes one has to examine the first past the post system. Paul Addison argues that 1940 was the year when the foundations of political power shifted decisively leftwards for a decade By the autumn of 1942 a major upheaval in public opinion had taken place. People had lost trust in the conservatives and blamed them for Britains military short-comings, and this was important for Labours rise in support. - NEW National income had fallen by a quarter during the War, meaning that many export markets needed to be recovered lest Britain face financial ruin. As Labour struggled to legislate effectively, and following another badly-handled balance of payments crisis in the summer of 1951, Attlee dissolved Parliament in September and Labour subsequently lost albeit narrowly the October election. In addition, Morrison became Home Secretary and Bevin Minister of Labour and National Service. Their election campaign was heavily based off the idea that, if voted into power, there would be a period of consolidation after the previous years of innovation. The year 1947 brought an abrupt end to the honeymoon, as the government was forced to shift focus from massive reform to crisis management in response to fuel and trade shortages. The term was coined from a particular type of horse racing wherein the winning horse passes the final post and all the others are disqualified. His frugality extended to his welfare policies, which involved the further tightening of benefit payments. ","created_at":"2015-05-24T10:39:56Z","updated_at":"2016-02-19T08:09:05Z","sample":false,"description":"","alerts_enabled":true,"cached_tag_list":"britain, history, 1951, labour, defeat, alevel, attlee, churchill, election, victory","deleted_at":null,"hidden":false,"average_rating":null,"demote":false,"private":false,"copyable":true,"score":35,"artificial_base_score":0,"recalculate_score":false,"profane":false,"hide_summary":false,"tag_list":["britain","history","1951","labour","defeat","alevel","attlee","churchill","election","victory"],"admin_tag_list":[],"study_aid_type":"MindMap","show_path":"/mind_maps/2798048","folder_id":675903,"public_author":{"id":348222,"profile":{"name":"alinam","about":null,"avatar_service":"gravatar","locale":"en-GB","google_author_link":null,"user_type_id":141,"escaped_name":"alinam","full_name":"alinam","badge_classes":""}}},"width":300,"height":250,"rtype":"MindMap","rmode":"canonical","sizes":"[[[0, 0], [[300, 250]]]]","custom":[{"key":"env","value":"production"},{"key":"rtype","value":"MindMap"},{"key":"rmode","value":"canonical"},{"key":"sequence","value":1},{"key":"uauth","value":"f"},{"key":"uadmin","value":"f"},{"key":"ulang","value":"en_us"},{"key":"ucurrency","value":"usd"}]}, {"ad_unit_id":"App_Resource_Sidebar_Lower","resource":{"id":2798048,"author_id":348222,"title":"Why did Labour lose the 1951 election?

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