Austerity, Decline, Stagflation

(but there were the Beatles): England, 1945-2000)

Nationalization• 800 coal companies under single National Coal

Board• Electricity and Gas also nationalized but 80% of

economy remained in private hands• National Health Insurance Act/National Insurance

Act 1) Free hospital and medical care 2) unemployment insurance 3)sickness and disability benefits 4) maternity and death benefits 5) payments for retirees, widows, and orphans

• Funded by worker stamps (tax) with general fund subsidies when necessary

Austerity• Result of Balance of Payments problem, world

wide food shortage, and end of Lend-Lease• Food rationing in 1947 & 1948 (below WWII

levels)• Clothing shortages—longer women’s skirts

became a national issue• No gas for private cars and 4 page newspapers in

‘47• U. S. Loan of $3.75 billion in ’46 and Marshall

Plan aid helped• Pound devalued from $4.03 to $2.80• Spiv, or black market appeared—chocolate, liquor

Sir Stafford Cripps—C. of Exchequer

“There but for the Grace of God, goes God.” --W. L. S. C.

The Empire

• August 15, 1947—India granted independence

• Ireland Act of 1949—Ireland no longer a dominion—Northern Ireland part of UK at discretion of Belfast Parliament

• Britain withdrew from Palestine in 1948 (occupation had cost Ł100 mil. Between 1945 and 1947)

The Ghandi Man

Britain and the Cold War

• Churchill’s deal w/ Stalin gave eastern Europe to Russia but Churchill and Gov’t. supported anti-communists in Greek Civil War.

• Cost of preserving a non-communist Greece led England to abdicate role in region to U. S.—led to Truman Doctrine

• England was charter Member of Nato in 1949

Politics• 1948 Representation of the People Act—no more

plural voting for Oxford and Cambridge grads• Labor won 1950 election on the need to

nationalize the steel industry• Voters don’t want to “starve with Strachey or

shiver with Shinwell.”• Rationing of flour, milks, eggs, soap, and clothes

dropped in 1951• Retirements of Cripps, Ernest Bevin, Aneurin

Bevin and Harold Wilson from Labour cabinet forced Atlee to call for election

1951 Election• Conservatives win election and Churchill at age

76 was back in power—Conservatives controlled government until 1964 but Labour-like budgets persisted

• “Butskellism”—Richard Butler (Conservative Exchecquer); Hugh Gaitskill (Liberal Exchecquer)

• Austerity reduced—income taxes cut in 1952 and rationing ended in 1954

• Nationalization and Public Health measures remained in place although steel was de-nationalized in 1963.

1952—Coronation of Elizabeth II

Sir Edmund Hillary

Roger Bannister

England and the World

• For. Secretary Anthony Eden broke impasse in Europe about admitting West Germany to NATO in 1955

• Britain got A-Bomb in 1952 and H-Bomb in 1957• Churchill resigned in 1955 and Anthony Eden

becomes MB following another Conservative electoral victory (347 to 277 over Labour)

Sir Anthony Eden (1897-1977)

Suez Crisis

• Eden and the French sent troops to seize Suez Canal in 1956 Egypt-Israeli war

• Fighting had stopped by the time the troops arrived.

• Both U. S. and U. S. S. R. condemned intervention

• Troops are withdrawn; Eden resigned.• Clearly, Britain was a second rate power

Politics at Home• Harold Macmillan succeeded Eden, who went to

Lords as Earl of Avon• Hugh Gaitskell and Labour made gains in

popularity but Macmillan and conservatives win 365 to 258 in the 1959 election.

• Domestic prosperity increases especially due to increased steel and woolen production

• Tried but failed to join EEC or EU in 1963• Profumo Scandal brought down government—

Douglas-Home continues but loses to Harold Wilson and Labour in 1964

Emergence of Thatcher

• Strikes and inflation bring woes to England and neither the Conservatives of Edward Heath nor Labour has remedy—not until 1987 was inflation brought under control

• England entered EU in 1973• Problems with Ireland—marked by

escalating violence—continued• Thatcher elected in 1979

Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990)• More incentive to private industry• Inflation controlled by managing money supply • Falklands War (1982)• Privatization of ten major companies between

1984 and 1987• “Poll Tax” forced her from power in 1990• John Major continued her policies until 1997 and

helped ease England into the Maastricht Treaty process

• Chunnel opened in 1994

The “Iron Lady”

Tony Blair

• Death of Princess Di

• 3rd Way politics

• Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland (1998)

• Devolution Movements

• Supporting W in “War against Terrorism”

Tony Blair (1953-

Gordon Brown, 1951- (P.M. 2007-2010)

• Continuation of support for Iraq war?

• Eco-towns

• Written Constitution?

• Bank bailout and growing national debt

• Challenge of David Cameron

Gordon Brown, 1951

David Cameron (1966-

• Adviser to John Major in early 1990s.• Elected MP in 2000• Leader of Conservatives who won 306 seats of

650—coalition government with Liberal Democrats—57 seats.

• Nick Clegg, L. D. leader, is deputy P. M.• Issues—how long in Afghanistan, 2011 Riots,

Euro Crisis, future of Safety-net v. Debt Reduction.

Cameron—left-and Nick Clegg