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Y113: Britain 1930–1997

Labour and Conservative governments 1964–1979: Labour victory 1964 and Labour party divisions

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 1

Overview

Recall questions on labour victory 1964, Wilson as leader 1964–1970, economic problems and policies, relations with the Trade Unions, labour party divisions.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

What sort of majority did Labour win in 1964, and how did Wilson deal with it?

Numbers

What were the consequences of the 1967 devaluation?

Numbers

How did the 1966 seamen's strike affect government policy?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What sort of majority did Labour win in 1964, and how did Wilson deal with it?

    Model answer

    Labour won by only four seats, so Wilson governed cautiously for eighteen months and then called a second election in 1966, which gave him a majority of ninety-six.

  2. 2

    What did Wilson mean by forging a new Britain in the white heat of technological revolution?

    Model answer

    He was presenting Labour as the modern, classless, scientific party that would plan industrial renewal, in contrast to an amateurish Conservative establishment, and he backed it with a new Ministry of Technology.

  3. 3

    State what the Department of Economic Affairs was set up to do, and what became of it.

    Model answer

    Created under George Brown as a counterweight to the Treasury, it produced the 1965 National Plan promising twenty-five per cent growth by 1970, but the plan was abandoned after the deflation of 1966 and the department was wound up in 1969.

  4. 4

    Why did Wilson resist devaluing the pound between 1964 and 1967?

    Model answer

    He had inherited a large balance of payments deficit but feared that devaluation would brand Labour the party of devaluation, damage sterling's reserve role and break faith with international creditors, so he defended the rate with loans and deflation instead.

  5. 5

    What were the consequences of the 1967 devaluation?

    Model answer

    The pound was cut from 2.80 to 2.40 US dollars, Callaghan resigned as Chancellor and was replaced by Jenkins, whose severe deflation eventually produced a payments surplus by 1969, but Wilson's assurance that the pound in people's pockets had not been devalued made him look shifty.

  6. 6

    How did the 1966 seamen's strike affect government policy?

    Model answer

    The seven-week strike drained the reserves and triggered a sterling crisis, and the government responded in July 1966 with a deflationary package including a statutory freeze on wages and prices, which soured relations with the unions.

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