Successes and Failures of Harold Wilson's Premiership

Successes and Failures of Harold Wilson's Premiership PDF Author: Oliver Christl
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 364041845X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 29

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2006 in the subject History Europe - Other Countries - European Postwar Period, grade: 1,7, University of Birmingham, language: English, abstract: On 15 October 1964 after 13 years in opposition, Labour was elected the leading party in Britain once again. Although the majority of seats was one of the smallest in British history, the first years of Harold Wilson's premiership showed some promising political developments and relative economic progress. However, hopes for a change in the nation's economical position were soon disappointed as the government appeared unable to expand its early success and rather deteriorated the economical position of Britain compared to its rivals. This essay examines the reasons for both the successes and the failures of Harold Wilson's policies. It therefore concentrates on the Labour government's economic and foreign policies and their development during Wilson's premiership. II. Successes of Harold Wilson's policies At the elections in 1964 the electorate, albeit only marginally, voted in favour of a Labour campaign promising "A New Britain" in which the "decline of the 13 wasted years" of Conservative policies could be reversed by concentrating on scientific and technological progress and modernising the machinery of the government and the economy. But more than the party's manifesto, its charismatic political leader secured the election victory for Labour. Coming from a lower middle class family and having already presented himself as a most successful leader of the opposition, the elected candidate Harold Wilson, at 48 the youngest Prime Minister of the century so far, raised high expectations. Indeed, Wilson's government had a tremendous start and impressed the country with its dynamism and wealth of ideas. With economic issues being the most urgent problem facing Britain Labour set up a National Economic Plan that, in the words of James Callaghan, Wilson's Chancellor of the Exchequer, should function as "

Successes and Failures of Harold Wilson's Premiership

Successes and Failures of Harold Wilson's Premiership PDF Author: Oliver Christl
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 364041845X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 29

Get Book Here

Book Description
Essay from the year 2006 in the subject History Europe - Other Countries - European Postwar Period, grade: 1,7, University of Birmingham, language: English, abstract: On 15 October 1964 after 13 years in opposition, Labour was elected the leading party in Britain once again. Although the majority of seats was one of the smallest in British history, the first years of Harold Wilson's premiership showed some promising political developments and relative economic progress. However, hopes for a change in the nation's economical position were soon disappointed as the government appeared unable to expand its early success and rather deteriorated the economical position of Britain compared to its rivals. This essay examines the reasons for both the successes and the failures of Harold Wilson's policies. It therefore concentrates on the Labour government's economic and foreign policies and their development during Wilson's premiership. II. Successes of Harold Wilson's policies At the elections in 1964 the electorate, albeit only marginally, voted in favour of a Labour campaign promising "A New Britain" in which the "decline of the 13 wasted years" of Conservative policies could be reversed by concentrating on scientific and technological progress and modernising the machinery of the government and the economy. But more than the party's manifesto, its charismatic political leader secured the election victory for Labour. Coming from a lower middle class family and having already presented himself as a most successful leader of the opposition, the elected candidate Harold Wilson, at 48 the youngest Prime Minister of the century so far, raised high expectations. Indeed, Wilson's government had a tremendous start and impressed the country with its dynamism and wealth of ideas. With economic issues being the most urgent problem facing Britain Labour set up a National Economic Plan that, in the words of James Callaghan, Wilson's Chancellor of the Exchequer, should function as "

John Major: An Unsuccessful Prime Minister?

John Major: An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? PDF Author: Kevin Hickson
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1785902717
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of one of the most momentous general elections this country has ever seen. John Major's defeat in 1997 ended a record eighteen years of Tory government, prompting accusations of failure and ignominy. A controversial leader, Major oversaw numerous crises in international and domestic policy. Between 1990 and 1997, he presided over Britain's participations in the Gulf War, the start of the Northern Ireland peace process, the Maastricht Treaty negotiations and, famously, Black Wednesday and Britain's exit from the ERM. Towards the end, Major's government was split over Europe and ridden with allegations of sleaze. Widely criticised by the media and politicians from all parties, Major went on to be crushed by Tony Blair and New Labour in the 1997 general election. An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? is the first wide-ranging appraisal of John Major's government in nearly two decades. This book reconsiders the role of John Major as Prime Minister and the policy achievements of his government. Major's government faced many more constraints and left behind a more enduring legacy than his critics allowed at the time or since.

Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson PDF Author: Andrew S. Crines
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1785900587
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
This year marks the centenary of Harold Wilson's birth, the fiftieth anniversary of his most impressive general election victory and forty years since his dramatic resignation as Prime Minister. He was one of the longest-serving premiers of the twentieth century, having won a staggering four general elections, yet, despite this monumental record, his place in Labour's history remains somewhat ambiguous. By the end of his two periods in power, both the left and right of the party were highly critical of Wilson - the former regarding him as a traitor to socialism, the latter as contributing directly to British decline. With contributions from leading experts in the fields of political study, and from Wilson's own contemporaries, this remarkable new study offers a timely and wide-ranging reappraisal of one of the giants of twentieth-century politics, examining the context within which he operated, his approach to leadership and responses to changing social and economic norms, the successes and failure of his policies, and how he was viewed by peers from across the political spectrum. Finally, it examines the overall impact of Harold Wilson on the development of British politics.

How Labour Governments Fall

How Labour Governments Fall PDF Author: T. Heppell
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137314214
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
What similarities exist between the reasons for Labour losing office in 2010 and those behind why previous Labour governments were defeated? This edited volume provides a detailed historical appraisal which considers the importance of themes such as economic performance; political leadership and the condition of the Conservatives in opposition.

James Callaghan

James Callaghan PDF Author: Kevin Hickson
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1785906348
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
In November 1980, James Callaghan retired as leader of the Labour Party. He had been on the front line of British politics for many years and was the only person to hold all of the four great offices of state. However, his premiership is seen as a failure, the last gasp of Keynesian social democracy being smothered by the oncoming advent of Thatcherism. This book offers a timely reappraisal of Jim Callaghan's premiership and time as Leader of the Opposition in 1979–80.

At Power's Elbow

At Power's Elbow PDF Author: Andrew Blick
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1849546401
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
Discreet, inconspicuous, prudent... The perfect prime-ministerial aide is always in the background, a low-profile figure unknown outside the Westminster bubble. Unfortunately, reality often falls short of the ideal; for as long as the office of Prime Minister has existed, its occupants have been supported by a range of colourful individuals who have garnered public interest, controversy and criticism. At Power's Elbow tells their story for the first time, uncovering the truth behind three centuries' worth of prime ministers and their aides. Its subjects range from the early media-managers and election-fixers of Sir Robert Walpole, to the teams supporting the wartime premierships of David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, to the semi-official 'Department of the Prime Minister' established under Tony Blair. Along the way, Andrew Blick and George Jones demonstrate how these essential advisers can be a source of both solace and strife to their chiefs, solving and causing problems in almost equal measure. Above all, they reveal how a Prime Minister's approach to his staff can define his premiership, for better or for worse.

Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson PDF Author: Nick Thomas-Symonds
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1474611974
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description
Harold Wilson is the only post-war leader of any party to serve as Britain's Prime Minister on two separate occasions. In total he won four General Elections, spending nearly eight years in Downing Street. Half a century later, he is still unbeaten, Labour's greatest ever election winner. How did he do it - and at what cost? Critics then and now have painted him as an opportunistic political calculator, even as a Soviet secret agent. In this powerful new portrait, drawing on previously unavailable sources and first-hand parliamentary insight, acclaimed biographer Nick Thomas-Symonds reveals a more complex figure. Wilson was a new kind of politician but, in his own way, this media-savvy harbinger of modernity was also a deeply traditional man, whose actions often suggest nothing less than a spiritual mission. In an intriguing paradox, Wilson, influenced by the distinctively democratic faith of his Yorkshire boyhood, united a fractured Labour Party, ushering in the cultural and social changes of the 'swinging sixties'. His was the government to decriminalise homosexuality, legalise abortion and abolish capital punishment. With a brilliant mind, sure-footed political moves and a feel for public opinion, he was a survivor who over and over again emerged from desperate crises - even, perhaps, conspiracies - to lead his party to victory. It is time at last to learn his secrets.

Pinkoes and Traitors

Pinkoes and Traitors PDF Author: Jean Seaton
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1847659160
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
This compelling account of a turbulent period in the history of the BBC opens at a time of national decline under the Labour governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, and ends during Margaret Thatcher's iconoclastic Conservative premiership. The intervening years saw mass unemployment, trade union strikes and war in Northern Ireland and the Falklands - as well as legendary BBC programmes such as Live Aid, Fawlty Towers and Dad's Army, The Singing Detective and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and David Attenborough's Life on Earth. Comprehensively revised and expanded for this new edition, Jean Seaton's perceptive study presents an absorbing analysis of an institution that both reflects Britain and has helped to define it.

The Macmillan Diaries

The Macmillan Diaries PDF Author: Harold Macmillan
Publisher: MacMillan
ISBN: 9780230768437
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 704

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Book Description
From August 1950 until 1966 Harold Macmillan kept one of the fullest and most entertaining political diaries of the twentieth century. This first volume starts in the last full year of the post war Labour government, follows his rise through the Churchill and Eden governments via a succession of high offices, and culminates with his becoming Prime Minister in 1957. He was an acute observer of events and people not just in his own country or party, but on the wider international and political scene. His Diary provides wry portraits of many of the leading political figures of the period and records his personal take on the great issues and events of the day. In the process Macmillan's wider activities and inner concerns are also revealed, casting light beyond the famously 'unflappable' exterior onto the character of one of the most enigmatic figures in modern British political history.

Harold Macmillan

Harold Macmillan PDF Author: Charles Williams
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 0297857770
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
A masterly biography of a great Conservative Prime Minister (and publisher) - Harold Macmillan (1894-1986). Harold Macmillan was a figure of paradox. Outwardly, it was Edwardian elegance and civilised urbanity. Inwardly, it was emotional damage from his wife's open adultery and his progressive perplexity at the onward march of time. The First World War showed the courageous soldier. From then on, it was politics, rather than the family business of publishing, which was to be his future. Nevertheless, although he supported Churchill in the 1930s he was deemed boring - and certainly not ministerial material. All changed with the Second World War. Appointed Minister in Residence in North Africa, Macmillan's career flowered. After the War he became indispensable to Conservative Cabinets and as Churchill's Minister of Housing in the early 1950s he achieved the target, against all expectations, of 300,000 houses annually. Thereafter, he was Eden's Foreign Secretary and Chancellor but by then Macmillan had become openly ambitious. Over the Suez affair in 1956 he played a difficult - and somewhat devious - hand. Eden's resignation left him as the clear choice of his Cabinet colleagues to become Prime Minister. From 1957 to 1962, Macmillan was a good - some would say a great - Prime Minister. By 1962, however, his government was looking tired. The Profumo affair in 1963 was particularly damaging, and in the autumn of 1963 his health forced him to retire.