Conservatives During the Premierships of Macmillan and Douglas-Home - Essay Example

Account for the Decline in Support for the Conservatives during the Premierships of Macmillan and Douglas-Home Introduction After the post-war period, England was faced with a number of things that were both positive and negative. In the political arena, the premierships of Macmillan and Douglas-Home stood out mainly because of the diminishing support of the Conservative Party. Both Douglas-Home and Macmillan were faced with scandals and economic problems and this affected the popularity of Conservative Party both in the House of Commons and in the public eye. Another significant thing in this era is the public’s view of England as a none superpower. Economic Problems during Harold Macmillan’s Premiership By the end of 1957, Macmillan faced difficulties that were of economic nature. Inflation was a significant political and economic problem; it generated a rebellion among the middle class center constituency Conservatives. Macmillan was aware of the problems in the economy and it was during his reign that Treasury underlined inflation as a major economic problem in its 1956 White Paper The Economic Implications of Full Employment. For the most part of 1957, he concentrated on the strategies to reduce inflation by minimizing investment and public expenditure (Green 2004, p175). In 1958, he could not very well reconcile the problems of full employment with those of the stable prices; the middle way was to be gotten between deflation and inflation. In 1960, the problem of reconciling stable prices and full employment was still unresolved and Macmillan was warned of the inflationary consequences of the action (Green 2004, p177). Economic Problems during Alec Douglas-Home’s Premiership Douglas-Home inherited many of the economic problems from his predecessor. However, he sought not to be involved with them partly because of the realization that he had his own limitations and partly due to the belief that the ministers should do their own work (Thomas 1998, p106). Scandals during Harold Macmillan’s Tenure The Profumo affair was the much publicized scandal during the premiership of Macmillan. The press blew it out of proportion and it made the government look like it might have to resign. The scandal involved John Profumo, the Minister for War. He had an affair with a model, Christine Keeler; the two had met during an osteopath named Stephen Ward. Christine was suspected of having an affair with a Russian official and it is at this time when rumour began circulating that she had an affair with Profumo. The Labour raised the matter as a probable security risk (Roberts 2001, p273). Profumo denied having an affair with the model at the House of Commons but the press had stories about his sexual affair with the model and spies. Profumo was forced to resign and the press used the scandal to brand the government as being rotten. The press also pursued Stephen Ward; he was later charged with getting immortal earnings and he eventually committed suicide. Macmillan took control of the affair rather late although he had found it very distasteful. This was a sign that he had lost touch among his fellow colleagues in the Conservative. There were still other minor scandals that involved homosexuality and spying of Russia by the upper class Englishmen (Roberts 2001, p273). Scandals during Alec Douglas-Home’s Tenure During his leadership of the Great Britain, Alec Douglas-Home was faced again with the Profumo Affair scandal. The scandal raised issues and it was revisited and eventually Christine Keeler was sentenced for perjury (Trahair 2004, p408). Policies that Affected Popularity The country was facing problems concerning the rise in inflation. In an attempt to counter the effects of inflation, Macmillan was in full support of the Chancellor Peter Thorneycroft’s economic policy strategy. The strategy was meant to control inflation by reducing investment and public expenditure (Green 2004, p175). In 1957, he strongly supported the Chancellor’s deflationary policies by drawing up a Memorandum (Green 2004, p176). The main aim of the government was to substitute the stop-go policies with policies that could foster continual growth of the economy and a high rate economic growth. The Macmillan government took steps in the indicative planning of the government. The main purpose of this intention was to prevent inflation through winning the approval of the trade unions to the incomes policy (Addison 2010, p136). By 1964, the Conservative economic policy was greatly transformed. Economic regulators were put into place instead of the control of the economy through interest rates structure. A planning staff was established instead if the nostrums of the treasury. In the Whitehall, economic experts were being introduced (Bogdanor 1986, p1). Press Reaction towards the Two Premiers In 1953, a historian called Taylor coined the phrase Establishment; the phrase was used to define the inner circle of individuals who governed Britain and the advantaged social backgrounds from which they were brought up. The phrase Establishment was taken up by the journalist Henry Fairlie who used the word to denote the wrong things that the government of Britain was doing. The critique by the journalist was further extended into the powerful Whitehall departments, the higher civil service, the Treasury and it was argued that those positions were staffed with graduates from Oxbridge whose education did not equip them with the necessary skills for handling industrial and economic problems (Addison 2010, p133). The governments of Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home came under much criticism such that their reputation became very difficult to be recovered. They were under constant criticism from the publicists and academics and the critics were well equipped with numerous statistical evidence; the two regimes were accused of presiding a stagnant society and a backward economy (Addison 2010, p133). The two regimes were ridiculed on the stage and on television by satirists such as That Was The Week That Was and Beyond the Fringe. The cartoons and the critique were quite superficial and they reflected a change in the generation; the old governing class was now being viewed as out of date by the young and ambitious (Addison 2010, p134). The appointments made in the Macmillan government consisted many of his relations and this elicited unfriendly comments from the press but Macmillan did not listen to any of the critics. His tenure as a prime minister gave the critics a firm ground to assert that the British were in the hands of refined nincompoops; the claim was shallow (Addison 2010, p135). In the late 1950s, Victor Weisz portrayed Harold Macmillan as a superhero Supermac. The aim of Victor was to mock the prime minister due to his exaggerated notion of his own capabilities. However, Victor ended up boosting the image of Macmillan (Inman 2007, p36). The appointment of patrician Alec Douglas-Home as the Prime Minister, the surfacing of a youth culture in early 1960, and the scandals that dominated the last years of Macmillan reign promoted the political satire boom that sought to mount an attack on the Establishment. Private Eye which was launched in 1961 and Punch became refuges for the cartoonists who had a feeling that the political situation in the 1960s required an overt savagery response. Ralph Steadman and Gerald Scarfe dominated this era (Inman 2007, p36). The Conservative Party and Outdated Cabinet The Conservative have been for a long time and the most notable times are from 1951 to 1964 and between 1970 and 1974. Churchill began his second term in power with less dynamism and this partly influenced by his old age and his hopes of healing and revival after the war and reconstruction; by the time he was serving his second term he was 77 years of age. The boom in the economy helped to stimulate the economy but this was short-lived and Butler, his Chancellor was forced to control inflation through putting up interest rates. Inflation was a result of imports flooding the country to satisfy the consumer demand as the British manufacturers were unable. From this it is evident that the Churchill government demonstrated commitment to the Welfare State (Cawood 2003, p249). His successor, Eden called for an election; inflation was still present and personal wealth was evidently increasing and the government welfare record impressive. The Labour lead by Atlee was still divided and this gave the Conservatives an upper hand in the elections. However, Eden’s reign as a prime minister was short-lived after his improper handling of the foreign affairs; he was faced with a scandal that involved the Suez Crisis and forced to tender his resignation in 1957 (Cawood 2003, p250). Harold Macmillan continued with the Churchill legacy and his main point of focus was domestic issues. He improved on the Labour’s house building programme and he managed to meet his target of 300,000 new homes per year. However, the programme only benefited the middle class and the rich workers. He oversaw a significant customer boom and a period of maintained improvements in the living standards. He was viewed by the political cartoonists as Supermac. The economic boom was also short-lived as it mainly relied on cheap imports and he found himself in a serious balance payment crisis. He fired a third of his cabinet in 1962 after poor by-election results; the Macmillan sacking of the cabinet is famously known as Night of the Long Knives. The sacking of some of the cabinet members created an expression of panic (Cawood 2003, p250). By 1963, the work was very overwhelming due to ill-health and the Profumo Affair scandal. He was forced to retire in the same year. Alec Douglas-Home succeeded him in the same year. Douglas-Home devoted most of his energy towards the revival of the Conservative Party in preparation for the approaching general elections. The Conservative Party struggled to win the election but it eventually failed due to scandals and improper leadership in the past years (Cawood 2003, p250). From the times of Churchill up to the reign of Douglas-Home as the premier, a lot of changes had undergone in the government and most of these changes were due to the misgivings of the leaders and the cabinet. As the years proceeded, the importance of the cabinet diminished and decisions made were not conclusive. The dominance of Conservative Party in the government and the divisions within the Labour Party played a role in diluting the importance of the cabinet in the British government. England no longer a Super Power in the Public Eye In the post-war era, Britain’s international influence and its status as an outstanding power was declining; Britain was no longer a superpower. The Conservatives were more concerned in the maximization of the nation’s interest and to conduct business with anyone and when necessary. Their approach to the foreign policy was in the realist view (Beech 2010, p22). In regard to the foreign policy particular the colonial policy, Macmillan reshuffled his cabinet when he sensed the need for change on the colonial issue and other issues. Macleod was made the government leader in the House of Commons and was later replaced by Maudling. The appointment of Maudling failed to solve the Macmillan’s cabinet problems. The policy disputes persisted and this time they were more than on the basis of personalities. Later Macmillan complained of Maudling as been more intransigent and difficult but he could not sack him. To find favour with the European settlers and the African nationalists, Macmillan appointed Butler as the senior member in charge of the cabinet; the choice was based on the fact that Butler was impartial. During a cabinet reshuffle, Maudling was made the chancellor of exchequer. The improvised changes ended when he finally resigned (Hubbard 2010, p297). Home took over in a controversial selection process. The office that was headed by Butler was abolished. Macleod refused to serve in the Douglas-Home government; Macleod thought Douglas-Home as passive and too old-fashioned to become a prime minister (Hubbard 2010, p297). The confidence Macmillan had kept for quite a long time began to diminish after the 1959 general elections. Things did not go well with the government; the age of empire was over and Britain became a small island once again. The isolation of Britain threatened its decline of prosperity and power and no quantity of positive thinking could hide it. Macmillan tried to cover the suspicion by attempting to have a closer correlation with Europe; he accomplished that by applying for the membership of European Economic Community in the year 1961 (InfoBritain 2009, p1). Douglas-Home worked throughout his reign to make sure that the Conservatives won the forthcoming general elections. Douglas-Home had a notion that the lack of ambition was worth nurturing. His mode of rule was monarchical but this is not what the people were looking for in the prime minister because Britain had its own monarch, Elizabeth II. Douglas-Home spent his time fighting for a result that he had never achieved; that is a fourth win for the Conservative Party (InfoBritain 2009, p1). Conclusion The premierships of Macmillan and Douglas-Home witnessed the decline in support of the Conservative Party. The image of the party in both cases was not good. Both prime ministers were faced with scandals that involved their governments. The scandals removed the credibility of the Conservative Party as being capable of having a clean leadership. Economic situation at the time was worsened by the policies adopted by both prime ministers. Inflation was at its highest and the balance between full employment and inflation could not be achieved. This further worsened the image of Conservative. The party became vulnerable to ridicule from the media due to its inability to put things into order. References Addison, P. (2010) No turning back: The peaceful revolutions of post-war Britain. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Beech, M. (2010) British conservatism and foreign policy: Traditions and idea shaping Cameron’s global view, The British politics group one day conference: The UK and USA in 2010: Transition and transformation, 2010 University of Hull, UK: University of Hull, pp1-29. Bogdanor, V. (1986) Harold Macmillan [online], guardian.co.uk. Available from [Accessed 10 March 2011]. Cawood, I. (2003) Britain in the twentieth century. London, UK: Routledge. Green, E. H. H. (2004) Ideologies of conservatism: Conservative political ideas in the twentieth century. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Hubbard, J. P. (2010) The United States and the end of British colonial rule in Africa, 1941-1968. North Carolina: McFarland. InfoBritain. (2009) InfoBritain – Travel through the history in the UK: Harold Macmillan [online], InfoBritain. Available from [Accessed 10 March 2011]. InfoBritain. (2009) InfoBritain – Travel through the history in the UK: Sir Alec Douglas-Home [online], InfoBritain. Available from [Accessed 10 March 2011]. Inman, N. (2007) Politipedia: A compendium of useful and curious facts about British politics. Hampshire: Harriman House Limited. Roberts, M. (2001) Britain 1846-1964: The challenge of change. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press. Thomas, G. P. (1998) Prime minister and cabinet today. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. Trahair, R. C. S. (2004) Encyclopedia of cold war espionage, spies, and secret operations. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. Read More