Post War Recovery
The party responded to their defeat by accepting many of the Labour government's social reforms whilst also offering a distinctive Conservative edge, as set out in their 1947 poicy statement Industrial Charter.
Having cut the triple-digit Labour majority of 1945 to a mere five seats in 1950,they returned to government in 1951 under Churchill, who remained leader for another four years, during which time the Conservatives showed their acceptance of Labour reforms, though modifying some, such as the denationalisation the steel industry.
In 1955 Churchill retired and was succeeded by Sir Anthony Eden. Eden had an immense personal popularity and lengthy experience as Foreign Secretary, and saw the Conservatives win the general election with an increased majority later that year, but his government then ran into a number of troubles on the domestic front as the economy began to overheat.
In international affairs the government was confronted by the decision of the Egyptian government of Gamal Abdel Nasser to nationalise the Suez Canal. Eden agreed to a secret collaboration with France and Israel to retake the Canal, but the resulting operation backfired miserably and left the United Kingdom heavily embarrassed abroad and Eden discredited at home. Eden, who was also suffering from ill health at the time, resigned in early 1957.
The succession was contentious, with Rab Butler as the favourite to succeed. However, it was Harold Macmillan who became the next Prime Minister and leader of the party. Macmillan sought to rebuild the government's image both at home and abroad, and presided over strong economic growth and a massive expansion in the consumer-product economy. In 1959 he won the general election of that year on this economic success, summed up in the slogan "You've never had it so good". The Conservatives had now won three general elections in succession and once again they had increased their majority. Such was the scale of their success that there was widespread public and media doubt as to whether the Labour Party was capable of winning a general election ever again.
However, rising unemployment and an economic downturn in the early 1960s eroded support for Macmillan's government. It was further rocked in 1963 by the resignation of the Secretary of State for War John Profumo over the Profumo Affair. In October of that year, Macmillan was misdiagnosed with terminal cancer and resigned.
The party at this time lacked a formal process for electing a new leader and Macmillan's resignation took place in the week of the annual Conservative Party Conference. This event rapidly became an American-style convention as leading ministers sought to establish their credentials. Eventually Macmillan formally recommended to the Queen that she appoint the Earl of Home as Prime Minister. Home was appointed and renounced his peerage, becoming Sir Alec Douglas-Home, but was unable to restore the party's fortunes and narrowly lost the 1964 general election to Harold Wilson's Labour, who ended 13 years of Conservative rule.
Read more about this topic: History Of The British Conservative Party
Famous quotes containing the words post, war and/or recovery:
“I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post which any human power can give.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“What war has always been is a puberty ceremony. It’s a very rough one, but you went away a boy and came back a man, maybe with an eye missing or whatever but godammit you were a man and people had to call you a man thereafter.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)
“It’s even pleasant to be sick when you know that there are people who await your recovery as they might await a holiday.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)