Sheila's research:

1960– 1970 Political Timeline

(Briefsummary of events leading up to Thatcher's Britain)

(writtenby Sheila)

Year Prime Minister Party

1957 – 1963 HaroldMacmillan – Conservative



1963 – 1964 AlecDouglas-Home – Conservative



1964 – 1970 JamesHarold Wilson – Labour


Labour won the 1964election with a narrow majority of four seats. During 1965, this wasreduced to a single seat as a result of by-election defeats, but inMay 1966 Wilson called another election and this time won it by a96-seat majority.


Wilson's first threeyears in office were dominated by an ultimately doomed effort tostave off the devaluation of the pound. He ruled during 'a period oflow unemployment and relative economic prosperity (though also ofsignificant problems with the UK's external balance of payments.)



A number ofliberalising social reforms were passed through parliament duringWilson's first period in government. These included:


The abolition of capital punishment,



Decriminalisation of sex between men in private



Liberalisation of abortion law



The abolition of theatre censorship.



The proportion of council housing rose from 42% to 50% of the total. The number of council homes built increased steadily under the First Wilson Government, from 119,000 in 1964 to 133,000 in 1965 and to 142,000 in 1966. Allowing for demolitions, 1.3 million new homes were built between 1965 and 1970.




By 1974, the top-rateof income tax reached its highest rate since the war, 83%. Thisapplied to incomes over £20,000 (£155,247 as of 2012), and combinedwith a 15% surcharge on 'un-earned' income (investments anddividends) could add to a 98% marginal rate of personal income tax.In 1974, as many as 750,000 people were liable to pay the top-rate ofincome tax. Labour's identification with high tax rates was to proveone of the issues that helped the Conservative Party under MargaretThatcher and John Major dominate British politics during the 1980sand early-to-mid-1990s.


Wilson had enteredpower at a time when unemployment stood at around 400,000. It stillstood 371,000 by early 1966 after a steady fall during 1965, but byMarch 1967 it stood at 631,000. It fell again towards the end of thedecade, standing at 582,000 by the time of the general election inJune 1970.





1970 – 1974 EdwardHeath – Conservative


Heath's premiership oversaw the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, with the suspension of the Stormont parliament and the imposition of direct British rule.



Heath also attempted tocurb union power with the Industrial Relations Act 1971, and hadhoped to deregulate the economy and make a transfer from direct toindirect taxation. However rising unemployment in 1972 caused Heathto reflate the economy at the cost of high inflation, which heattempted to control by prices and incomes policy.


Two miner's strikes in1972 and 1974 proved damaging to the government, with the lattercausing the implementation of the Three-Day Week to conserve energy.The general election in February 1974, an attempt to win a publicmandate to face down the miners' wage demands, resulted in a hungparliament. Following a failed attempt to establish a coalition withthe Liberals, Heath conceded power to a minority Labour governmentunder Harold Wilson, which won a small majority in a second electionin October that year.




1974 – 1976 HaroldWilson (again) Labour



Wilson's government came under scrutiny in 1975 for unemployment, with the total number of Britons out of work passing 1,000,000 by April of that year



In 1975 Wilson offered Muammar Gaddafi 14million (worth 500million in 2009) to stop selling weapons to IRA. Gaddafi refused.



On 16 March 1976, Wilson surprised the nation by announcing his resignation as Prime Minister (taking effect on 5 April 1976). He claimed that he had always planned on resigning at the age of 60, and that he was physically and mentally exhausted.






1976 – 1979 JamesCallaghan – Labour


Labour had already lostits majority in the House of Commons when he became Prime Ministerand lost further seats at by-elections and through defections,forcing Callaghan to deal with minor parties such as the LiberalParty especially in the Lib-Lab pact from 1977 to 1978, the UlsterUnionists, Scottish National Party and even Independents.

Industrial disputesand widespread strikes in the "Winter of Discontent" of1978–79, made Callaghan's government unpopular and the defeat ofthe referendum on devolution for Scotland* led to the passage of amotion of no confidence on 28 March 1979.

* (The people ofScotland first got the opportunity to vote in a referendum onproposals for devolution in 1979 and though a majority of thosevoting voted 'Yes', the referendum legislation also required 40% ofthe electorate to vote 'Yes' for the plans to be enacted.)