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The post-war consensus is a historians' model of political agreement from 1945 to 1979, when newly elected Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher rejected and reversed it. [59] The concept claims there was a widespread consensus that covered support for a coherent package of policies that were developed in the 1930s, promised during the Second World ...
With British youth no longer subject to military service and with post-war rationing and reconstruction ended, the stage was set for the social uprisings of the 1960s to commence. Macmillan took close control of foreign policy.
For general overviews of British politics since 1945, see: Post-war Britain (1945–1979) Political history of the United Kingdom (1979–present) While coverage of British social history over the same period can be found below: Social history of post-war Britain (1945–1979) Social history of the United Kingdom (1979–present)
The thesis of post-war consensus was most fully developed by Paul Addison. [5] The basic argument is that in the 1930s Liberal intellectuals led by John Maynard Keynes and William Beveridge developed a series of plans that became especially attractive as the wartime government promised a much better post-war Britain and saw the need to engage every sector of society.
[citation needed] Published in the midst of World War II, the report promised rewards for everyone's sacrifices. Overwhelmingly popular with the public, it formed the basis for the post-war reforms known as the welfare state, which include the expansion of National Insurance and the creation of the National Health Service.
The wartime Minister of Labour and National Service and Britain's first post-war Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, was the chief architect of the demobilisation plan. The speed of its introduction was attributed to the tide of public opinion, which favoured slogans and policies that appealed to peace and disengagement. [2]
It also shines a light on the grim reality of post-First World War Britain, amid crippling unemployment and social unrest, a changing jobs market, and a shortage of suitable housing leaving whole ...
The aftermath of the First World War boosted demands for social reform, and led to a permanent increase in the role of the state in British society. The end of the war also brought a period of unemployment and poverty, particularly in northern industrial towns, that deepened into the Great Depression by the 1930s. [13]