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The National Research Development Corporation ( NRDC ) was a non-departmental government body established by the British Government to transfer technology from the public sector to the private sector.

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72-757: The NRDC was established by Attlee's Labour government in 1948 to meet a perceived need at the time to exploit the many products that had been developed during World War II by the Defence Research Establishments . It was set up by the Board of Trade under the Development of Inventions Act 1948 and the first managing director was Lord Giffard . The NRDC was established in India in 1953 to help develop and promote technologies developed at various national R&D institutions. The first commercial size hovercraft ,

144-709: A Gestapo " to impose socialism on Britain. Attlee responded the next night by ironically thanking the prime minister for demonstrating to the people the difference between "Churchill the great wartime leader" and "Churchill the peacetime politician" and argued the case for public control of industry. Another blow to the Conservative campaign was the memory of the 1930s policy of appeasement , conducted by Churchill's Conservative predecessors, Neville Chamberlain and Stanley Baldwin , that had been widely discredited for allowing Adolf Hitler 's Germany to become too powerful. Labour had strongly advocated appeasement until 1938, but

216-461: A by-election later that year. Ralph Ingersoll reported in late 1940: "Everywhere I went in London people admired [Churchill's] energy, his courage, his singleness of purpose. People said they didn't know what Britain would do without him. He was obviously respected. But no one felt he would be Prime Minister after the war. He was simply the right man in the right job at the right time. The time being

288-550: A mixed economy with the nationalisation of major industries, the establishment of the National Health Service and the creation of the modern welfare state in Britain. The policies were instituted by all governments (both Labour and Conservative) in the post-war period. The consensus has been held to characterise British politics until the economic crises of the 1970s (see Secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975 ) which led to

360-551: A best-seller. The Labour Party adopted the report eagerly, and the Conservatives (including Churchill, who did not regard the reforms as socialist) accepted many of the principles of the report, but claimed that they were not affordable. Labour offered a new comprehensive welfare policy, reflecting a consensus that social changes were needed. The Conservatives were not willing to make the same changes that Labour proposed, and appeared out of step with public opinion. Labour played to

432-544: A consensus or not. Blackburn summarises this saying that instead of "being rooted in common ideological beliefs about the desirable 'ends' of political activity, the consensus may have stemmed from epistemological assumptions and the political propositions that followed from them". Market-orientated conservatives gathered strength in the 1970s in the face of economic paralysis. They rediscovered Friedrich Hayek 's The Road to Serfdom (1944) and brought in Milton Friedman ,

504-447: A contrast that Labour repeatedly emphasised throughout the campaign. Voters also harboured doubts over Churchill's ability to lead the country on the domestic front. The writer and soldier Anthony Burgess remarked that Churchill, who then often wore a colonel's uniform, was not nearly as popular with soldiers at the front as with officers and civilians. Burgess noted that Churchill often smoked cigars in front of soldiers who had not had

576-472: A decent cigarette in days. In addition to the poor Conservative general election strategy, Churchill went so far as to accuse Attlee of seeking to behave as a dictator, despite Attlee's service as part of Churchill's war cabinet. In the most famous incident of the campaign, Churchill's first election broadcast on 4 June backfired dramatically and memorably. Denouncing his former coalition partners, he declared that Labour "would have to fall back on some form of

648-468: A former teacher who would become Home Secretary throughout the Attlee administration. It expanded and modernised the educational system and became part of the consensus. The Labour Party did not challenge the system of elite public schools – they became part of the consensus. It also called for building many new universities to dramatically broaden educational base of society. Conservatives did not challenge

720-569: A general election in Parliament, which passed with a majority vote less than two months after the conclusion of the Second World War in Europe. The election's campaigning was focused on leadership of the country and its postwar future. Churchill sought to use his wartime popularity as part of his campaign to keep the Conservatives in power after a wartime coalition had been in place since 1940 with

792-474: A net loss of 22 seats with a vote share of 2.9%, with its leader Ernest Brown losing his seat. 324 MPs were elected for the first time, which would remain the record turnover until 2024 . The 10.7% swing from the Conservatives to an opposition party is the largest since the Acts of Union 1800 ; the Conservative loss of the vote exceeded that of the 1906 Liberal landslide ousting of a Conservative administration. It

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864-454: A number of recommendations: the appointment of a minister to control all the insurance schemes; a standard weekly payment by people in work as a contribution to the insurance fund; old age pensions, maternity grants, funeral grants, pensions for widows and for people injured at work; a new national health service to be established. The post-war consensus included a belief in Keynesian economics ,

936-419: A party of government to a party of the political fringe. Its leader, Archibald Sinclair , lost his rural seat of Caithness and Sutherland . That was the last general election until 2019 in which a major party leader lost their seat, but Sinclair lost only by a handful of votes in a very tight three-way contest. The Liberal National Party fared even worse by losing two-thirds of its seats and falling behind

1008-475: A post-war consensus covered support for a coherent package of policies that was developed in the 1930s and promised during the Second World War, focused on a mixed economy , Keynesianism , and a broad welfare state. Historians have debated the timing of the weakening and collapse of the consensus, including whether it ended before Thatcherism arrived with the 1979 general election . They also suggest that

1080-489: A series of white papers that promised Britain a much improved welfare state after the war. The promises included the national health service, and expansion of education, housing, and a number of welfare programmes. It included the nationalisation of weak industries. In education, the major legislation was the Education Act of 1944 , written by Conservative Rab Butler , a moderate, with his deputy, Labour's James Chuter Ede ,

1152-724: A £2.3 billion loan, then the largest that the IMF had ever made. In return the IMF demanded massive spending cuts and a tightening of the money supply . That marked a suspension of Keynesian economics in Britain. Callaghan reinforced this message in his speech to the Labour Party Conference at the height of the crisis, saying: We used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting government spending. I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists, and in so far as it ever did exist, it only worked on each occasion since

1224-527: Is still important to note that there was not total agreement between the two major parties and there were still policies which the Conservatives did not support, such as how the National Health Service would be implemented. Henry Willink , who was the Conservative minister of health from 1943–1945, opposed the nationalisation of hospitals. This could indicate that the post-war consensus may have been exaggerated, as many historians have argued. The Future of Socialism by Anthony Crosland , published in 1956,

1296-591: The Beveridge Report . This was a report by William Beveridge , a Liberal economist who in 1942 formulated the concept of a more comprehensive welfare state in Great Britain. The report, in shortened terms, aimed to bring widespread reform to the United Kingdom and did so by identifying the "five giants on the road of reconstruction": "Want… Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness". In the report were labelled

1368-532: The Conservatives and Hugh Gaitskell of Labour . The term was inspired by a leading article in The Economist by Norman Macrae which dramatised the claimed convergence by referring to a fictitious "Mr. Butskell". There is much discussion over the extent to which there was actually a consensus, and it has also been challenged as a myth. Many political thinkers and historians have argued both for and against

1440-746: The SR.N1 , was built under a contract let by the NRDC to Saunders-Roe in 1958. In 1981, the NRDC was combined with the National Enterprise Board ('NEB') to form the British Technology Group ('BTG'). Typically the NRDC would patent the product for commercial exploitation and earn royalties as private sector companies generated sales from those products. Examples of such products include carbon fibre , asbestos - plastic composites and developments in semi-conductor technology . The development of

1512-574: The hovercraft would also not have taken place without the involvement of the NRDC. In the 1970s, a team of Rothamsted Research scientists discovered three pyrethroids suitable for use as insecticides , namely permethrin , cypermethrin and deltamethrin . These compounds were subsequently licensed as NRDC 143, 149 and 161 respectively, to companies which then manufactured them for use worldwide. 1945 United Kingdom general election Winston Churchill Conservative Clement Attlee Labour The 1945 United Kingdom general election

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1584-575: The 'good society'. Here his target was the dominance in Labour and Fabian thinking of Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb , and a rather grey, top down bureaucratic vision of the socialist project. "Butskellism" was a somewhat satirical term sometimes used in British politics to refer to this consensus, established in the 1950s and associated with the exercise of office as Chancellor of the Exchequer by Rab Butler of

1656-482: The 1930s until the election of a fundamentally changed Labour party in 1984 , following years of mostly New Zealand National Party rule. As in the UK, it was built around a 'historic compromise' between the different classes in society: the rights, health and security of employment for all workers would be promised by government, in return for co-operation between unions and employers. The key ideological tenets of governments of

1728-488: The 1952 New Fabian Essays volume). Asking, "is this still capitalism?", Crosland argued that post-war capitalism had fundamentally changed, meaning that the Marxist claim that it was not possible to pursue equality in a capitalist economy was no longer true. Crosland wrote that: The most characteristic features of capitalism have disappeared – the absolute rule of private property, the subjection of all life to market influences,

1800-505: The Conservative Party's domestic and foreign policy record in the late 1930s. Churchill and the Conservatives are also generally considered to have run a poor campaign in comparison to Labour. Churchill's personal popularity remained high; hence, the Conservatives were confident of victory and based much of their election campaign on that, rather than proposing new programmes. However, people distinguished between Churchill and his party,

1872-577: The Conservatives tied on 45%. Post-war consensus The post-war consensus , sometimes called the post-war compromise , was the economic order and social model of which the major political parties in post-war Britain shared a consensus supporting view, from the end of World War II in 1945 to the late-1970s. It ended during the governance of Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher . The consensus tolerated or encouraged nationalisation , strong trade unions , heavy regulation , high taxes , and an extensive welfare state . The notion of

1944-512: The Future , included promises of nationalisation , economic planning , full employment , a National Health Service , and a system of social security . The manifesto proved popular with the electorate, selling one and a half million copies. The Conservative manifesto, Mr. Churchill's Declaration to the Voters , on the other hand, included progressive ideas on key social issues but was relatively vague on

2016-561: The Keynesian welfare state. In 1972, Chancellor of the Exchequer Anthony Barber introduced a tax-cutting budget. A brief " Barber Boom " followed but ended in stagflation and (effectively ) devaluation of sterling . Global events such as the 1973 oil crisis put pressure on the post-war consensus; this pressure was intensified by domestic problems such as high inflation, the three-day week and industrial unrest (particularly in

2088-672: The Liberals in seat count for the first time since the parties split in 1931. It was the final election that the Liberal Nationals fought as an autonomous party, as they merged with the Conservative Party two years later although they continued to exist as a subsidiary party of the Conservatives until 1968. Future prominent figures who entered Parliament included Harold Wilson , James Callaghan , Barbara Castle , Michael Foot and Hugh Gaitskell . Future Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan lost his seat, but he returned to Parliament at

2160-633: The aftermath of the election. Held less than two months following VE Day , this was the first general election since 1935 , as general elections had been suspended by Parliament during the Second World War . Clement Attlee , the leader of the Labour Party , refused Winston Churchill 's offer of continuing the wartime coalition until the Allied defeat of Japan . On 15 June, King George VI dissolved Parliament, which had been sitting for nearly ten years without an election. The Labour manifesto, Let Us Face

2232-410: The base of the consensus. The Conservative Party accepted many of these changes, and promised not to reverse them in its 1947 Industrial Charter . Attlee, using the Beveridge Report and Keynes economics , laid out his plans for what became known as "The Attlee Settlement". The main areas he would tackle: The coalition government during the war, headed by Churchill and Attlee , signed off on

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2304-494: The concept of "winning the peace" that would follow the war. Possibly for that reason, there was especially strong support for Labour in the armed services , which feared the unemployment and homelessness to which the soldiers of the First World War had returned. It has been claimed that the left-wing bias of teachers in the armed services was a contributing factor, but that argument has generally not carried much weight, and

2376-542: The concept of consensus. Paul Addison , the historian most credited with developing the thesis, has engaged in discussions on the subject with figures such as Kevin Jeffreys, who disagrees. Jeffreys says that "Much of Labour's programme after 1945, it must be remembered, was fiercely contested at the time" using the example of the Conservatives to vote against the NHS. He attributes to the War

2448-638: The consensus are what led, in part, to the emergence of the New Right and Margaret Thatcher . Thatcher reversed other elements of the post-war consensus, as when her Housing Act 1980 allowed the residents to buy their flats. Thatcher did keep key elements of the post-war consensus, such as nationalised health care. She promised Britons in 1982 that the National Health Service is "safe in our hands." Economists Stephen Broadberry and Nicholas Crafts have argued that anticompetitive practices, enshrined in

2520-490: The conservative 'imperial rhetoric' with the idealism of multicultural Commonwealth" or, in the same vein, decolonization , which became "an important theme of partisan conflict" in which Conservatives showed a reluctance to give back colonial possessions as well as the gradual process of independence. It is argued that from 1945 until the arrival of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, there was a broad multi-partisan national consensus on social and economic policy, especially regarding

2592-593: The declining coal-mining industry). In early 1976, expectations that inflation and the double deficit would get worse precipitated a sterling crisis . By October, the pound had fallen by almost 25% against the dollar. At this point the Bank of England had exhausted its foreign reserves trying to prop up the currency, and as a result the Callaghan government felt forced to ask the International Monetary Fund for

2664-425: The defining goal of the left should be more social equality. Crosland also argued that an attack on unjustified inequalities would give any left party a political project to make the definition of the end point of 'how much equality' a secondary and more academic question. Crosland also developed his argument about the nature of capitalism (developing the argument in his contribution 'The Transition from Capitalism' in

2736-469: The domination of the profit motive , the neutrality of government, typical laissez-faire division of income and the ideology of individual rights. Crosland argued that these features of a reformed managerial capitalism were irreversible. Others within the Labour Party argued that Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan brought about its reversal. A third important argument was Crosland's liberal vision of

2808-459: The economy, and the mistaken belief that Churchill would continue as prime minister regardless of the result. The greatest factor in Labour's dramatic win appeared to be its policy of social reform . In one opinion poll, 41% of respondents considered housing to be the most important issue that faced the country, 15% stated the Labour policy of full employment, 7% mentioned social security, 6% nationalisation, and just 5% international security, which

2880-418: The end of the post-war economic boom and the rise of monetarist economics as championed by Milton Friedman . The roots of Keynes's economics, however, stem from critique of the economics of the interwar period depression. Keynes's style of economics encouraged a more active role of the government in order to "manage overall demand so that there was a balance between demand and output". It was claimed that in

2952-433: The existence and importance of the consensus. Some historians such as Ralph Miliband expressed disappointment that the consensus was a modest or even conservative package that blocked a fully socialised society. Historian Angus Calder complained bitterly that the post-war reforms were an inadequate reward for the wartime sacrifices, and a cynical betrayal of the people's hope for a more just post-war society. However, it

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3024-528: The failure of the Conservative governments in the 1920s to deliver a "land fit for heroes" was likely more important. Labour had also been given during the war the opportunity to display to the electorate its domestic competence in government, under men such as Attlee as Deputy Prime Minister , Herbert Morrison at the Home Office and Ernest Bevin at the Ministry of Labour . The differing wartime strategies of

3096-400: The former was more reluctant, for example. Rather, he suggests that an examination of parties' shared epistemological beliefs – "similar ideas about appropriate political conduct", a "shared a common suspicion of the notion that politics could serve fixed 'ends', and...believed that evolutionary change was preferable to radical change" – would offer a better insight into whether or not there was

3168-461: The front benches" and determining that, in fact he "agree(s) with much of Dr Jeffreys' analysis". There are also a number of other interpretations of the consensus which many historians have discussed such as Labour Historian Ben Pimlott . He says this idea is a "mirage, an illusion which rapidly fades the closer one gets to it." Pimlott sees much disputation and little harmony. He notes the term "Butskellism" meant harmony of economic policy between

3240-622: The idea of postwar economic control, and the party was associated with high levels of unemployment in the 1930s. It failed to convince voters that it could effectively deal with unemployment in a postwar Britain. In May 1945, when the war in Europe ended, Churchill's approval ratings stood at 83%, but the Labour Party had held an 18% poll lead as of February 1945. The polls for some seats were delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July because of local wakes weeks . The results were counted and declared on 26 July to allow time to transport

3312-541: The interwar period had been dominated by Conservatives. With the exception of two brief minority Labour governments in 1924 and 1929–1931, the Conservatives had been in power for all of the interwar period. As a result, the Conservatives were generally blamed for the era's mistakes: appeasement, inflation and the unemployment of the Great Depression . Many voters felt that although the First World War had been won,

3384-521: The leader of the Chicago school of economics as Monetarism began to discredit Keynesianism. Keith Joseph played a major role as an advisor to Thatcher. Keynesianism itself seemed no longer to be the magic bullet for economic crises of the 1970s. Mark Kesselman et al. argue: Britain was suffering economically without growth and with growing political discontent ... the " winter of discontent " destroyed Britain's collectivist consensus and discredited

3456-440: The levels of unemployment in the 1930s and sought a strong figurehead in British politics to lead the postwar rebuilding of the country. Opinion polls when the election was called showed strong approval ratings for Churchill, but Labour had gradually gained support for months before the war's conclusion. The final result of the election showed Labour to have won a landslide victory , making a net gain of 239 seats, winning 49.7% of

3528-488: The major parties rooted in the events leading up to the war: "Atlanticism, the development of an independent nuclear deterrent, the process of imperial disengagement and reluctant Europeanism: all originated in the 1945 Labour Government and were subsequently continued...by its successors". However, there were some disagreement on areas of foreign policy, such as the introduction of the Commonwealth where  "Labour opposed

3600-406: The market. Now he looks to government". It is suggested that due to the increased demand on the government during the consensus years, that an imbalance grew between what was possible to deliver and the demands that had been created. The process is defined as being cyclical: "more demands means more government intervention, which generates yet more expectations". It is believed that these qualms with

3672-415: The notion might not have been as widely supported as some claim, and that the word consensus might be inaccurate to describe the period. Embedded liberalism has been applied to describe the post-war consensus on a global stage, around the same period from World War II to the crisis of the 1970s, and contrast it with the paradigm shift led by neoliberalism that followed. The thesis of post-war consensus

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3744-399: The other political parties, but he faced questions from public opinion surrounding the Conservatives' actions in the 1930s and his ability to handle domestic issues unrelated to warfare. Clement Attlee , leader of the Labour Party , had been Deputy Prime Minister in the wartime coalition in 1940–1945 and was seen as a more competent leader by voters, particularly those who feared a return to

3816-441: The parties, but it was in practice a term of abuse, not celebration. In 2002, Scott Kelly claimed that there was in fact a sustained argument over the use of physical controls, monetary policy and direct taxation . Political scientists Dennis Kavanagh and Peter Morris defend the concept, arguing that clear, major continuities existed regarding policies toward the economy, full employment, trade unions, and welfare programs. There

3888-464: The peace that followed had been lost. All comparisons are with the winning party in the 1935 election; the aim is to provide a comparison with the previous general election. This list includes seats where the incumbent was standing down and therefore there was no possibility of a particular person being defeated. Polls showed a lead for Labour since 1943, except for one poll in June 1945 when both Labour and

3960-451: The period between 1945–1970 (consensus years) that unemployment averaged less than 3%, although the legitimacy of whether this was solely down to Keynes remains unclear. The first general election since 1935 was held in Britain in July 1945 , giving a landslide victory for the Labour Party , whose leader was Clement Attlee . The policies undertaken and implemented by this Labour government laid

4032-424: The popular vote and achieving a majority of 146 seats, thus allowing Attlee to be appointed prime minister. This election marked the first time that the Labour Party had won an outright majority in Parliament, and allowed Attlee to begin implementing the party's post-war reforms for the country. For the Conservatives, the Labour victory was a shock, as they suffered a net loss of 189 seats although they won 36.2% of

4104-474: The post-war consensus, appear to have hindered the efficient working of the economy and, by implication, the reallocation of resources to their most profitable uses. David Higgins says the statistical data support Broadberry and Crafts. The consensus was increasingly seen by those on the right as being the cause of Britain's relative economic decline. Believers in New Right political beliefs saw their ideology as

4176-487: The reason for the 'shock' result of the 1945 general election. Addison addresses many of Jeffreys' claims, such as the argument that if the Conservatives could have capitalised upon the Beveridge report they would have been the ones with a powerful mandate for pursuing policy, not the Labour party. Addison also changes his stance in this article, stating how he "exaggerated the extent to which 'middle opinion' already prevailed on

4248-430: The socialised medicine of the National Health Service; indeed, they boasted they could do a better job of running it. In terms of foreign policy, there is much evidence to suggest that there was a shared set of views that were rooted in role of the recent history. Dennis Kavanagh and Peter Morris emphasise the importance of the Second World War , and war time cabinet, in yielding a set of values that were shared amongst

4320-465: The solution to Britain's economic dilemmas in the 1970s. When the Conservative Party won the 1979 general election in the wake of the 1978–79 Winter of Discontent , they implemented New Right ideas and brought the post-war consensus to an end. Outside Britain, the term "post-war consensus" is used for an era of New Zealand political history, from the first New Zealand Labour Party government of

4392-419: The time of a desperate war with Britain's enemies". The historian Henry Pelling , noting that polls showed a steady Labour lead after 1942, pointed to long-term forces that caused the Labour landslide: the usual swing against the party in power, the Conservative loss of initiative, wide fears of a return to the high unemployment of the 1930s, the theme that socialist planning would be more efficient in operating

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4464-400: The two parties likewise gave Labour an advantage. Labour continued to attack prewar Conservative governments for their inactivity in tackling Hitler, reviving the economy and rearming Britain, but Churchill was less interested in furthering his party, much to the chagrin of many of its members and MPs. Though voters respected and liked Churchill's wartime record, they were more distrustful of

4536-468: The vote and had campaigned on the mistaken belief that Churchill would win as people praised his progression of the war. Of the other two major parties, the Liberal Party faced a serious blow after taking a net loss of nine seats with a vote share of 9.0%, many within urban areas and including the seat held by its leader, Archibald Sinclair . The Liberal National Party fared significantly worse, enduring

4608-491: The votes of those serving overseas. Victory over Japan Day ensued on 15 August. The caretaker government , led by Churchill, was heavily defeated. The Labour Party led by Attlee won a landslide victory and gained a majority of 146 seats. It was the first election in which Labour gained a majority of seats and the first in which it won a plurality of votes. The election was a disaster for the Liberal Party , which lost all of its urban seats, and marked its transition from being

4680-468: The war by injecting a bigger dose of inflation into the economy, followed by a higher level of unemployment as the next step. A cause of the supposed collapse of the post war consensus is the idea of the state overload thesis, chiefly examined in the UK by political scientist Anthony King . He summarises the chain of events as saying "Once upon a time, then, man looked to God to order the World. Then he looked to

4752-412: The welfare state, nationalised health services, educational reform, a mixed economy, government regulation, Keynesian macroeconomic policies, and full employment. Apart from the question of nationalisation of some industries, these policies were broadly accepted by the three major parties, as well as by industry, the financial community and the labour movement. Until the 1980s, historians generally agreed on

4824-526: Was a national election held on Thursday 5 July 1945, but polling in some constituencies was delayed by some days, and the counting of votes was delayed until 26 July to provide time for overseas votes to be brought to Britain. The governing Conservative Party sought to maintain its position in Parliament but faced challenges from public opinion about the future of the United Kingdom in the post-war period. Prime Minister Winston Churchill proposed to call for

4896-424: Was agreement as well on the major issues of foreign policy. Dean Blackburn offers a different argument about the accuracy of the consensus. He proffers that the so-called consensus did not stem from ideological agreement, rather, an epistemological one (if any). He makes clear the ideological differences between the Conservatives and the Labour Party; the latter openly wanting an equal and egalitarian society, while

4968-471: Was also the first election since 1906 in which the Conservatives did not win the popular vote. Churchill remained actively involved in politics and returned as prime minister after leading his party into the 1951 general election . For the Liberal National Party the election was their last as a distinct party, as they merged with the Conservatives in 1947 while Ernest Brown resigned from politics in

5040-413: Was emphasised by the Conservatives. The Beveridge Report , published in 1942, proposed the creation of a welfare state. It called for a dramatic turn in British social policy, with provision for nationalised healthcare , expansion of state-funded education , National Insurance and a new housing policy . The report was extremely popular, and copies of its findings were widely purchased, turning it into

5112-402: Was most fully developed by Paul Addison . 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. The foundations of the post-war consensus can be traced to

5184-477: Was one of the most influential books in post-war British Labour Party thinking. It was the seminal work of the 'revisionist' school of Labour politics. A central argument in the book is Crosland's distinction between 'means' and 'ends'. Crosland demonstrates the variety of socialist thought over time, and argues that a definition of socialism founded on nationalisation and public ownership is mistaken, since these are simply one possible means to an end. For Crosland,

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