Who were the Conservative Party leaders from 1951-64?

Britain – Politics, 1951-64

In this course, Dr Mark Garnett (Lancaster University) explores Conservative Party members and politics from 1951-64. In the first lecture, we think about the Conservative Party leaders from 1951-64. In the second lecture, we think about the experiences and outcomes in the Labour Party during this period. In the third lecture, we think about the reasons for Conservative dominance in the 1950s and early 1960s. Next, we think about Conservative Party economic policies in the 1950s. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about the factors that led to the end of Conservative political dominance in 1964.

Who were the Conservative Party leaders from 1951-64?

In this lecture, we think about the Conservative Party leaders from 1951-64, focusing in particular on: (i) the characterisation of the 1950s as a Conservative decade; (ii) the Conservative power, held from 1951 under Winston Churchill until 1964, when they lost to Labour under Harold Wilson; (iii) Churchill’s declining health during his second premiership; (iv) Churchill’s failed focus on making Britain a mediator of relations between the United States and the Soviet Union; (v) Anthony Eden’s health problems during his premiership, one of the outcomes being an unpopular tendency to call his ministers late at night; (vi) the end of Anthony Eden’s premiership, prompted by the international embarrassment for Britain of was Suez Crisis in 1956; (vii) Harold Macmillan’s resurgence of the Conservative Party after the Suez Crisis; (viii) the fact that the Conservative Party held a ‘one nation’ appeal during this period, spreading its appeal beyond the middle classes.