Giulia Fabritius

Churchill College

The consensus which developed between the Conservative and Labour

parties on all of the principal political policies between 1945 & 1979 was
mainly due to a growing convergence in ideological beliefs. Discuss.
Pimlott defined consensus as an ideological agreement between parties or
it could just be referred to as a continuity of policy pursued by both parties
between 1945 and 1979. Using the former definition the consensus itself would
imply a growing convergence in ideological beliefs between the Conservatives
and Labour, whilst using the second one it would depend more on the reason that
these principal policies were pursued. By looking at the both domestic and
foreign policies I shall argue that no matter which definition one chooses a
convergence in ideological beliefs certainly took place, but that the median voter
theorem also goes a long way in explaining the consensus.
Both in the 19th and 20th centuries the conservative Party has been a party
of change, lacking consistent thought. It is the oldest of the political parties and
Edmund Burke founded its ideology in the 18 th century, with the thought of
conserving the natural order of things and keep human nature as it is and serving
the landed classes. Conservatives have been less influenced by a given ideology
giving them flexibility to stay in office longer than any other party. The Labour
party was more influenced by an ideology, as it evolved from the trades union
movement and had a clear socialist ideology to represent the interests of the
proletariat. This meant increased state protection for the workforce and increased
government expenditure on public provision. After WW2 both parties faced a few
philosophical dilemmas, as the median voter continuously shifted, first to the left
and later to the right, and so converged in ideological beliefs to justify the
pursued political policies.
After Labours landslide victory in 1945, the Labour government had a
clear socialist ideology inspiring their domestic economic and social agenda. This
created a philosophical problem for the Conservative Party, whether to attract the
business vote or addressing the interests of the working classes. The
Conservatives recognized that the median voter had moved leftwards and that
they had to move to the left to become electable. Benjamin Disraeli attempted to
solve this problem with the idea of an inclusive one-nation Conservatism, which
would attempt to address the working class but in a paternalistic way so as not to
alienate the traditional Conservative voter. This shift in ideology to one-nation
Conservatism was used to justify the acceptance of the Labour Party policies on
public service issues, state ownership of industries increased government
expenditure and the trades union involvement in the process of governance.
More specifically Labour nationalized coal, gas, electricity, iron and steel, rail
transport, civil aviation and freight transport in 1945. Even though Churchill
denationalized steel in 1951 still 20% of industry and commerce had been
nationalized and the rest was subject to tariffs and policies for economic
development. Both parties also used fiscal and monetary policies, as well as the
exchange rate to influence demand and achieve full employment from 1945 until
the early 60s. Concerning the trade unions both Conservatives and Labour
offered trade union leaders a say in production and labour market decisions, in
exchange for a temporary departure from free collective bargaining and a three-

year wage freeze from 1948-50. Churchill even appointed Monkton as minister of
labour in 1951. Most importantly one-nation Conservatism supported the policies
on the welfare state, including free health service at the point of use and a basic
level of housing for everyone, financed mainly by taxation. The Conservatives
even used other policies and taxes to redistribute income and ensure equality. At
the same time Labour adopted the imperialist foreign and colonial policy of the
Conservative party from 1945-59. More precisely Labour initiated the
development of the British atomic bomb, continued the close alliance with the
USA and tried to maintain the Conservative stance on trade protection. Thus we
can see that domestic economic and social policies the ideological convergence
of one-nation Conservatism to the socialist ideology of Labour goes a long way
in explaining the consensus until the early 60s, whilst in foreign policy it was the
convergence of Labour ideology to traditional Conservative policies on defence,
law and order.
Due to the new Conservative ideology and polices the party enjoyed a
victory in the 1959 elections. Simultaneously the process of embourgoisement
meant that the working classes were becoming richer, aspiring middle class
values. This meant that the median voter was moving towards the right and
demanded policies accordingly. Harold Wilson, the Labour party leader,
understood this and thus campaigned not on socialist ideology in 1964, but on a
technocratic policy of efficient economic management. Clearly Labour moved
away from their original socialist ideology and tried to get elected solely on the
basis of managing the economy more efficiently than the Conservatives. From
the 60s to 1979 the Conservatives and Labour continued their policies
concerning welfare, industry and foreign policy, whilst policies regarding
unemployment and trades unions slightly changed. More precisely Keynesianism
was dropped and stopping inflation became the new economic policy goal
pursued by both parties. Concerning trade unions cooling off periods and prestrike ballots were dropped out of fear of the unions reaction and the Industrial
Relations Act was introduced. Both Heath, a one-nation Tory, and Callaghan were
unable to contain the trade unions with the consensus policies, until Thatcher was
elected in 1979. We can clearly see that there was ample convergence in
ideologies even after the 60s, now more from part of Labour as the median voter
moved to the right. Precisely this convergence in ideology helped maintain such a
successful post-war consensus until 1979.
Concluding there is enough evidence to suggest that a convergence in
ideological beliefs was the main reason for the post-war consensus. The socialist
landslide in 1945 and the apparent success of the war-time policy of government
intervention in resource allocation decisions led the Conservatives to adopt the
principal elements of the Labour party policies under one-nation Conservatism.
This created a post war consensus on economic and social policy issues. Labour
also adopted a Conservative stance on foreign policy and thus Labours ideology
converged to the Conservative one in this respect leading to a consensus in
foreign policy. In 1964 Labour won the election on a technocratic program of
economic modernization and reform, completely independent of its original
socialist ideology. Clearly there was substantial convergence in policies between
the Conservatives and Labour, which explains the consen sus of 1945-79.