Compare and contrast the political ideas of the Post War Consensus era and the New Right
From reading Lowe (1989) one can argue that the political ideas of the ‘Post War Consensus’ era were concerned with egalitarianism and equality. ... The political ideas of the ‘New Right’ era were very different in comparison, they concentrated on individualism and self help. ... The government had just introduced new restrictions and shortages as a result of the need for an increased armament programme when Britain became involved in the Korean War (1950-3). ... This enabled the Conservatives to claim that situations like the Korean War and the Iranian Oil crisis wouldn’t have been a problem if Churchill was in power (Lowe 1989, pp566). ... Britain, under Conservative rule, during the period 1951-64 could be described as the ‘Post War Consensus’ era. ... During their 13 years in power the Conservative Governments political ideas focused on making improvements in living standards, the welfare state, agriculture and education. ... All types of rationing and restrictions on house building were ended, income tax was reduced and restrictions on hire-purchase sales and the right to strike were also removed (Lowe 1989, pp575-576). ... Yet, the country was still enjoying this egalitarian liberal approach or ‘Post War Consensus’ era and Macmillan himself was quoted in telling the country ‘You’ve never had it so good! ... However, by the end of the ‘Post War Consensus’ era the British economy continued to deteriorate in relative terms (BBC 2003). ... The Conservatives won a comfortable overall majority of 43 in the May 1979 general election and Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s first female Prime Minister and the ‘New Right’ era began (Lowe 1989, pp 619-620). ... She was firmly right wing with none of the paternalism of Macmillan, she believed in individualism and self help (Lowe 1989, pp 626); her political ideas were very different to those of the ‘Post War Consensus’ era which was argued to be nanny state that stifled initiative and enterprise which was needed to keep the country out of debt. Her political ideas could be described as anti-welfare, anti-union and anti-egalitarian (Abercrombie and Warde 2000, pp436). ... Entrepreneurialism was also encouraged; this as well as the changes above would produce an enterprise economy and also end political interference in managerial decision (Abercrombie 2000, pp436). ... In 1981, Sir Geoffrey Howe; the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced further spending cuts and opinion polls at this time suggested that Thatcher and her political ideas were the most unpopular of all the Prime Ministers in British political history (Lowe 1989, pp632) Thatcher’s political ideas were put into affect further with the privatisation of public companies i.