Britain be Viewed as a Success Story (Essay Sample)

Should today’s Britain be viewed as a success story?
Introduction
After Britain’s victory during the WWII, the Labor Party led by Clement Attlee took over power and established a comprehensive welfare state including the entitling of free healthcare to every British citizen through the establishment of the National Health Service. A series of other reforms followed including the introduction of old-age pensions, sickness benefits, free education at every level and unemployment benefits. The unemployment benefits were covered through the national insurance which had newly been introduced and paid for by all workers as described in the Beveridge Report. There were massive nationalizations of state corporations including the railways, coal mining, heavy industry, Bank of England and public utilities. At the same time, British colonies such as Burma, India and Ceylon were in the process of gaining independence (Black, 2011). Indeed, Britain was a founding member of NATO in 1949. This paper looks into Britain since WWII to present and if her case could be viewed as a success story.
1945-1951: Britain under Labour
Clement Attlee of the Labour Party became Prime Minister in a landslide 1945 general election just after the end of WWII. With clear aims, the party introduced a series of policies including nationalization of the Bank of England as well as coal mining, railroads, heavy industry and public utilities. The creation of the National Health Service led to a comprehensive welfare state that entitled all British citizens to free healthcare and funded through taxation. One of the most important legislations was the 1946 National Insurance Act which led to all working people paying a flat rate of national insurance (Rodney, 2009). Under this policy, the workers were entitled to flat-rate pensions, unemployment benefits, sickness benefits and funeral benefits. In this period, other legislations were introduced including support for all people who have no alternative source of income and child benefits. Free education at all levels was also introduced. Rising costs meant that Britain was unable to afford these radical changes and had to cut expenditures which would begin by granting independence to many of her overseas colonies including India in 1947 as well as Burma and Ceylon in 1948-1949 (Darwin, 2011). A major achievement of the government during this period was that employment was almost maintained at near full capacity and unemployment was just about 3% of the total workforce
In 1949, Britain was a founding member of NATO and the Cold War onset led to Britain developing its own nuclear arsenal. In 1948, Britain’s London hosted the Olympic Games but finished only 12th. Life in the post-war Britain was grim with low life expectancy rates and living standards and infectious disease like tuberculosis claiming many lives. Home ownership and automobile were things only affordable by the upper class while birth rates were low and military service was mandatory (Rodney, 2009). Britain continued waging war in small conflicts like in the Mau Mau Uprising and Suez Canal conflict in 1956 (Darwin 2011).
1951-1964: Britain under Conservatives
The conservative party came to power again with Winston Churchill as Prime Minister and renewed the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the US. A number of foreign crises overshadowed his domestic priorities. The British imperial power, prestige and military prowess were declining continually. When King George VI died in 1952, his eldest daughter Queen Elizabeth took over the throne. A number of foreign crises took shape during the Churchill administration including the Anglo-Iranian oil dispute, the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya, the Malayan emergency and the Suez Canal dispute (Darwin, 2011). When Churchill retired in1955, Sir Anthony Eden took over as Prime Minster and oversaw the Suez crisis in which Britain, France and Israel invaded the Suez Canal to prevent it from being nationalized. However, the US protested and Britain withdrew, marking the end of Britain as a super power. Harold Macmillan took over when Eden resigned in 1957 and ended the conscription with British youth no longer liable to military service. He also led Britain to seek entry into European Economic Community which was vetoed by France. His ‘wind of change’ speech in 1960 indicated his policy of granting independence to many overseas colonies.
1964-1979: Britain under Labour and Conservatives
In 1974, Harold Wilson of Labour became the Prime Minister and rejected the idea of devaluation of the pound in 1967. He started the Open University. He was unhappy about crises in Rhodesia and South Africa and declined to offer US support for the Vietnam War. Rock music became common with emergence of groups like Rolling Stones and The Beatles. Edward Heath became the Conservative Prime Minister in 1970 and witnessed the bloodiest premiership in Northern Ireland including the Bloody Sunday in 1972. In 1974, he led into the signing of the Sunningdale Agreement. His greatest achievement was taking Britain to the European Economic Community in 1973. In 1974, Harold Wilson returned as Prime Minister under Labour although he failed to end unemployment which had peaked one million with inflation at 24%. He resigned in 1976 and was replaced by James Callaghan whose tenure witnessed signs of growing economy and falling unemployment. IRA assassinated Lord Mountbatten, a WWII hero in Burma.
1979-1997: Britain Under Conservatives
On 4th May 1979, Margaret Thatcher formed a government under Conservatives and aimed to reverse the declining economy and minimize the role of the state in the economy. She was close to US president Ronald Reagan. A hunger strike by IRA led to restoration of Sinn Fein electoral rise. In 1981, Prince Charles wedded Lady Diana Spencer. In 1980, unemployment was about 2 million while inflation was down to 12%. Britain’s economy was now in recession with unemployment later hitting over 3 million. In 1982, Argentina invaded the British Falklands Islands and Thatcher dispatched a naval taskforce which swiftly recaptured the islands boosting her low popularity (Black, 2011). A British destroyer was sunk by an Argentine vessel using French Exocet missile and this temporarily soured relations with Paris (Black, 2011).
The Falkland factor made Margaret Thatcher return as Prime Minister in 1983 general election. Her strong opposition towards communism and the Soviet Union in addition to a decisive military victory in Falklands Islands bolstered Britain’s image on world stage. Oil revenues from the North Sea boosted Britains economy. Her ‘Right to Buy’ policy where residents of council housing were allowed to buy their homes increased her popularity within the middle class (Rodney, 2009). Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of trade unions and hence several trade unions organized strikes. In 1984, she escaped a bomb planted by IRA. In 1985 she signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Thatcher’s economic and political philosophy put more emphasis on entrepreneurialism and free markets. Since then, privatization become synonymous with the principle of Thatcherism (British Empire, 2015). Thatcher supported Regan’s approaches towards the Soviet during the Cold War and allowed US to use her bases to store nuclear cruise missiles. She supported the US bombing of Libya in 1986 and in 1987, she became the longest serving Prime Minister after winning the general election. However, her party had enough of her irritable, combative nature and threw ‘The Iron Lady’ out in 1990 and John Major took over as the Conservative Prime Minister till 1997. John was the Prime Minister during the Gulf War.
1997-Present: Britain Under Labour and Conservatives
Tony Blair became the Prime Minister in 1997 and introduced the minimum wage as well as university tuition fees. The Bank of England was granted the autonomy to autonomously set base interest rates. Mr. Blair initiated the longest economic expansion period since the 19th century investing heavily in health and educ...