Tories And The Welfare State

This book is concerned with home affairs or social policy in the British system - in particular in education, health, housing, social security and aspects of the Home Office's work. It handles the subject in terms of what the Conservative Party thought and did about it from 1939 to 1988.

What was the impact of the Second World War on the development of the welfare state? Did Attlee’s pioneering post-war Labour governments create the welfare state and a socialist society? Was there a welfare consensus between Labour and the Conservatives in the period from 1951 to 1979? Was there a welfare revolution during the Thatcher and Major years? What lies at the heart of New Labour’s welfare policy? In Revisiting the Welfare State, Robert Page provides a persuasive, fresh and challenging account of the British welfare state since 1940. His text re-examines some of the most commonly held assumptions about the post-war welfare state and reignites the debate about its role and purpose. Robert Page starts from the premise that the student of social policy can gain a deeper understanding of the welfare state by studying political and historical accounts of the welfare state, party manifestos, policy documents and political memoirs. Drawing from these sources, he provides a clear guide to the changing role of the state in the provision of welfare since 1940. Each of the five chapters is devoted to a particular theme associated with the post-war welfare state, the last of which focuses on the strategy of the New Labour governments of Tony Blair. Written by one of the leading authorities on contemporary social policy, Revisiting the Welfare State is a stimulating guide to the political history of the post-war welfare state in Britain. It is essential reading for students of social policy, social work, politics and contemporary history. It will also appeal to the general reader who is seeking an accessible guide to the political history of the post-war welfare state.

Robert M. Page takes an authoritative look at the policies and politics of Britain's Conservative Party to discover if it has developed a distinctive approach to the postwar welfare state. He begins with the progressive One Nation Conservatism wing of the party, exploring how it strove to embrace the features of the welfare state that were compatible with its underlying philosophy. Page then turns to the neoliberal conservatives, who sought to undo the welfare state, before placing the spotlight on the strategy behind David Cameron's progressive neoliberal conservative version.

This book explores the origins of the post-war Welfare State in the UK, the creation of which is almost universally considered—to an extent which is regarded here as being tantamount to a myth—as being solely a Labour Party creation. The book examines the various contributions to the development of ‘welfarism’ across the first half of the twentieth century, and in particular those of Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain and William Beveridge. It assesses the effects of two World Wars; the daunting economic challenges of the 1920s and 1930s; the stimuli to post-war reconstruction; the 1945 Labour government’s implementation of the wartime Coalition Government’s post-Beveridge conclusions; and the Conservative Party’s attitude after 1945 to Labour’s legislative programme. The book invites the reader to accept that, taking developments over the half-century as a whole, the greater share of the credit for the creation of a welfare state belongs to the Conservative Party.

Has the modern Conservative Party developed a distinctive approach to the post-war welfare state? In exploring this question, this accessible book takes an authoritative look at Conservative Party policy and practice in the modern era. The book takes as its main starting point the progressive One Nation Conservative (1950-64) perspective, which endeavoured to embrace those features of the welfare state deemed compatible with the party’s underlying 'philosophy'. Attention then shifts to the neo-liberal Conservatives (1974-97), who sought to reverse the forward march of the welfare state on the grounds of its 'harmful’ economic and social effects. Finally, David Cameron’s (2005-present day) 'progressive’ neo-liberal Conservative welfare state strategy is put under the spotlight. The book’s time-defined content and broad historical thread make it a valuable resource for academics and students in social policy and politics as well as social history.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Economics - Case Scenarios, grade: 1,0 (A), Stellenbosch Universitiy (Department of Economics), course: Modern Economic Systems and Global Capitalizm, 23 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: What has happened, that still has an influence on recent policy of even more left-winged parties as Labour in Britain as the following statement shows? "The Labour (Party) has moved to the right since 1983 is undeniable (...). Is it best explained as an updating of socialism in the face of modernity? Or else as Tory clothes-stealing, a necessary or unnecessary concession to political enemies in the interest of securing an electoral victory?"2 Therefore the goal of this thesis will be to fathom the position of this new economic agenda, called 'New-Right', which has at a stretch been adopted by the most former left from the centre positioned parties in the Western World. Of which kind is this strong ideology that caused the crisis of the "New Left" by cutting back the state and the welfare state. This thesis shall furthermore give an idea to what extend did Thatcherism influence the observable substantial change and to what extend were the targets of this ideology achieved successfully or not. But to do so, it is first necessary to give an short overview on the development of state intervention in the shape of the welfare state with a main focus on Britain. Accordingly main economic thoughts and their ideology on social welfare will be illuminated briefly. After elementary information is provided Thatcherism, meaning its ideas, ideology, main aims and critics of interventionalism will be introduced. By doing so it will be possible to evaluate how successful Mrs. Thatcher and the Tories were in rolling back the state. To conclude the recent situation of the "New Left" as political agenda will be touched on.

With the Conservative Party breaking new ground in forming a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, this book examines the development and content of the Conservatives' approaches to social policy and how they inform the Coalition's policies. Chapters cover the development of Conservative Party social policy and specific policy areas. The book will be of interest to academics, undergraduate and postgraduate students, and everyone with an interest in the Conservative Party and the Coalition government's social policies.

"This book brings a new perspective to the study of social policy and is designed for students of social policy, social work, politics, policy studies and public adminstration."--BOOK JACKET.