Chapter 88: Keep Calm and Carry On - Britain (Until 1980)
For more information about British politics (in the 1940s), see: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ternative-cold-war.280530/page-3#post-8524822
===
The 1950 General Election in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland saw Clement Attlee's Labour Party cling onto power with a much reduced majority of five seats. The primary cause of this decline in population was a continued austerity programme. Despite the Second World War being over for five years at this point, rationing of petrol, sugar, milk and meat was still in effect. Whilst Attlee had been effective in the past at dealing with differences of opinion in his party, the contradictions had become to great to reconcile. An austerity budget had been put forward by Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Gaitskell, who introduced charges for spectacles and dentures under the NHS in order to free up funds for increased military spending, necessary to maintain the British contribution to the intervention in China, where British forces operated in the Pearl River sector. This erosion of NHS services prompted a revolt by the left wing of the party, led by Aneurin Bevan, a Welsh MP who had strong ties to the miners' unions. Bevan resigned from his position as Minister of Labour. President of the Board of Trade Harold Wilson followed Bevan, handing in his resignation also. Hoping to salvage the situation, Attlee called a snap election in 1951. This backfired, with the Conservative Party narrowly defeating Labour, and Winston Churchill returned to the post of Prime Minister.
The third Churchill government largely concerned itself with foreign policy. Whilst the Conservative cabinet begrudging let Kenya go (it had little real value for the empire at this point), they did effectively suppress the ethnically-Chinese communist rebellion in northern Malaya. British intelligence was also instrumental, with US assistance, in the overthrow of the Mossadegh regime in Iran and the transfer of power to the Shah. Domestically, the only major area of concern for Churchill was housing. He appointed Harold MacMillan as Minister of Housing and Local Government who was tasked with ensuring the construction of 300,000 new houses per annum. Churchill also expressed some trepidation about a rise in immigration from the Caribbean. Labour shortages as a result of the Second World War required a great deal of new workers, and the British Nationality Act of 1948 gave the unintended consequence of encouraging West Indian migration to Britain (the act had originally been drafted with white Canadians, New Zealanders and Australians in mind). There was some opposition to this, both on cultural/racial grounds, and in some instances on labour competition rationales, but it cannot be doubted that this influx of migrants had a positive effect on British economic growth and on the provision of services to all Britons. The arrival of West Indian migrants in the early 1950s is often looked back as the point where Britain itself, rather than just the empire it had ruled over, became truly multicultural.
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the House of Windsor, 1952
On 6th February 1952, King George VI passed away after a battle with cancer. He was succeeded by his daughter, the 25-year old Elizabeth II. In April 1955, due to ailing health, Churchill stepped down, replaced by Anthony Eden. The popular Eden immediately called a general election, which the Conservatives won a greater share of the vote in than they had in 1951, thus legitimising his position. The 1950s would see the Suez Crisis, which made it apparent that the United Kingdom was no longer a superpower, but also ushered in an economic golden age. Unemployment remained extremely low throughout the decade, rationing was finally ended in its entirety and new consumer products such as televisions and washing machines became accessible to most Britons. Even jobs which required little to no qualifications saw a noticeable increase in wages, and by the onset of the 1960s Britons were on average one of the most affluent peoples in the world. Economic growth had been largely driven by adherence to Keynesian economic policies, which had proved very effective in the context that Britain found itself in during the 1950s. Despite this economic growth, the political fallout from the Suez Crisis forced Eden's resignation. His replacement, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold MacMillan, nicknamed "Super-Mac", continued to emphasise high levels of employment as the most important macroeconomic priority. This was in opposition to many of his ministers who sought strict control of the money base to curb inflation. In January 1958, all of MacMillan's treasury ministers resigned. Unperturbed, 'Super-Mac' described these events as "a little local difficulty". MacMillan attempted to utilise the newly-created National Incomes Commission to institute controls on income in order to promote economic growth without inflation. This policy failed due to the steadfast opposition of the Trade Union Congress, the largest trade union confederation in the UK. MacMillan was successful in bringing an end to conscription. The withdrawal of Suez had made it clear that the scope of independent British international security commitments would be limited, and as such it would be preferable for Britain to maintain a smaller, highly professionalised force. In the event of a Third World War, the British militaries would be integrated into an American-led command structure anyway, and a small agile army (the navy of course would remain rather formidable, and would be modernised in order to limit Soviet break-out capabilities through the GIUK gap and the Mediterranean) would be more cost-effective and appropriate for Britain's needs. Unintentionally, the end of conscription helped set the stage for the counter-culture youth movements of the 1960s by not exposing young British men to the social and behavioural conditioning intrinsic to the conscription process. MacMillan took a proactive role in foreign policy, seeking to heal the rift with Eisenhower that had arisen over the the Anglo-French intervention in Egypt. MacMillan's wartime friendship with Eisenhower proved useful to this aim, a high degree of trust between the two men smoothing over any policy differences. Aside from reaffirming Britain's commitment to the 'Special Relationship' with their Transatlantic friends, MacMillan's government also sought to manage the United Kingdom's transition away from imperialism, overseeing the independence of several former colonies, such as Ghana and Malaya. It was also during this time that the United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapons off of the coast of Australia. 'Super-Mac' proved popular with the British public, winning the 1959 general election and increasing the Conservatives' electoral majority. In his second term, MacMillan negotiated the acquisition of American-made Polaris ICBMs, as British scientists had failed to create a viable natively-produced ICBM to function as a delivery system for Britain's nuclear weapons. The latter half of Super-Mac's prime ministership was marred by a number of disappointments, including the imposition of a seven-month wage freeze as a damage-control measure regarding Britain's balance of payments issues in 1961, and notably the inability to prevent De Gaulle from vetoing British entry into the EEC. This unpopular policy resulted in a number of by-electoral defeats, chipping away at the Tories' electoral majority. MacMillan would resign in 1963 due to health complications, although the concurrent Profumo Affair and the criticism it attracted may have hastened his resignation.
Harold "Super-Mac" MacMillan, British Prime Minister, 1956-1963 (Conservative Party)
MacMillan appointed the Earl of Home, Alec Douglas-Home, as a successor. This was a highly controversial decision within the party. Several notable Tories argued that the elite Etonian "magic circle" shouldn't be the visible head of the party, and that it was necessary to have a younger, more modern leadership. Furthermore, polls had shown an increase in Labour support throughout the British electorate, and a literal aristocrat would appear to confirm the stereotype of the Conservative Party as a mouthpiece of the stuffy, out-of-touch landed gentry. Eventually convinced by dissident MPs, notably Enoch Powell, Iain McLeod, Reginald Maudling and Lord Hailsham, Deputy Prime Minister Rab Butler, after some vacillating, refused to serve under Douglas-Home[199]. Whilst Butler would remain a powerful figure in the Conservative Party, he would not be selected as to lead the party in the upcoming 1964 general election. That privilege would instead fall to MacLeod. The 1964 election would prove to be tightly-contested. The Labour Party of Harold Wilson, who had been bolstered by public dissatisfaction with MacMillan's second term, mounted a serious challenge to Conservative political dominance. Labour's platform emphasised greater coordination between state-run enterprises and the renationalisation of the steel and road haulage industries, but declared no further nationalisations. They also promised expansion of social services, tax reform and control of inflation (although they were unable to suggest any mechanisms beyond unpopular pay and price controls). Education was another area of emphasis for Labour, who sought comprehensivisation of secondary education and a later leaving age. With regards to immigration policy, Labour promoted a strict quota system, but with full legal equality and NHS privileges for immigrants already residing in the United Kingdom, such as the Caribbean migrants and the "Kenyan Asians" (people of Indian descent who fled the violence in Kenya). Labour's foreign policy platform was based around so-called "socialist foreign policy", requiring high human-rights standards for aid recipient-countries and criticising the Conservatives for the Aden Emergency and sales of arms to apartheid South Africa and Francoist Spain. The Conservatives also promised taxation reform, such as a decrease in personal income tax, and emphasised a "new Conservative Party" which would take the experience of the last thirteen years or so of leadership and infuse it with a modern, forward-thinking outlook. McLeod and his peers pledged an even closer transatlantic relationship with the United States, a continued deep involvement with the British Commonwealth, development of domestic nuclear power infrastructure, increased capital investment in industry to promote retooling of the British manufacturing industry to keep up with competitors such as the German bundesrepublik, and emphasised diplomatic successes such as the Kingston Agreement [200] and the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. This election was noticeable for being one dominated by theatrics on both sides. Television became key to campaigning for the first time in British history. Although much tighter than in previous elections, the Conservatives were once again able to claim victory [201] but with a majority of a mere two seats. This slim a majority made governance extremely difficult, and McLeod actively engaged in a number of behind-the-scenes deals in order to secure a decrease to personal income taxes before calling a snap election in 1966. This had some success, granting the Conservatives a forty-seat majority, enough to push through most policies, although some of the more controversial ones, such as the decriminalisation of homosexuality, had to be left at the wayside. The McLeod government overall maintained the Keynesian economic approach which the past decade had seen, but improved productivity to a degree by allowing industrial firms to gain financial assistance for the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment. In response to French and German policies limiting imports from the United Kingdom, the McLeod government introduced a subsidy scheme regarding purchase of domestically-produced automobiles, effectively pushing French, German and American cars (aside from Ford, as it operated manufacturing plants in the UK) out of the mass market, and preventing Japanese automobile companies from getting a foothold in the UK market.
James Callaghan, British Prime Minister, 1970-1979 (Labour Party)
The 1970 election saw Labour finally break the Conservatives' monopoly on power that had been maintained since the end of the Attlee government. Increasing discord within NATO between the French-influenced and American-loyal factions made the Conservatives' insistence on the wisdom of reliance on NATO for British security come into question. The Conservative Party had also taken a relatively hands-off policy regarding increasing communal tensions in Northern Ireland, which bothered many in Britain. Economic growth had started to slow, and balance of trade and overvaluation of the pound as a result of the Bretton Woods system continued to plague the British economy. With Harold Wilson losing the Labour leadership after the poor results in the 1964 and 1966 election, McLeod instead found himself campaigning against James Callaghan, who represented the 'right' of the Labour Party. Despite misgivings about the commitments to NATO, Callaghan's government remained in the alliance, seeing the French-led LDO, ran as it was by essentially a fascist junta, as a worse alternative. Callaghan oversaw the introduction of a 15% surcharge on imports to tackle the balance of payments deficit. The sudden price shocks experienced by ordinary Britons and the outrage it caused with Britain's trade partners saw the government announce that it was merely a temporary measure. The new Labour government increased income taxes beyond pre-McLeod levels, which did cause some consternation, as well as introducing a petrol tax, but they also increased the state pension and the widow's pension. Furthermore, a capital gains tax was introduced, which was popular with much of Labour's electoral base. The Callaghan government also saw the introduction of a short-term mortgage scheme which enabled low-wage earners to maintain mortgage schemes in the face of economic difficulties. This did a great deal to counteract the reputational damage done by an increase in income tax. Labour began to adopt policies they saw as part of an overall "economic rationalisation". The increase in oil prices pushed by the United Arab Republic and Venezuela did prompt economic difficulties, but the Callaghan government subsidised development of deep-sea drilling techniques to exploit the North Sea oil fields to counteract this trend in the long-term. Under the Labour government, the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21, which was implemented in the 1974 election[202]. Labour would win a second term. Despite an economic dip in the mid-70s, the economy was largely recovering by 1978, inflation dropped under 10%, employment was high and GDP growth was steady. The policy of pay restraint had helped push economic growth by limiting wage costs for businesses, but the trade unions were staunch opponents of this policy, and had influenced a handful of leftist Labour MPs to support them. Growing Labour unrest and strikes, largely concentrated in Scotland and the north of England, convinced Callaghan to hold the next general election in 1979 instead of 1978 as per the British custom of quadrennial peacetime elections. November 1978 to February 1979 saw the "Winter of Discontent", a wave of industrial action taking place during the coldest winter in years. The nominal cause for the unrest was the cap on pay rises, but there were other underlying elements: within the Labour Party there was disagreement on the future direction of British socialism and the trade unions attempted to reassert their past influence over the Labour Party in order to pull it back towards the left after eight years of centrism under Callaghan towards a more dirigisme-influenced system. It was also somewhat of a grassroots revolt against the Trade Union Congress, whose older leadership didn't reflect the rank-and-file, which was composed of a greater number of women and ethnic minorities than ever before. Left-wing Labour MPs blocked initial government attempts at introducing sanctions on the striking workers. The widespread industrial action led to several strange scenes, including a 300-passenger train being stranded near Stirling, Scotland due to heavy snow, and some towns being entirely cut off, only able to be reached by helicopter as infrastructure was largely unstaffed and as such shut down. Anger with the inconveniences caused by the strikes also led to occasional counter-demonstrations by non-union citizens. Eventually the strikes were lifted after pay rises averaging around 15%. Nevertheless, the events turned much of the British public against the trade union movement and paved the way for the 1979 Conservative victory, where Edward Heath would take the mantle of Prime Minister [203].
===
[199] IOTL, they were unable to convince Butler to refuse to serve under Douglas-Home, despite Butler's dissatisfaction regarding MacMillan's selection of Douglas-Home as his successor.
[200] TTL's equivalent of the Nassau Agreement, where the UK was able to get Polaris missiles from the USA.
[201] IOTL Harold Wilson's Labour Party narrowly defeated the Conservatives under Douglas-Home in the closest-contested election in British history; IOTL 900 individual votes made the difference between a Labour victory and a Conservative one.
[202] IOTL it occurred in 1969.
[203] Thatcher was able to become Conservative leader IOTL because of Heath's failure in the 1974 elections, despite being incumbent. In this case, he wasn't ousted from party leadership due to not being an incumbent PM; the other Tories largely assume the failure to win is not entirely Heath's fault.
===
The 1950 General Election in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland saw Clement Attlee's Labour Party cling onto power with a much reduced majority of five seats. The primary cause of this decline in population was a continued austerity programme. Despite the Second World War being over for five years at this point, rationing of petrol, sugar, milk and meat was still in effect. Whilst Attlee had been effective in the past at dealing with differences of opinion in his party, the contradictions had become to great to reconcile. An austerity budget had been put forward by Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Gaitskell, who introduced charges for spectacles and dentures under the NHS in order to free up funds for increased military spending, necessary to maintain the British contribution to the intervention in China, where British forces operated in the Pearl River sector. This erosion of NHS services prompted a revolt by the left wing of the party, led by Aneurin Bevan, a Welsh MP who had strong ties to the miners' unions. Bevan resigned from his position as Minister of Labour. President of the Board of Trade Harold Wilson followed Bevan, handing in his resignation also. Hoping to salvage the situation, Attlee called a snap election in 1951. This backfired, with the Conservative Party narrowly defeating Labour, and Winston Churchill returned to the post of Prime Minister.
The third Churchill government largely concerned itself with foreign policy. Whilst the Conservative cabinet begrudging let Kenya go (it had little real value for the empire at this point), they did effectively suppress the ethnically-Chinese communist rebellion in northern Malaya. British intelligence was also instrumental, with US assistance, in the overthrow of the Mossadegh regime in Iran and the transfer of power to the Shah. Domestically, the only major area of concern for Churchill was housing. He appointed Harold MacMillan as Minister of Housing and Local Government who was tasked with ensuring the construction of 300,000 new houses per annum. Churchill also expressed some trepidation about a rise in immigration from the Caribbean. Labour shortages as a result of the Second World War required a great deal of new workers, and the British Nationality Act of 1948 gave the unintended consequence of encouraging West Indian migration to Britain (the act had originally been drafted with white Canadians, New Zealanders and Australians in mind). There was some opposition to this, both on cultural/racial grounds, and in some instances on labour competition rationales, but it cannot be doubted that this influx of migrants had a positive effect on British economic growth and on the provision of services to all Britons. The arrival of West Indian migrants in the early 1950s is often looked back as the point where Britain itself, rather than just the empire it had ruled over, became truly multicultural.
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the House of Windsor, 1952
On 6th February 1952, King George VI passed away after a battle with cancer. He was succeeded by his daughter, the 25-year old Elizabeth II. In April 1955, due to ailing health, Churchill stepped down, replaced by Anthony Eden. The popular Eden immediately called a general election, which the Conservatives won a greater share of the vote in than they had in 1951, thus legitimising his position. The 1950s would see the Suez Crisis, which made it apparent that the United Kingdom was no longer a superpower, but also ushered in an economic golden age. Unemployment remained extremely low throughout the decade, rationing was finally ended in its entirety and new consumer products such as televisions and washing machines became accessible to most Britons. Even jobs which required little to no qualifications saw a noticeable increase in wages, and by the onset of the 1960s Britons were on average one of the most affluent peoples in the world. Economic growth had been largely driven by adherence to Keynesian economic policies, which had proved very effective in the context that Britain found itself in during the 1950s. Despite this economic growth, the political fallout from the Suez Crisis forced Eden's resignation. His replacement, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold MacMillan, nicknamed "Super-Mac", continued to emphasise high levels of employment as the most important macroeconomic priority. This was in opposition to many of his ministers who sought strict control of the money base to curb inflation. In January 1958, all of MacMillan's treasury ministers resigned. Unperturbed, 'Super-Mac' described these events as "a little local difficulty". MacMillan attempted to utilise the newly-created National Incomes Commission to institute controls on income in order to promote economic growth without inflation. This policy failed due to the steadfast opposition of the Trade Union Congress, the largest trade union confederation in the UK. MacMillan was successful in bringing an end to conscription. The withdrawal of Suez had made it clear that the scope of independent British international security commitments would be limited, and as such it would be preferable for Britain to maintain a smaller, highly professionalised force. In the event of a Third World War, the British militaries would be integrated into an American-led command structure anyway, and a small agile army (the navy of course would remain rather formidable, and would be modernised in order to limit Soviet break-out capabilities through the GIUK gap and the Mediterranean) would be more cost-effective and appropriate for Britain's needs. Unintentionally, the end of conscription helped set the stage for the counter-culture youth movements of the 1960s by not exposing young British men to the social and behavioural conditioning intrinsic to the conscription process. MacMillan took a proactive role in foreign policy, seeking to heal the rift with Eisenhower that had arisen over the the Anglo-French intervention in Egypt. MacMillan's wartime friendship with Eisenhower proved useful to this aim, a high degree of trust between the two men smoothing over any policy differences. Aside from reaffirming Britain's commitment to the 'Special Relationship' with their Transatlantic friends, MacMillan's government also sought to manage the United Kingdom's transition away from imperialism, overseeing the independence of several former colonies, such as Ghana and Malaya. It was also during this time that the United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapons off of the coast of Australia. 'Super-Mac' proved popular with the British public, winning the 1959 general election and increasing the Conservatives' electoral majority. In his second term, MacMillan negotiated the acquisition of American-made Polaris ICBMs, as British scientists had failed to create a viable natively-produced ICBM to function as a delivery system for Britain's nuclear weapons. The latter half of Super-Mac's prime ministership was marred by a number of disappointments, including the imposition of a seven-month wage freeze as a damage-control measure regarding Britain's balance of payments issues in 1961, and notably the inability to prevent De Gaulle from vetoing British entry into the EEC. This unpopular policy resulted in a number of by-electoral defeats, chipping away at the Tories' electoral majority. MacMillan would resign in 1963 due to health complications, although the concurrent Profumo Affair and the criticism it attracted may have hastened his resignation.
Harold "Super-Mac" MacMillan, British Prime Minister, 1956-1963 (Conservative Party)
MacMillan appointed the Earl of Home, Alec Douglas-Home, as a successor. This was a highly controversial decision within the party. Several notable Tories argued that the elite Etonian "magic circle" shouldn't be the visible head of the party, and that it was necessary to have a younger, more modern leadership. Furthermore, polls had shown an increase in Labour support throughout the British electorate, and a literal aristocrat would appear to confirm the stereotype of the Conservative Party as a mouthpiece of the stuffy, out-of-touch landed gentry. Eventually convinced by dissident MPs, notably Enoch Powell, Iain McLeod, Reginald Maudling and Lord Hailsham, Deputy Prime Minister Rab Butler, after some vacillating, refused to serve under Douglas-Home[199]. Whilst Butler would remain a powerful figure in the Conservative Party, he would not be selected as to lead the party in the upcoming 1964 general election. That privilege would instead fall to MacLeod. The 1964 election would prove to be tightly-contested. The Labour Party of Harold Wilson, who had been bolstered by public dissatisfaction with MacMillan's second term, mounted a serious challenge to Conservative political dominance. Labour's platform emphasised greater coordination between state-run enterprises and the renationalisation of the steel and road haulage industries, but declared no further nationalisations. They also promised expansion of social services, tax reform and control of inflation (although they were unable to suggest any mechanisms beyond unpopular pay and price controls). Education was another area of emphasis for Labour, who sought comprehensivisation of secondary education and a later leaving age. With regards to immigration policy, Labour promoted a strict quota system, but with full legal equality and NHS privileges for immigrants already residing in the United Kingdom, such as the Caribbean migrants and the "Kenyan Asians" (people of Indian descent who fled the violence in Kenya). Labour's foreign policy platform was based around so-called "socialist foreign policy", requiring high human-rights standards for aid recipient-countries and criticising the Conservatives for the Aden Emergency and sales of arms to apartheid South Africa and Francoist Spain. The Conservatives also promised taxation reform, such as a decrease in personal income tax, and emphasised a "new Conservative Party" which would take the experience of the last thirteen years or so of leadership and infuse it with a modern, forward-thinking outlook. McLeod and his peers pledged an even closer transatlantic relationship with the United States, a continued deep involvement with the British Commonwealth, development of domestic nuclear power infrastructure, increased capital investment in industry to promote retooling of the British manufacturing industry to keep up with competitors such as the German bundesrepublik, and emphasised diplomatic successes such as the Kingston Agreement [200] and the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. This election was noticeable for being one dominated by theatrics on both sides. Television became key to campaigning for the first time in British history. Although much tighter than in previous elections, the Conservatives were once again able to claim victory [201] but with a majority of a mere two seats. This slim a majority made governance extremely difficult, and McLeod actively engaged in a number of behind-the-scenes deals in order to secure a decrease to personal income taxes before calling a snap election in 1966. This had some success, granting the Conservatives a forty-seat majority, enough to push through most policies, although some of the more controversial ones, such as the decriminalisation of homosexuality, had to be left at the wayside. The McLeod government overall maintained the Keynesian economic approach which the past decade had seen, but improved productivity to a degree by allowing industrial firms to gain financial assistance for the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment. In response to French and German policies limiting imports from the United Kingdom, the McLeod government introduced a subsidy scheme regarding purchase of domestically-produced automobiles, effectively pushing French, German and American cars (aside from Ford, as it operated manufacturing plants in the UK) out of the mass market, and preventing Japanese automobile companies from getting a foothold in the UK market.
James Callaghan, British Prime Minister, 1970-1979 (Labour Party)
The 1970 election saw Labour finally break the Conservatives' monopoly on power that had been maintained since the end of the Attlee government. Increasing discord within NATO between the French-influenced and American-loyal factions made the Conservatives' insistence on the wisdom of reliance on NATO for British security come into question. The Conservative Party had also taken a relatively hands-off policy regarding increasing communal tensions in Northern Ireland, which bothered many in Britain. Economic growth had started to slow, and balance of trade and overvaluation of the pound as a result of the Bretton Woods system continued to plague the British economy. With Harold Wilson losing the Labour leadership after the poor results in the 1964 and 1966 election, McLeod instead found himself campaigning against James Callaghan, who represented the 'right' of the Labour Party. Despite misgivings about the commitments to NATO, Callaghan's government remained in the alliance, seeing the French-led LDO, ran as it was by essentially a fascist junta, as a worse alternative. Callaghan oversaw the introduction of a 15% surcharge on imports to tackle the balance of payments deficit. The sudden price shocks experienced by ordinary Britons and the outrage it caused with Britain's trade partners saw the government announce that it was merely a temporary measure. The new Labour government increased income taxes beyond pre-McLeod levels, which did cause some consternation, as well as introducing a petrol tax, but they also increased the state pension and the widow's pension. Furthermore, a capital gains tax was introduced, which was popular with much of Labour's electoral base. The Callaghan government also saw the introduction of a short-term mortgage scheme which enabled low-wage earners to maintain mortgage schemes in the face of economic difficulties. This did a great deal to counteract the reputational damage done by an increase in income tax. Labour began to adopt policies they saw as part of an overall "economic rationalisation". The increase in oil prices pushed by the United Arab Republic and Venezuela did prompt economic difficulties, but the Callaghan government subsidised development of deep-sea drilling techniques to exploit the North Sea oil fields to counteract this trend in the long-term. Under the Labour government, the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21, which was implemented in the 1974 election[202]. Labour would win a second term. Despite an economic dip in the mid-70s, the economy was largely recovering by 1978, inflation dropped under 10%, employment was high and GDP growth was steady. The policy of pay restraint had helped push economic growth by limiting wage costs for businesses, but the trade unions were staunch opponents of this policy, and had influenced a handful of leftist Labour MPs to support them. Growing Labour unrest and strikes, largely concentrated in Scotland and the north of England, convinced Callaghan to hold the next general election in 1979 instead of 1978 as per the British custom of quadrennial peacetime elections. November 1978 to February 1979 saw the "Winter of Discontent", a wave of industrial action taking place during the coldest winter in years. The nominal cause for the unrest was the cap on pay rises, but there were other underlying elements: within the Labour Party there was disagreement on the future direction of British socialism and the trade unions attempted to reassert their past influence over the Labour Party in order to pull it back towards the left after eight years of centrism under Callaghan towards a more dirigisme-influenced system. It was also somewhat of a grassroots revolt against the Trade Union Congress, whose older leadership didn't reflect the rank-and-file, which was composed of a greater number of women and ethnic minorities than ever before. Left-wing Labour MPs blocked initial government attempts at introducing sanctions on the striking workers. The widespread industrial action led to several strange scenes, including a 300-passenger train being stranded near Stirling, Scotland due to heavy snow, and some towns being entirely cut off, only able to be reached by helicopter as infrastructure was largely unstaffed and as such shut down. Anger with the inconveniences caused by the strikes also led to occasional counter-demonstrations by non-union citizens. Eventually the strikes were lifted after pay rises averaging around 15%. Nevertheless, the events turned much of the British public against the trade union movement and paved the way for the 1979 Conservative victory, where Edward Heath would take the mantle of Prime Minister [203].
===
[199] IOTL, they were unable to convince Butler to refuse to serve under Douglas-Home, despite Butler's dissatisfaction regarding MacMillan's selection of Douglas-Home as his successor.
[200] TTL's equivalent of the Nassau Agreement, where the UK was able to get Polaris missiles from the USA.
[201] IOTL Harold Wilson's Labour Party narrowly defeated the Conservatives under Douglas-Home in the closest-contested election in British history; IOTL 900 individual votes made the difference between a Labour victory and a Conservative one.
[202] IOTL it occurred in 1969.
[203] Thatcher was able to become Conservative leader IOTL because of Heath's failure in the 1974 elections, despite being incumbent. In this case, he wasn't ousted from party leadership due to not being an incumbent PM; the other Tories largely assume the failure to win is not entirely Heath's fault.
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