Tories and the Welfare State : A History of Conservative Social Policy Since the Second World War

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. The conservative Party has been in office for the greater part of the postwar period, yet to date no one has written a history of its social policy, in government and out. In this book, timothy Raison-a former Education an Home Office minister and founder of New Society-traces the way in which the Tory approach to the welfare state has developed since the days of Beverage and 1944 Butler Education Act. In a work of narrative history, rather than of party propaganda, he carries the story right up to the major legislation of 1988, moving from the coalition era of nearly fifty years ago to the advance of the radical right in recent years. The work ends with two speculative chapters about the next phase and an invaluable statistical appendix on what actually happened Front Matter....Pages i-xi 1939–45: Coalition....Pages 1-14 1945–51: Parallel Lines....Pages 15-31 1951–56: Back in Government....Pages 32-41 1957–64: The Middle Ground....Pages 42-56 1964–70: Heath in Opposition....Pages 57-71 1970–74: Heath in Government....Pages 72-87 1974–9: The Coming of Thatcher....Pages 88-106 1979–83: Thatcher in Government....Pages 107-122 1983–7: The Tempo Mounts....Pages 123-145 1987–8: The Flagships Launched....Pages 146-167 The Evolving Agenda....Pages 168-180 Responsibility and the Underdog....Pages 181-192 Back Matter....Pages 193-218