Andreas Michaelis

The "post-war consensus" and its meaning for our understanding of British politics Andreas Michaelis

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Other States, grade: 1,3, University of Warwick, language: English, comment: "Erasmus-Englisch" , abstract: After the Second World War a supposed "consensus" developed throughout British politics. In February 1954, 'The Economist' invented a new word - "Butskellism". The magazine thought that the policies of the Exchequer of the day, the Conservative R. A. Butler, were so similar to those of his Labour predecessor, Hugh Gaitskell, that they had been devised by a "Mr. Butskell" (Boxer 2010,38). This statement shows that even the people at the time thought of a consensus in British politics. [...]