ABSTRACT

The Conservative Government under the leadership of Edward Heath was elected in 1970 on a manifesto of smaller government. However, between 1970 and 1974 only minor denationalisation occurred, of a small brewery in Carlisle and the travel agent Thomas Cook. Indeed, during the Heath Government public spending rose and in a number of respects the intervention of government in the economy in the form of industrial policy became more intrusive. After the defeat of the Government in the February 1974 General Election, during a “who rules Britain” confrontation with the National Union of Mineworkers, a new Labour administration extended state ownership with the nationalisation of aerospace and shipbuilding, the establishment of the National Enterprise Board and the creation of the British National Oil Corporation (BNOC). In February 1975 Margaret Thatcher replaced Edward Heath as leader of the Conservative Party. However, this did not necessarily signal an immediate change in Conservative policy towards state-owned industry. In two Party policy documents in 1976 and 1977, The Right Approach and The Right Approach to the Economy, there was little sign of a major shift in party thinking on nationalisation. This was also the case in the Manifesto on which the Conservatives won the May 1979 General Election. This Manifesto proposed limited denationalisation, mainly focused on reversing the recent privatisations of aerospace and shipbuilding and introducing some private capital into the National Freight Corporation.