ABSTRACT
The post-war Labour governments had faced the worst of the time when so much needed to be done with such limited resources. It may be interesting to speculate how they might have fared had they won a further term of office in 1951 in what would become easier economic circumstances – but it would not be a very productive exercise. In reality it was the Conservatives who were able to benefit from some of the groundwork laid by Attlee’s administrations. People would inevitably compare the austerity of the Labour years with the increasing availability of goods during the 1950s which had previously and necessarily been labelled ‘For Export Only’, even if it was principally the middle classes who would initially benefit the most. Motor cars were one obvious example as British automobile manufacturers prospered, unfettered by foreign competitors who were busy restoring war-ravaged economies. Other events, difficult to measure in terms of the ‘feel good’ factor of the electorate played some part in the popularity of Conservative governments of the 1950s, however irrational they might seem on reflection: the conquest of Everest by a British-led team; the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953; and even the breaking of the four-minute mile by Roger Bannister the following year. The Cold War engendered hostility to the political Left and this did not help the Labour party’s public image any more than the perceived rift over nuclear weapons.
