Key Political Leaders and Their Policies in Great Britain

1. Key Political Leaders and Their Policies in Great Britain JON, GLEN, JACKIE, ANDREA, NATHALIE

2. Multi-Party System • Since 1920’s, Great Britain has been a multi-party system due to its two largest political parties: • Conservative Party • Labour Party • Before the labour party, was the liberal party • First-past-the-post system maintains the dominance of these two parties • Means that the winner of the election is the one with the most votes, not by majority rules. • Now, they rely on the 3rd significant party, the Liberal Democrats

3. Conservative Party (Right Wing) • Also known as the TORIES • The Conservative Party was formed around the 1830’s • Benjamin Disraeli was the first to transform the Conservative Party • Main focus for the political policies was a patriotic potential people’s party • AFTER WORLD WAR II • Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, and many other fellow conservatives during this time defended the national traditions and institutions • Strived for Economic Liberalization • They wanted less control from the gov’t on the economy (Free markets, free trade, etc.) • Margaret Thatcher was a main motivator for Economic Liberalism

4. Conservative Party Party Factions • One Nation Conservatives • Thatcherism • Promotes low inflation, privatization, and not labour movement • Closely related to Reaganomics • One-Nation Conservatism is a belief in social cohesion, and its adherents support social institutions that maintain harmony between different interest groups Free-Market Conservatives • Wanted to reduce role of the gov’t in the economy Traditionalist Conservatives • Traditional Structure

5. Labour Party (Centre-Left) • Social Democratic Political Party • The Labour Party is a centre ground Political Party, but hold some left wing beliefs such as: • Redistribution of Wealth • Public Spending • Heavy taxation & Increasing Worker’s Rights The Labour Party was formed because the unification of many working people wanted to change the British Parliament to represent the interests of everybody • Labour Party Prime Ministers • Ramsay MacDonald • Dealt with the a world economic crisis of rising unemployment • Tony Blair • Introduced a National Minimum Wage during his term, helped unemployment rates, and education in primary schools • Gordon Brown

6. The Liberal Democrats (Radical Centre) • Social Liberal Political Party • Supports constitutional reform, electoral reform, progressive taxation, environmentalism, human rights laws, etc. • Believe in rebalancing the tax system • The Liberal Democrats Party was formed in 1988 as the Liberal Party was merged with the Social Democratic Party • The policies of the Liberal Democrats are similar to Liberalism • Liberal Democrat Prime Ministers • Paddy Ashdown • Nick Clegg • This significant 3rd party is used to even out the competition and dominance

7. Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990) • Became prime minister under Conservative Party • Britain was previously under 15 years of inflation, rising unemployment, and having to eat out of the hand of the IMF • Won three successive election victories • Known as the “Iron Lady” for her opposition to the Soviet Union

8. Political Leaders • Economic Policy • Decreased direct taxes on income and increased indirect taxes • Increased interest rates to curb inflation • Reduced expenditure on social services • Inflation reduced from 18% to 8.6% by 1982; overall economic growth (despite unemployment) • Privatized many industries, increasing their performance • Lower costs for consumers, more efficiency

9. John Major (1990-1997) • Became prime minister under Conservative Party • Served as prime minister during the Gulf War • Was brought down by a series of sleaze scandals • Some might argue that his social destruction was planned to push Tony Blair into power

10. Tony Blair (1997-2007) • Became Prime Minister under Labour Party • Known for support of man-made climate change fraud, the never-ending “War on Terror”, and for the vast sums he netted during his career.

11. Political Leaders • Tony Blair and Climate Fraud • Vehicle for climate change = ‘The Climate Group’ • Mixture of banking, media, corporate, and advertising executives • Extremely well-funded

13. Political Leaders • Tony Blair and the “War on Terror” • In his first 6 years in office he ordered British troops into battle 5 times • More than any other prime minister in British history • Supported the foreign policy of George Bush • Found guilty (along with Bush) of war crimes by a War Crimes Tribunal in Malaysia

14. Political Leaders • Other interesting facts • Gave up part of the rebate won from the EU by Margaret Thatcher • Cut it by 20% from 2007 – 2013 (has cost 4 billion pounds as of 2011) • Has said that he needs at least 5 million pounds per year to fund his lifestyle • Attended 1993 Bilderberg meeting in Athens

15. Gordon Brown (2007-2010) • Became prime minister under the New Labour Party • Supports the myth of man-made climate change • Championed Big Brother and police state • Attended the 1991 Bilderberg meeting • Contributed to the wrecking of Britain’s economy

16. Political Leaders • Economic Destruction • Sold off more than half of Britain’s gold reserves, after which the price of gold tripled (and has continued to increase) • Cost the taxpayers approximately $4.8 billion • Pledged to overhaul the IMF • Largely blamed for economic recession in Britain

17. David Cameron (2010-present) • Fairly new prime minister • Elected under Conservative Party • Involved in the phone-hacking scandal; employed an ex-News Corp editor into his administration • Was in favor of selling off patients’ medical data to private research firms

18. The Royal Family • The true power in Britain lies not in the Prime Minister, nor even the Parliament, but in the Royal Family itself. • Prime Ministers are not truly elected. The Queen simply “appoints” whoever wins the election. • The Queen has suspended or dissolved Parliament multiple times. • The Royal Family has also been proven to have Nazi connections • Their real name is not the House of Windsor, but actually the House of Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha (German)

19. Conclusion • Britain has multi-century corruption to deal with • Prime ministers must be more heavily scrutinized by public • Britain must completely pull itself out of bondage to the EU and the IMF if it ever wants to prosper economically • The Royal Family must be dealt with

20. Conclusion • “It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning.” - George Orwell