Related Searches   Post-war consensus  The post-war consensus
was an era in British political history which lasted from the
end of World War II to the election of Margaret Thatcher as
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979.  The foundations
of the post-war consensus can be traced to the reports of
William Beveridge, who in 1942 formulated the concept of a more
comprehensive welfare state in the United Kingdom. Shortly after
the surrender of Germany in May 1945, a general election was
held in the UK. The result was a landslide victory for the
Labour Party, whose leader was Clement Attlee. The policies
undertaken and implemented by this Labour government laid the
base of the consensus. The Conservative Party accepted many of
these changes and promised not to reverse them in its 1947
Industrial Charter.  The post-war consensus can be characterised
as a belief in Keynesian economics, a mixed economy with the
nationalisation of major industries, the establishment of the
National Health Service and the creati