King In The North: The T. Dan Smith Story

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I, Peter Henry Renwick,the undersigned, being the Acting Returning Officer for the Newcastle East Constituency at the the election held on Thursday, 15th October 1964, do hereby give notice that the number of votes cast for each candidate at this election is as follows:

Smith, Thomas Daniel. Labour Party: 22,347
Montgomery,William Fergus. Conservative Party:18,459


I do hereby declare that the said Thomas Daniel Smith is duly elected as Member of Parliament for the Newcastle Upon Tyne East Constituency.
 
1964 Election: Close but close enough

The 1964 election was relatively close one given that the Conservative party had been in power since 1951. Many commentators speculated that they would have done better under the late Hugh Gaitskell but Wilson had provided the party with a majority. A majority of just 4 would be tricky for any government but Wilson vowed to govern no matter what and soon the new Prime Minister announced his first cabinet. The failure of former shadow foreign secretary to win re-election was official reason for shuffle but many felt it was simply an excuse for the new PM to show his influence on the new government.

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The 1964 Cabinet

Prime Minister: Harold Wilson

First Secretary of State: George Brown

Lord Chancellor: Lord Gardiner

Leader of the House of Commons: Richard Crossman

Lord Privy Seal: Frank Soskice

Chancellor of the Exchequer: James Callaghan

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs: George Brown

Secretary of State for the Home Department: Michael Stewart

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Douglas Houghton

Secretary of State for the Colonies: Tony Greenwood

Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations: Arthur Bottomley

Secretary of State for Defence: Dennis Healey

Secretary of State for Education and Science: Roy Jenkins

Minister of Housing and Local Government: T. Dan Smith

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Tom Fraser

Minister of Overseas Development: Barbara Castle

Minister of Power: Anthony Wedgwood Benn

Minister of Technology: Anthony Crosland

President of the Board of Trade: Douglas Jay

Minister of Transport: Edward Short


Initial Challenges and Success'

There were many challenges that this new government had to deal with. The most pressing being that of the budget deficit for the coming year, which was forecast at £800 million, double what the Labour Party had predicted as the worst possible figure before the election. Wilson had initially planned on setting up a Ministry of Economic affairs as agreed with Brown after Wilson leadership victory. This would have in theory involved various sections and responsibilities of the Treasury being handed over to this new department. The plan was shelved after Callaghan noted his opportunity and Wilson felt that it would be best moving Brown to the Foreign Office. This was a job Brown craved and best for Wilson and Callaghan it would keep him busy. Callaghan felt that whatever he did as Chancellor he would have to act quickly else he felt that any economic weakness would be blamed on him rather than previous administration.The actions taken in early 1965 were not surprising given the circumstances.

Elsewhere, many commentators at the time applauded the appointment of Smith to Housing and Local Government, due to his vast experience in the area and many of the party's faithful were pleased when it was reported by the Newcastle Evening Chronicle and later reported nationally ' As Minister I pledge that we will built at least 200,000 homes a year by 1969 and you can hold me to that promise'. His first act was legal implementation 1961 Parker Morris Report which would provide all social housing with a certain higher standard and amenities. This was linked to a greater promotion of slum clearance and rent reform. In 1964 Smith launched the first nationwide commission on Urban renewal. This was a chance Smith to show what he could and the commission would launch a report with help of local authorities, architects, sociologists and of Smith's Ministry. Smith called on his old ally Wilfred Burn's to head the commission and write it plan for urban renewal in British cities in the 60's and beyond and this became The Burn's report of 1965 as it was known. It tackled a range of issue's from housing,transport to indeed energy policy and we can see much of the basis for the report in the 1961 Plan for the Centre of Newcastle and the 1963 Development Plan Review he wrote while Chief Planner in Newcastle. The report itself was lauded for how radical was and it scale though critics did say was somewhat impracticable to achieve on a national scale. Smith was said to have remarked after the reports publication ' We have the roadmap now to utopia and of course to the Brasilla of the North'. Newcastle was of course going to be the testing ground for this brave new world.
 
Minister of Housing and Local Government? Jesus, the Poulson affair, assuming of course it still occurs at some point, is going to be epic.

I have mixed feelings about T. Dan Smith. He was apparently a great supporter of the arts and bringing it to the wider public to improve people's lives, yet he was also a corrupt bastard. There's also some of the beautiful old buildings that were torn down to make way for concrete monstrosities, and the use of tower blocks which helped destroy local communities but he was hardly alone in that.
 
A Pound of Flesh

Once in office, things were not at all rose as they had once seemed with £800 million deficit. To add insult injury. Callaghan found a note in treasury written by Reginald Maudling simply stating ‘Good luck, old cock.... Sorry to leave it in such a mess’. Needless to say, this didn’t endear the previous administration to Wilson and Callaghan and they came up with what was dubbed by Callaghan as the 'pound of flesh'approach.

For years the pound had been heavily overvalued and coupled by Britain’s lack productivity and just general uncompetitiveness this didn’t help at all. Government of all stripes had tried to avoid devaluation of pound sterling due to the political ramifications of it. Yet to Callaghan and his team all other options seemed to be temporary and mealy delaying something that was bound to happen. Wilson though was initially sceptical as with such a small majority he was hoping on a short parliament and to come back in a more sizeable majority. Yet he was eventually convinced that this was the strategy to go with.

Meanwhile the affects of the 1964 election were still being felt by the Conservatives, who were opposition for the first time in over a decade. There was growing calls for Sir Alec Douglas-Home to resign and for a fresh face to take over the party in opposition and lead the party back to government. Many in the press speculated on who would take over. These ranged from former Chancellor Reginald Maudling, Foreign secretary Ted Heath, and over young members like Iain Macleod. On the right of the party Peter Thorneycroft and his former apprentice Enoch .On Monday 1st March, former PM did what many had speculated and resigned and caught the first train up to Scotland and retreated to his estate while the first Conservative leadership election happened. In the end only three put themselves up for the role Maudling, Heath and Thorneycroft. Powell stated later he missed to run but the former chancellor persuaded with to wait and as one last favour to him.

The following day however the Labour government announced the devaluation of Sterling. Going from £1 = $2.80 to £1 = $2.45. There was a certain shock from all sides of political sphere as it hadn’t been a secret on a need to know basis and people unsure how it would be taken. That night the Prime Minister appeared on Television and on the radio and talked about the decision.

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‘ My government has not acted lightly we have been but in this situation by a Conservative government who as mismanaged our economy. We are all in this together and there will be challenges ahead but we will weather them. We will fix the deficit rather ignoring it. The Pound is still strong under a Labour government and we will deliver where the Conservatives have failed’.

Labour planned to create a narrative where they would blame the economy situation and deficit on the Conservatives. It seemed that this approach was working and with no Conservative lead in place, The Conservatives failed to counteract this narrative of Tory misrule. The next Conservative leader had his work cut out.

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After the First round Heath had the edge with 303 votes with only one abstention. Heath had been better at mobilising MP's and campaigning and Thorneycroft did better than people thought. Although he hadn't reached a majority +15% and many felt that Maulding was better placed to gain the Thorneycroft, Maulding was requested by senior party figures to withdraw as it was felt there needed to be a Tory leader ASAP. Maulding reluctantly agreed and Heath was sworn in with a less than stellar mandate and began to lead a Tory fight back. It wouldn't be too long till the backbench muttering began.
 
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