Individual Liberty Versus Industrial Order: Conservatives and the Trade Union Closed Shop 1946–90

Abstract

Although the Conservative Party was always ideologically antipathetic towards compulsory trade union membership, in the guise of the ‘closed shop’, it was not until the 1980s that it finally succeeded in outlawing this aspect of British trade unionism. Hitherto, the Conservatives had sought to secure a balance between two conflicting stances: instinctive and ideological abhorrence at the denial of individual liberty which the trade union closed shop represented and pragmatic acceptance that the closed shop could actually facilitate industrial order and stability, and that for this very reason, was often tacitly endorsed by many employers. Many Conservatives were also concerned that even if they did outlaw the closed shop, it was likely to be driven underground, whereupon even worse abuses might go undetected. Consequently, the post-war period until the election of the Thatcher Government was characterised by ongoing debates in the Conservative Party over how best to secure a balance between both individual liberty and industrial order and between a majority in a trade union supporting a closed shop and a minority opposing it.

Keywords:

• Closed Shop
• Collective Bargaining
• Liberty
• Order
• Stability

Notes

 [1] Nicholas Scott, House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol. 810, col. 625, 27 January 1971.

 [2] For an excellent examination of the closed shop up until the 1980s, see Dunn and Gennard, The Closed Shop in British Industry. For the period up until the early 1960s, see McCarthy, The Closed Shop in Britain.

 [3] Branton, Economic Organization, 96.

 [4] Pelling, A History of British, 232.

 [5] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol. 421, col. 981, col. 985, 1 April 1946.

 [6] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol. 421, col. 468, 1 April 1946.

 [7] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, vol.421, col. 1011.

 [8] Conservative Party Archives (hereafter CPA), CRD 2/7/41(1), Brooke to name illegible (but begins with ‘P’), 29 October 1945.

 [9] Conservative and Unionist Central Office, The Industrial Charter.

[10] Conservative Party, CRD 2/7/44, Minutes of the inaugural meeting of the Central Trade Union Advisory Committee, 10 March 1947. See also CPA, CCO 503/3/2, ‘Lecture Notes: The Conservatives and the Trade Unions’, April 1947.

[11] Conservative Central Office, The Right Road For Britain.

[12] One Nation Group of MPs, One Nation at Work, 8.

[13] The Times, 10 October 1951.

[14] Dorey, British Conservatism and Trade Unionism 1945–64, passim.

[15] CPA, ACP 3/4(54)34, ‘Industrial Relations—Draft Statement’, 11 June 1954. See also NA, LAB 43/280, Douglas to Carr, 30 July 1956.

[16] National Archives (hereafter NA) CAB 134/1273, I.R.(55) 10, Memorandum by Minister of Labour, ‘Survey of Present Situation’, 25 July 1955. See also, CPA CRD 2/7/6, Douglas to Sherbrooke, 23 June 1953: CPA CCO 4/7/429, Poole to Baxter, 11 September 1956.

[17] NA CAB 134/1273 IR (55) 10, ‘Memorandum by Minister of Labour: Survey of Present Situation’, 25 July 1955. See also, CPA CCO 503/2/21, Conservative Trade Unionists' National Advisory Committee, Conclusions of Special Meeting with Conservative Parliamentary Labour Committee, 26 July 1951: CPA CCO 503/2/22, Conservative Trade–unionists' National Advisory Committee, conclusions of the 48th meeting, 14 February 1957: NA PREM 11/3570, Bishop to Macmillan, 17 May 1961.

[18] See, for example: CPA, CRD 2/7/6, Douglas to Sherbrooke, 23 June 1953; NA PREM 11/1238, Brook [Cabinet Secretary] to Eden, 30 May 1956; CPA CCO 4/7/429, Poole to Dixon, 17 August 1956; CPA CCO 503/2/22, Conservative Trade–unionists' National Advisory Committee, conclusions of the 48th meeting, 14 February 1957 CPA CCO 503/2/22, Conservative Trade–unionists' National Advisory Committee, conclusions of the 48th meeting, 14 February 1957.

[19] CPA, ACP 3/6(59)74, ‘Trade-Union Reform’, 25 November 1959.

[20] CPA, ACP(59)74, Minutes of meeting of the Conservative Trade Unionists' National Advisory Committee, 5 February 1959.

[21] NA PREM 11/3570, Bishop to Macmillan, 17 May 1961. See also, NA LAB 43/280 Douglas to Carr, 30 July 1956; NA PREM 11/921, C.P. (55) 25, Memorandum by the Minister of Labour, ‘Current Industrial Relations Problems’, 2 June 1955; CPA, ACP (59) 74, James Douglas, ‘Trade Union Reform’, 25 November 1959.

[22] See, for example, NA PREM 11/921, ‘Note of a Meeting between the Minister of Labour [Water Monckton] and representatives from the British Employers' Federation’, 7 June 1955.

[23] Enoch Powell, Conference on Economic Policy for the 1970s, 5.

[24] CPA, ACP (62) 94, ‘A Tory Look at Industrial Relations’, 29 January 1962; Conservative Party Archives, ACP 3/10(63)105, ‘Report of the Industrial Relations Sub-Committee’, 8 May 1963.

[25] NA PREM 11/4871, Trend to Douglas-Home, 17 June 1964.

[26] See, for example, NA PREM 11/4871, Butler to Douglas-Home, 17 February 1964; Douglas-Home to Brooke, 7 February 1964; Godber to Douglas-Home, 14 February 1964 and 29 July 1964; Shawcross to Douglas-Home, 7 February 1964; CAB 128/38 Part 2, 11th conclusions, 13 February 1964, and 18th conclusions, 17 March 1964.

[27] CPA, CRD 3(17)19, ‘A Report on Industrial Policy by an Ad Hoc Committee of the Conservative Trade Unionists' National Advisory Committee’, 4 May 1965.

[28] CPA, LCC(65)70, Paper by Sir Keith Joseph, ‘Trade unions and industrial efficiency, 8 December 1965. See also CPA, CRD 3/17/20 PG/20/65/60, Paper by Sir Keith Joseph, ‘Industrial Relations Policy: Matters for Further Consideration’, 11 January 1966.

[29] CPA, CRD 3/17/20 and CRD 3/17/21, 1965–66; C PA, ACP 3/15(67)42, ‘Report of the Policy Group on Industrial Relations (part 1, chapters 1–6), 17 November 1967.

[30] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol. 808, col. 1024–7, 14 December 1970.

[31] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol. 813, col. 931, 15 March 1971.

[32] NA LAB 10/3678, ‘Industrial Relations Bill: The Closed Shop—Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Employment’, undated but circa February 1971. See also NA LAB 10/3678, Brown to Burgh, 12 February 1971.

[33] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol. 807, col. 711, 26 November 1970.

[34] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol. 810, col. 643, 27 January 1971.

[35] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol.810, cols. 956–60.

[36] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol.810, col. 625.

[37] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol.810, col. 666.

[38] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol.810, cols. 638–9.

[39] House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol.810, cols. 697–8.

[40] See, for example: Ian Gilmour MP, ‘How Mr Heath Could Establish Industrial Harmony’, The Times 3 May 1974; Ian Gilmour MP, ‘Restoring the State by Making it Work for the People’, The Times 7 October 1978; John Grigg, ‘The Tories and the TUC’, The Spectator 9 October 1976; Keith Raffen (chairperson of Pressure for Economic & Social Toryism), ‘Seconds Out—the Next Round’, The Spectator 18 May 1974.

[41] CPA, ACP 2/4, 142nd meeting, 14 January 1976.

[42] Shenfield, ‘What About the Trade Unions?’, 37; See also Boyson, Centre Forward, chapter 3; Ferdinand Mount, ‘Mr Prior's Green Cross Code’, The Spectator 18 March 1978.

[43] David Mahony, ‘Union Strategy Wanted’, Crossbow, The Bow Group, Summer 1976.

[44] CPA, ACP 2/4, 142nd meeting, 14 January 1976.

[45] Thatcher MSS (2/6/1/233), LSC/78/51st Meeting, 30 January 1978.

[46] Thatcher MSS, Peyton to Prior, 7 July 1976, emphasis in original.

[47] CPA, LCC/74/10, Paper by William Whitelaw on ‘Industrial Relations Policy—Conservative Tactics and Strategy’, 1 May 1974.

[48] CPA, ACP 2/4, 146th meeting, 21 July 1976.

[49] See, for example: Leon Brittan MP, House of Commons Debates, 5th series, Vol. 884, col. 121; Barney Hayhoe MP, ‘Conscience and the Closed Shop’, Conservative Monthly News July 1977.

[50] See, for example, ‘Editorial’ in Crossbow, London: The Bow Group, Autumn 1977.

[51] Former member of the Conservative's backbench employment committee to author.

[52] The Times 10 and 13 September 1977.

[53] For a detailed discussion of the ‘Stepping Stones' project and its significance on subsequent Conservative trade union strategy, see Taylor, ‘The “Stepping Stones” Programme: Conservative Party Thinking on Trade Unions, 1975–9’, 2001.

[54] On Hoskyns' apparent influence on Thatcher, see Cockett, Thinking the Unthinkable, 292–8: Kavanagh and Seldon, The Powers Behind the Prime Minister, 154–9.

[55] Hoskyns, Just in Time, 23.

[56] Thatcher MSS (2/6/1/162), Minutes of 199th Meeting of the Shadow Cabinet, 17 April 1978.

[57] Hosykns, Op cit, p. 67.

[58] Howe, Conflict of Loyalty, 104

[59] Quoted in Campbell, Margaret Thatcher, 393.

[60] Howe, Conflict of Loyalty, p. 104.

[61] Thatcher, The Path to Power, 401–2.

[62] Thatcher MSS (2/6/1/163), LCC (78) 186, The Conservative Manifesto 1978: The Right Approach to Government, 2nd draft, 30 August 1978, p. 27.

[63] Davies and Freedland, Labour Legislation and Public Policy, 453–4.

[64] See, for example, Pym, The Politics of Consent, 160–5; Patten, The Tory Case, 128–9; Gilmour, Britain Can Work, 190–2, although eventually, Ian Gilmour adjudged the weakening of the trade unions to constitute ‘Margaret Thatcher's most important achievement’, Gilmour, Dancing with Dogma, 79.

[65] Letwin, The Anatomy of Thatcherism.

[66] Clarke, ‘The Rise and Fall of Thatcherism’, 303; Dorey, ‘Despair and Disillusion’, passim.

[67] Philip Norton notes that even after Thatcher herself had been Prime Minister for a decade, only 19 percent of the Party's MPs and Ministers could be classified as Thatcherites. Norton, ‘The Lady's Not for Turning’, passim.

[68] See, for example, W. H. Greenleaf, The British Political Tradition, chapter 7.

[69] Green, ‘One Nation’, 216.

[70] Norton and Aughey, Conservatives and Conservatism, 79–82.

[71] Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, 269.

[72] Green, Ideologies of Conservatism, 216.

[73] Clarke, ‘The Rise and Fall of Thatcherism’, 302.

[74] Green, Ideologies of Conservatism, 116–7; Gould and Anderson, ‘Thatcherism and British Society’, 42–3.

[75] Quoted in Young and Sloman, The Thatcher Phenomenon, 72–3.

[76] With Cabinet reshuffles commonly occurring at least every 18 months, Prior was, by the summer of 1981, ‘not expecting to stay on as Secretary of State for Employment’, having become increasingly aware that Thatcher actually intended to go very much further in reforming the trade unions than he deemed desirable or necessary. Prior, A Balance of Power, 171. Moreover, by this time, Prior had become the target of trenchant criticism from some of Thatcher's closest advisers in the Downing Street Policy Unit; Cockett, Thinking the Unthinkable, 298–301.

[77] Joseph, Monetarism is Not Enough.

[78] Thatcher MSS, LCC (76), Leader's Consultative Committee, 98th Meeting, 16 February 1976.

[79] HMSO, People, Jobs and Opportunity, 39.

[80] Powell, A Nation Not Afraid, 110–1. See also, Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics, 45, 53–4.

[81] Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, 124.

[82] Shenfield, What Right to Strike?, 30.

[83] Harris, Competition and the Corporate Society, 57.

Additional information

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Peter Dorey

Peter Dorey is Reader in British Politics at Cardiff University. He has published widely on aspects of post-1945 British Conservatism and Conservative Party Politics.