Little Local Difficulties Revisited: Peter Thorneycroft, the 1958 Treasury Resignations and the Origins of Thatcherism

Abstract

This article re-assesses the resignation of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Peter Thorneycroft, and his two junior ministers in January 1958 in terms of the importance of this event in the pre-history of Thatcherism. It does so by considering Thorneycroft's political career as a whole, arguing that, throughout his time in public life, he showed characteristics that were more in tune with the New Right Conservatism of the 1980s than with the One Nation Toryism that held sway for a generation after 1945. In particular, Thorneycroft singled out inflation as the key concern of the British economy and took up, without the need for guidance from his junior ministers, the need, if inflation was to be checked, for government to control its spending and the quantity of money in circulation.

Keywords:

• Thorneycroft
• Thatcherism
• Inflation
• Monetarism
• Conservative Party

Notes

Chris Cooper is a postgraduate student at the University of Liverpool where he is preparing a doctoral thesis on the career of Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham.

  [1] Cosgrave, ‘Peter Thorneycroft’, 401.

  [2] Campbell, Thatcher , vol. I, 327.

  [3] Thatcher, Path to Power, 291.

  [4] Letwin, Anatomy of Thatcherism, 17–25.

  [5] Lamb, Macmillan Years, 48.

  [6] Green, ‘Treasury Resignations’, 413–4, 421.

  [7] Ibid., 421.

  [8] Jarvis, ‘Treasury Dispute’, 28, 43–4.

  [9] Lowe, ‘Resignation at the Treasury’, 518.

 [10] Ibid., 519–20.

 [11] Shepherd, Enoch Powell; Heffer, Like the Roman. See also Vinen, Thatcher's Britain, Ch. 2.

 [12] Crooks, Peter Thorneycroft, 276. This disappointing biography clearly suffers from the deficiency of Thorneycroft's private archive held at the University of Southampton. Many papers appear to have been destroyed in a house fire and little correspondence survives.

 [13] But see Evans, ‘Not So Odd Couple’ which puts forward a persuasive argument that Thatcher exploited an alternative version of One Nation Conservatism, conceived as a form of patriotism. See also Green, Thatcher, 41–6.

 [14] Thatcher, Downing Street Years, 104.

 [15] Kelly, Myth of Mr Butskell, 77.

 [16] Ibid., 232.

 [17] Lewis, Hailsham, 93.

 [18] Hoffman, Conservative Party in Opposition, 41.

 [19] Dutton, Liberal Party, 158.

 [20] Thorneycroft et al., Tools for the Next Job , 54.

 [21] The Times 22 April 1943.

 [22] Thorneycroft, Design for Freedom, 9; Thorneycroft, MSS, 278. 6/2.

 [23] Ibid., 23.

 [24] Ibid., 12.

 [25] Crooks, Peter Thorneycroft, 37–8.

 [26] House of Commons Debates, 5th Series, vol. 467, col. 2134.

 [27] Thorneycroft, Design for Freedom, 47.

 [28] Ibid., 50.

 [29] The Times, 24 February 1951; Thorneycroft, Design for Living, 71–2.

 [30] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 444, cols 870–1; Thorneycroft et al., Design for Living, 76.

 [31] Ibid., vol. 434, col. 1367.

 [32] Design for Freedom Committee, Design for Survival , 1–4.

 [33] Thorneycroft, Design for Living, 76.

 [34] Thorneycroft, Tools for the Next Job, 18.

 [35] Crooks, Peter Thorneycroft, 43.

 [36] Seldon, Indian Summer, 180.

 [37] Hennessy, Having It So Good, 292.

 [38] Cairncross, Robert Hall Diaries, ii, 21.

 [39] Hennessy, Having It So Good, 292.

 [40] Kelly, Myth of Mr Butskell, 171.

 [41] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 538, cols 471–3.

 [42] The Times, 15 October 1955.

 [43] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 511, col. 572.

 [44] Kynaston, Family Britain, 447.

 [45] University of Southampton Special Collections, TNA, PREM 11/1333, Thorneycroft to Eden 20 January 1956, ‘European Integration’. See also Thorneycroft MSS 278 1/3, ‘Notes for the delegation to Strasbourg’ 22 May 1957.

 [46] Seldon, Indian Summer, 178.

 [47] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 543, col. 1947.

 [48] Ibid., vol. 493, col. 580.

 [49] TNA, CAB 128/23, cabinet 30 November 1951.

 [50] Ibid., cabinet 19 December 1951.

 [51] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 495, col. 236.

 [52] TNA, CAB 128/26, cabinet 3 February 1953; CAB 129/58 C(53)34, Thorneycroft memorandum 31 January 1953.

 [53] CAB 128/25, cabinet 7 November 1952.

 [54] CAB 128/26, cabinet 10 February 1953.

 [55] CAB 128/26, cabinet 20 July 1954.

 [56] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 514, cols 671–2.

 [57] Ibid., vol. 511, col. 2128.

 [58] Ibid., vol. 551, col. 1039.

 [59] Ibid., vol. 561, col. 156.

 [60] Ibid., vol. 551, col. 1042.

 [61] Thorneycroft to Butler undated, cited Kelly, Myth of Mr Butskell, 183.

 [62] Kelly, Myth of Mr Butskell, 232.

 [63] TNA, CAB 128/24, cabinet 28 February 1952.

 [64] Cairncross, Robert Hall Diaries, i, 206.

 [65] Pelling, Churchill's Peacetime Ministry, 38.

 [66] TNA, CAB 128/31, cabinet 21 January 1957.

 [67] Ibid., 28 January 1957.

 [68] Brittan, Treasury Under Tories, 188.

 [69] Cairncross, Robert Hall Diaries, ii, 97.

 [70] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 564, col. 604.

 [71] Ibid., vol. 568, col. 982.

 [72] Turner, Macmillan, 230.

 [73] Financial Times, 10 April 1957.

 [74] TNA, CAB 128/31, cabinet 30 January 1957.

 [75] Ibid., cabinet 19 July 1957.

 [76] Heffer, Like the Roman, 218.

 [77] Shepherd, Powell, 167–8.

 [78] Cairncross, Robert Hall Diaries, ii, 126. Professor of economics at the LSE, Robbins advocated the quantity theory of money.

 [79] TNA, PREM 11/1824, Thorneycroft, ‘The Pound Sterling’ 4 September 1957.

 [80] London Evening News, 19 September 1957.

 [81] The Times, 24 September 1957.

 [82] Economist, 28 September 1957.

 [83] The Times, 15 January 1958.

 [84] Green, ‘Treasury Resignations’, 426.

 [85] Cairncross, Robert Hall Diaries, ii, 93.

 [86] Jeffreys, Retreat from New Jerusalem, 75–6.

 [87] TNA, CAB 129/88C(57)195, ‘The Economic Situation’.

 [88] Macmillan, Middle Way, xxiv.

 [89] Ibid., xxiii.

 [90] Ibid., xxiv.

 [91] Ibid., xxv.

 [92] Macmillan MS dep. d. 30, diary 31 January 1958.

 [93] The Times, 7 January 1958.

 [94] Spectator, 10 January 1958.

 [95] Hennessy, Whitehall, 761–2.

 [96] Hennessy, Having It So Good, 548; H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 580, col. 1296.

 [97] Jarvis, ‘Treasury Dispute’, 44–5.

 [98] TNA, PREM 11/2973, Harrod to Macmillan 7 September 1957.

 [99] Birmingham engineering manager and former temporary civil servant at the Ministry of Supply, brought into government as Minister of Power.

[100] Here Hall adds, for unexplained reasons, ‘Thorneycroft appears to have left it.’ The important point, however, is Hall's recognition that Thorneycroft had been part of this ‘school of thought’.

[101] Cairncross, Robert Hall Diaries, ii, 179 (entry for 20 November 1958).

[102] Macmillan MS dep. d. 30, diary 6 January 1958. See also Macmillan Riding the Storm, 372: ‘Both these men, although nominally subordinate to the Chancellor … , were, in my view, largely responsible for leading him, by their powerful advice and influence, to this final step.’

[103] Green, ‘Treasury Resignations’, 426.

[104] Holt, Second Amongst Equals, 68; Heffer, Like the Roman, 227.

[105] Turner, Macmillan, 235.

[106] Catterall, Macmillan Diaries, 187.

[107] Ibid., 303.

[108] Ibid., 545.

[109] Macmillan MS dep. d. 30, diary 31 January 1958.

[110] Kelly, Myth of Mr Butskell, 60.

[111] Thorpe, Supermac, 386–7.

[112] Heffer, Like the Roman, 232.

[113] CAB 129/88, C(57)195, ‘The Economic Situation’ 7 September 1957.

[114] Heffer, Like the Roman, 298.

[115] Thompson, Day Before Yesterday, 166.

[116] Ibid.

[117] Thorneycroft MSS, 278 2/5, statement by Powell 4 June 1994.

[118] Heffer, Like the Roman, 233.

[119] Green, ‘Treasury Resignations’, 428.

[120] Peden, Treasury and British Public Policy, 487.

[121] Jarvis, ‘Treasury Dispute’, 44.

[122] Seldon (ed.), Not Unanimous, 91.

[123] Cairncross, British Economy since 1945, 110.

[124] Heffer, Great British Speeches, 259.

[125] Thatcher Foundation Website, 109505, ‘The New Conservatism’, speech by Lawson to the Bow Group 4 August 1980. Cf. Fry, Thatcher Revolution, 72: ‘Those who actually faced reading [Friedman's major works] could be forgiven if they thought that monetarism was little more than the quantity theory of money dressed up in modern clothes’.

[126] Report of the Committee on the Working of the Monetary System (Cmnd 827).

[127] Thorneycroft et al., ‘Policy in Practice’, 8.

[128] Ibid., 11–12.

[129] Bodleian Library, Oxford, Macmillan MS dep. d. 38, diary 17 June 1960.

[130] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 621, col. 432.

[131] Ibid., vol. 655, col. 245.

[132] Ibid., vol. 655, col. 246.

[133] TNA, CAB 128/30, cabinet 13 February 1961.

[134] The Times, 28 October 1960.

[135] TNA, CAB 128/36, cabinet 13 February 1961.

[136] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 673, cols 31–2; The Times, 5 December 1962.

[137] TNA, CAB 128/37, cabinets 21 December 1962, 3 January 1963; PREM 11/4147, meeting at Admiralty House 31 December 1962.

[138] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 670, col. 990.

[139] TNA, CAB 128/37, cabinet 3 January 1963.

[140] Independent, 6 June 1994.

[141] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 723, col. 1116.

[142] The Times, 6 March 1965.

[143] H of C Debs, 5th Series, vol. 709, col. 342; The Times, 6 March 1965.

[144] Ibid., vol. 709, col. 339.

[145] Guardian, 26 February 1975.

[146] Campbell, Thatcher, i, 327.

[147] Lawson, View From No. 11, 33.

[148] Thatcher, Downing Street Years, 150.

[149] H of L Debs, vol. 410, cols 461–2.

[150] Bodleian Library, Oxford, Conservative Party Archive, CCO 20/9/5, ‘Pay Policy’, paper by Thorneycroft 21 November 1978.

[151] Ibid., CCO 20/8/19, Thorneycroft 20 December 1976.

[152] The Times, 6 November 1980.

[153] H of L Debs, vol. 407, col. 1377.

[154] Ibid., vol. 410, col. 461.

[155] Crooks, Peter Thorneycroft, 278.

[156] H of L Debs, vol. 407, cols 1377–8.

[157] He was, according to veteran MP Julian Amery, ‘the organiser of victory’ in 1979. Thorneycroft MSS 278 1/16, Amery to Thorneycroft 18 September 1981.

[158] Crooks, Peter Thorneycroft, 276–7.

[159] Sunday Times, 5 June 1994.

[160] Cosgrave, ‘Peter Thorneycroft’, 401.

[161] Shepherd, Powell, 164.