Butskellism

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'Butskellism' is the (moderately satirical) term used in British politics to refer to the political consensus formed in the 1950s and associated with the exercise of office as Chancellor of the Exchequer by Rab Butler of the Conservative Party and Hugh Gaitskell of the Labour Party. The term was inspired by a leading article in The Economist which dramatised the claimed convergence by referring to a fictitious Mr Butskell.

World War II left the United Kingdom with an appetite for a broader distribution of wealth and a strengthening of social security, while a natural conservatism held fast to a belief in individual initiative and private property. The practical resolution of this tension in politics by the two Chancellors was a Keynesian mixed economy with moderate state intervention to promote social goals, particularly in education and health.

The consensus dominated British politics until 1979 when the Conservative administration of Margaret Thatcher radically challenged accepted wisdom and institutionalised a greater emphasis on a free market approach to government.

In 2002 the historian Scott Kelly wrote a book challenging the idea of Butskelism, claiming the consensus to be a myth, arguing that there was in fact a sustained argument over the use of physical controls, monetary policy and direct taxation.

See also: Post-war consensus, Blatcherism