Explain why the Tories won the General Election in 1957,

On top of the economic prosperity, Macmillan’s political achievements were also pivotal in him securing his second term in office. His worldwide achievements which established him as a politician of global importance which included: the rebuilding of bridges with the USA after Suez, which then escalated in them joining forces as they simultaneously sent troops to Lebanon and Jordan in the summer of 1958 with Harold Macmillan and Eisenhower at the metaphorical helm of the ship. As well as this impressive progressions in foreign relations, Macmillan also went to the effort of individual effort of smartening himself up as the middle-classes came up with endless superlatives to describe him; even the working classes saw him as “masterful” and “authoritative”. This contrasted severely with Labour’s candidate, Hugh Gaitskell, who wasn’t as appealing to the public, He struggled in televised debates where Macmillan’s concise and considerably more nerve-free presentation skills left him as a wreck who was clearly struggling and out of his ball park as a politician. Liking of a politician is a huge thing coming into the election period and Macmillan’s considerably better technical abilities set him out as much more of a stand out character in comparison to Gaitskell. This was less pivotal than the growing economic prosperity but was still important.

The final reason that Conservatives won the 1959 general election was actually to do with Labour losing the election.  As a political party, they were disorganised. They made lots of untrustworthy claims including their pledge to improve the welfare system and public services without raising taxes. This made people suspicious and eventually led to even smaller parties questioning the legitimacy of their claims. They were also seen as a divided party with inter-party disagreements over clause four and nuclear disarmaments affirming their position as a weak party and their inability to stand up to trade unions and their association with Nationalisation, devaluing and austerity were a massive put-off many demographics. In particular the 18-25 year olds who voted for Conservative due to their “middle-class forward thinking, ambitious” political plans and nature. As much as Labour did lose their own victories, many people still voted “for conservative” not “against Labour”. As much as Labour’s downfall was still important to their defeat, it was the most influential factor in the Tories victory.

To conclude, I believe there were three factors in which the two parties heavily contrasted that led to the Victory of the Tories. The most important factor, Economic prosperity under Tory rule which saw a 29% rise in Trade imports contrasted with Labour’s ideas of commodity and service nationalisation. Tories were also led by a strong powerful leader in Macmillan, a worldwide established politician, who was a complete divergence of Gaitskell, who was seen in the public eye as a “timid” opponent with a lack of Television skills. The final factor was the policies of the party itself. Conservatives plans to boost the economy causing a Boom effect and retaining the “age of affluence” that many had enjoyed under their previous term contrasting with Labour’s links with nationalism and illegitimate pledges. A gulf in class in each factor eventually led to the tories victory with a 49% share of the votes.