The 1959 General Election gave the Conservatives their third successive victory, the first time that a party had won three successive general elections since Napoleonic times. The outcome was widely credited to the deft materialism of Harold Macmillan, and the slogan `You’ve never had it so good’, which the Conservatives, in fact, did not use. Did the result show that, in the words of another Conservative slogan, ‘Conservative freedom works’, or did it serve to mask deep-seated problems relating to the British economy and Britain’s role in the world.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-general-election-1959

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