18 November: Devaluation of sterling by 14 per cent ($2.80 to $2.40)
27 November: Britain’s second EEC application vetoed by France
29 November: Jenkins replaced Callaghan as Chancellor of the Exchequer; Callaghan succeeded Jenkins as Home Secretary
1968
22 February: Callaghan announced emergency legislation to curb immigration of Asians expelled from Kenya; Shadow Cabinet divided
17 March: Grosvenor Square riot — violent demonstration against Vietnam War
19 March: Budget increased indirect taxes by almost ?900 million — austerity under Jenkins
20 April: Enoch Powell’s ‘River Tiber’ speech in Birmingham; Heath dismissed him from the Shadow Cabinet the following day
10 October: MT gave her CPC lecture What’s Wrong With Politics?
14 November: MT moved by Heath to Shadow Transport
1969
17 January: Barbara Castle introduced In Place of Strife — Labour’s proposals to reform industrial relations law; opposition from within the Labour Party, led by Callaghan, forced their withdrawal in June
14 August: British troops deployed on the streets of Londonderry
21 October: MT appointed Opposition spokesman on Education in succession to Edward Boyle
1970
30 January–1 February: Selsdon Park Conference — Shadow Cabinet discussion of Conservative policy for next manifesto
18 June: General election: Conservatives won majority of thirty-one; Heath became Prime Minister; MT appointed Secretary of State for Education and Science
30 June: MT issued Circular 10/70, withdrawing Labour’s comprehensive education Circulars
20 July: Iain Macleod died suddenly
6–30 September: Leila Khalid affair
27 October: Budget — ending free school milk for children over seven; increasing school meal charges; Open University reprieved
1971
4 February: Nationalization of Rolls-Royce
5 August: Industrial Relations Bill became law
28 October: House of Commons on a free vote approved terms of entry to EEC
1972
9 January: Miners went on strike
20 January: Unemployment total passed one million
10 February: Mass picketing closed Saltley Coke Depot
19 February: Government conceded miners’ demands to end the strike
29 February: Government announced U-turn on Upper Clyde Shipbuilders
March: Government began search for voluntary pay policy in talks with TUC and CBI
21 March: Budget — reflation began in earnest
22 March: Industry White Paper published
24 March: Suspension of Northern Ireland Parliament at Stormont; direct rule began
June-July: Industrial Relations Act badly damaged following court decisions leading to arrest of pickets in docks dispute
23 June: Sterling floated after only six weeks’ membership of the European currency ‘snake’
Summer-autumn: ‘Tripartite talks’ between Government, TUC and CBI — Government attempted to negotiate a voluntary pay policy
2 November: Collapse of ‘Tripartite talks’
6 November: Heath announced Stage 1 of statutory pay policy
6 December: MT’s White Paper Education: A Framework for Expansion
1973
1 January: Britain joined EEC
17 January: Heath announced Stage 2 of statutory pay policy
16 March: End of Bretton Woods system — all major currencies floated May Heath/Barber boom at its height; Budget reduced spending plans
6-24 October: Yom Kippur War; oil prices dramatically increased
8 October: Heath announced Stage 3
12 November: Miners began overtime ban, sharply cutting coal production
2 December: Reshuffle — Whitelaw became Employment Secretary
13 December: Heath announced three-day week
17 December: Emergency Budget cuts ?1,200 million from expenditure plans
1974
9 January: NEDC meeting at which TUC suggested miners could be treated as a special case within Government pay policy
5 February: Miners voted to strike from 10 February
7 February: General election called for 28 February
21 February: Relativities Board leak suggesting that miners’ claim could have been accommodated within Stage 3
23 February: Enoch Powell announced that he would vote Labour
28 February: General election: no single party won a majority; Labour won the largest number of seats
1–3 March: Heath attempted to form a coalition with the Liberals
4 March: Heath resigned following Liberal rejection of his proposals; Wilson became Prime Minister, leading a minority Labour Government
11 March: Heath formed his Shadow Cabinet, giving MT responsibility for the Environment
May: Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) founded
22 June: Keith Joseph’s speech at Upminster
28 August: MT announced Conservative pledge to abolish domestic rates and hold down mortgage interest rates to maximum of 9? per cent
5 September: Keith Joseph’s speech at Preston
10 October: General election: Labour majority of three
14 October: 1922 Committee executive urged Heath to call a leadership election
19 October: Keith Joseph’s speech at Edgbaston
7 November: Heath reshuffled Shadow Cabinet; MT became Robert Carr’s assistant spokesman on Treasury questions
14 November: Heath told 1922 that he would set up a committee to review
