Neil Rollings

Whitehall and the control of prices and profits in a major war, 1919-1939

For much of the interwar period there was discussion in Whitehall of the policy to control prices and profits in any future major war. Opinion was divided between those who believed that the control of prices and profits would be necessary in return for controlling labour in the light of the experience of the First World War, and those who focused on the financial aspects of the issue, in which the control of prices and profits was seen to play little positive role. This second strand of thinking, rooted in the treasury, predominated, particularly once rearmament began: the co-operation of business and labour, it was argued, was best achieved by maintaining the status quo. As a result, once war did break out, legislation had to be enacted very rapidly to meet popular demands. More generally, this study throws light on the nature of interwar government in Britain and its attitude towards intervention.

Reluctant Europeans? The Federation of British Industries and European Integration, 1945-63

British industry is often portrayed as one of the main forces in favour of closer integration with western Europe. In the period prior to the rejection of Britains first application to join the Common Market the Federation of British Industries (FBI) played a pivotal role between Whitehall and the wider business community. It had a role both in policy-making and in creating business opinion. However, this was not a static and sustained position: the influence of the leadership of the FBI fluctuated in both respects. It is argued that this reflected neither a corporatist nor a pluralist model of government–business relations. Rather it reflected the interdependencies which existed in this policy network and the changing dynamics of these interdependencies.

The twilight world of British business politics: The Spring Sunningdale conferences since the 1960s

This article explores a previously unknown form of interaction, known as Spring Sunningdale, between the British business elite and its civil servant equivalent in Whitehall. These began in 1963 and were still continuing only a few years ago. The continuity and stability of these meetings stands in contrast to wider changes in the nature of business–government relations in Britain during this period, particularly since the election of the Thatcher government in 1979. The article analyses why there was such continuity and what the senior civil servants and the captains of industry who attended these annual meetings gained from them.

European Organised Business and European Integration in the Post-Second World War Period

Abstract Political science writings and the economic or business history literature present very different accounts of the development of European organised business interests, including European industrial federations (Eurofederations), after the Second World War. The former highlight the growth of these groups in response to European political integration while the latter recount a story of decline as international cartels became less acceptable. Here we argue that these are partial and insufficient accounts: European trade associations offered a range of valuable services to its members which helped to make sense of and deal with the uncertainties of post-war Europe and the unknown quantity of European integration. In particular, we highlight knowledge transfer and pooling and their role as social networks.

Economic planning, 1943-1951 : a guide to documents in the Public Record Office

Cabinet minutes and memoranda cabinet office registered files Lord Presidents committee (wartime) miscellaneous standing committees (wartime) ad hoc Cabinet committees (wartime) reconstruction committees central statistical office reconstruction secretariat Lord Presidents private office and secretariat Lord Presidents secretariat private papers ad hoc Cabinet committees (post-war) Lord Presidents committee (post-war) miscellaneous standing committees Commonwealth and international conferences Prime Ministers private office central economic planning staff economic section treasury board of trade other departmental papers official war histories.

Change of referencing style

We are now inviting manuscripts to be submitted with in-text references from 2018 onwards, as Business History will change its citation format from endnote to in-text author–date from 2019. There w...

Business history and European integration: How EEC competition policy affected companies’ strategies

Abstract This introduction to the special issue on business responses to European competition policy considers the development of research in the field of European competition policy. It is argued that existing analyses have concentrated on the development of policy over time and that we know surprisingly little about the response of business to the demands of competition policy. This is important because it is apparent that ever stricter legal provision has not removed the problem and where there appears to be a considerable degree of recidivism. The aim of the special issue is to begin to address these issues by examining the response of different companies and sectors to the existence of EEC/EU competition policy.

The Boards of UK Nationalised Industries and Their Members c.1950–c.1979

The appointment of board members to private companies has received considerable academic attention. The same cannot be said for state-owned enterprises. This chapter explores the issues raised in the appointment of board members for the nationalised industries in Britain in the post-war period. It shows that such appointments were perceived to be important, but that the appointment process remained flawed and problematic despite numerous attempts at reform. It is suggested that the lack of conformity in perceptions of the role of these boards and the desirable characteristics of a good manager in the nationalised industries stymied these efforts at reform.

Babcock and Wilcox Ltd., the ‘Babcock Family’ and regulation 17/62: a business response to new competition policy in the early 1960s

Abstract This article explores through the lens of the British company Babcock and Wilcox Ltd the response of a group of European companies to the threat posed to their activities by the new EEC competition policy in the early 1960s. Regulation 17/62 was set to ban the market-sharing agreements which had been in place for many years between the companies in Europe. The article tracks their deliberations over the most suitable response that would allow market sharing to continue while minimising the risk of discovery. This rare insight into the inner discussions of cartel arrangements also highlights the role of legal advice in the solution adopted.

British conservatism and trade unionism, 1945–1964

This is the latest in the now large Modern Economic and Social History Series published by Ashgate. Its author, Peter Dorey, has previously written widely in this subject area, most notably The Conservative Party and the trade unions (London: Routledge, 1995) and Wage politics in Britain: The rise and fall of incomes policies since 1945 (Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, 2001). This latest contribution elaborates and fleshes out the argument in those earlier works by making extensive use of material in the Conservative Party Archive and the records of Cabinet, Cabinet committees, Prime Minister’s Office files and the occasional foray into Ministry of Labour departmental files. There are six substantive chapters, dealing with the pre-1945 period, the 1945–51 period, two chapters on 1951–60 and two on 1960–64, sandwiched between a brief introduction and a longer conclusion. Dorey’s argument is that during the Conservative administrations of 1951–64 there was an unprecedented degree of conciliation and compromise between the Conservative Party and the trade union movement, largely based around the sustained commitment of the Conservative governments to a voluntarist approach to industrial relations. Nevertheless, this commitment, always criticised by elements within the Conservative Party, was coming under increasing strain as concerns about economic decline and continuing wage increases in excess of productivity growth first emerged and then began to hold sway from the early 1960s. Using the records that it does, this book does add to our knowledge of Conservative Party and Conservative government attitudes towards trade unions. However, in other respects the book is overly narrow and limited in its approach to the subject. First, it presents a very traditional interpretation based around the role of Harold Macmillan and the impact on Conservative thinking of the 1947 Industrial Charter. An unquestioned notion of a postwar consensus imbues Dorey’s approach throughout. Secondly, it adopts a narrow definition of the relationship between the two groups: the focus is on trade union legislation and wages policy. There is, for example, nothing on industrial training or other areas where the Conservative government and trade unions engaged. Thirdly, it is a shame that the TUC archives were not consulted as well to provide a more rounded perspective. Related to this, Dorey does sometimes fall into the trap of failing to distinguish between party and government. Thus, for example, he attributes the White Paper on The economic implications of full employment to R.A. Butler when it had been pushed since the Attlee government by the Head of the Economic Section, Robert Hall. Use of Robert Hall’s published diaries would have avoided this misapprehension. Business History Vol. 51, No. 6, November 2009, 959–980