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The Industrial Reorganisation Corporation and the 1968 reorganisation of British manufacturing

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This is an English Electric advertisement (or poster) from 1951. The text reads: 'The wealth of nearly 50 years' experience is built into every 'English Electric' product. The 'English Electric Organization and its Research Laboratories are constantly engaged in the development of new designs, new processes, new equipment. The aim is perfection - and better living for people all over the world. 'English Electric ' products are the first, the middle and the last links in the chain of electricity's service to mankind. The poster largely consists of a printed painting showing a cloudy sky with touches of blue and a dam in the background (which is presumably producing hydro-electric power) and an electric locomotive emerging from a tunnel. At the bottom of the poster a banner containing text reads: 'The English Electric Company Limited, Queens House, Kingsway, London WC2. Also it states: Works: Stafford, Preston, Rugby, Bradford, Liverpool.

On winning the 1964 election the new Labour government adopted an interventionist industrial policy. By the late 1960s a policy of amalgamation through merging firms was intended to deliver companies which could compete on a global basis, but the outcomes did not always match expectations.

Concorde’s first British test flight, 50 years on

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A Metropolitan Police special escort is shown in V formation, under the wing of a British Airways Concorde aircraft in 1975.

Fifty years ago, Concorde made its first test flight in Britain. This supersonic aircraft has attracted considerable public interest over the years. Learn about Concorde's troubled history, and Tony Benn's amusing intervention in a diplomatic argument concerning the spelling of the aircraft's name.

A private public record office: Tony Benn as a political diarist

On Wednesday, 1 December 1976, the Cabinet met to discuss the severe economic crisis confronting the UK and the terms of the rescue package then being negotiated from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It was an unusual meeting, one of …

Prime Ministers and the Constitution

The first Prime Minister to carry out significant constitutional reform was the Duke of Wellington. Wellington was an unlikely figure to be associated with constitutional changes – he was a deeply conservative and aristocratic politician, a defender of the British ‘Protestant …