... reforms after 1951. There was also general affluence and rising living standards, due to full employment. The consensus included a commitment to all aspects of the Welfare State, including council houses, state intervention in the economy and multi-lateral defence. This consensus between the politicians was also reflected among the people, who were seen as being a largely passive, deferential public. There was a general assumption that those in authority would act in good faith and it was believed that the vast majority of people accepted the electoral system, the legal system, the principles of Cabinet government and Parliament. Bagehot (1867) argued that British society was essentially deferential in its attitudes to the Monarchy, the Peerage and to the trappings of society. He argued that the secret of the constitution was that the real power lay with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, whilst the monarchy was there to 'mesmerise the ...

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