1950
What: One Nation Conservatism challenged welfare state universalism. The One Nation Group was a collection of conservative MPs who met to discuss social policy and challenged spending on social services and welfare benefits early in the development of the welfare state. The One Nation booklet was published at the Conservative party conference in 1950, and argued that due to the need for greater defence spending to fight communism, that it was “more – not less – necessary to scrutinise the social services and to root out inefficiency and waste; more, not less, necessary to see that every penny is wisely spent, and that those in the greatest need are helped first” (Macleod, I., Maude, A, 1950,p. 10).
Why significant: Reproduces the narrative that money could be saved by rooting out ‘false claims’ through more surveillance of claimants.