#OTD 1997. Election. Landslide. Labour win 418 seats giving Tony Blair a majority of 179.
In their worst election defeat since 1906, the Conservatives retain just 165 MPs, with their smallest share of the vote since 1832.
Thread on the end of the Conservative Era 👇
Labour lost the 1992 election despite the pollsters and the bookmakers calculating that they would win
thecritic.co.uk/how-labour-los…
But the Conservative victory turned out to be a pyrrhic one.
Within weeks the David Mellor scandal derailed trust in the Major Government.
Major used hard earned political capital defending Mellor when 75% of the public believed that he should resign.
thecritic.co.uk/is-boris-johns…
By the time Black Wednesday came, trust had already been eroded in Major's leadership
Chancellor Lamont raised interest rates from to 15%, and authorised the spending of billions of pounds to buy up the sterling being frantically sold on the currency markets.
The Sun immediately turns on the government with the front page “Now we’ve all been screwed by the Cabinet”
In October 1992, the government came under surprise attack after closing 31 coal mines.
John Watts, the Tory MP, argued that “it is difficult to imagine how an issue could have been more badly mishandled
The Daily Mail calls it a “tragedy that cries out for an explanation”
In July 1993, John Major called a confidence vote after his backbenchers vote against his Maastricht Bill.
One backbencher briefs that they had forced his hand. “We went nuclear and it bloody well worked!”
Major’s “rage and frustration” at his party was captured on film when he was caught calling three cabinet Ministers “b*stards”
He was thought be aiming fire at Portillo, Howard and Lilley
A few weeks later the government was hammered in the Christchurch by-election, losing to the Lib Dems on a record 35% swing
Steven Norris is found to have had affairs with three different women prompting headlines of "Yes, Yes, Yes Minister!"
In a desperate bid to claw back support, John Major called for the party to return “Back to Basics”
Major talked about “a world that sometimes seems to be changing too fast for comfort, old certainties crumbling, traditional values falling away”
It opened his government to charges of sleaze.
In December 1993 Tim Yeo was forced to resign after he is found to have had numerous affairs
The Daily Mail supported his resignation when framed within the Back to Basics context:
“Mr Yeo’s private sin is a legitimate matter for public comment”
Major soon lost grip of events as scandals, such as the Caithness affair and David Ashby leaving his wife for his male lover, dominated the tabloids.
Cash for Questions”; several Conservative MPs exposed as having taken money from Harrod’s owner Mohamed Al Fayed to ask questions in the House of Commons.
Graham Riddick, David Tredinnick, Tim Smith and Neil Hamilton were all exposed in the scandal.
Defence minister Jonathan Aitken accused of doing secret deals with Saudi princes.
Denies all accusations, promising to wield the “sword of truth” in libel proceedings against The Guardian newspaper.
By the time of the 1997 election, the Tories were struggling to mount a defence against New Labour
They talked about New Labour, New Danger
thecritic.co.uk/new-labour-new…
But despite a huge poll lead, the bookmakers were not convinced of a huge majority
Labour were favourites (1/4) a Tory majority (4/1) and a hung parliament priced at (10/3).
Labour was predicted by the spread markets to win a majority of 40.
This thread looks in greater detail at the campaign from 1997 itself 👇👇
On election night, the exit poll was delivered at 10pm, it showed 'Labour Landslide Likely'
Sunderland was the first declare. @chrismullinexmp retained the seat on a huge swing.
“Tonight marks the beginning of a new era. A return to one nation politics. From now on Britain will be governed in the interests of its many citizens and not just the fortunate”
@GordonBrown says that if Labour has won, it is about “a desire for a new type of politics and a desire to tackle the very real social problems that formed the basis of our manifesto”
He says the public wants a government that is “on their side”.
In Birmingham, Labour secure its first gain from the Tories as @GiselaStuart wins a seat that had been Tory held since 1922
Basildon, which had been the key battleground in 1992, swings to Labour by 15%
Jeremy Paxman asked the Tories Cecil Parkinson:
“You're now Chairman of a fertiliser firm – how deep is the mess that you are now in?
He responds that is “artificial fertiliser”
At Royal Festival Hall, @richardbranson says that he will give the new Government his backing
“Tonight is a historic night…we are here to wish them well”
@campbellclaret says that he doubts Labour will win with a majority of 171 – “but it’s quite clear that we have had a good night”
“We had a great campaign” and credits the “organisation on the ground”
The Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth is the first Cabinet member to lose his seat as David Mellor soon follows in Putney
James Goldsmith of the Referendum Party chants “Out, Out, Out”
In Scotland, @glasgowmurphy takes the second safest Conservative seat in the country on a 14% swing
Anthony King notes that Labour is not doing “spectacularly” in terms of vote share. But tactical anti-Conservative voting with Lib Dems was working.
“The Conservative Party is being inexorably squeezed by these forces”
Figures such as Waldgrave, Lamont, Aitken, Burt, Fox also fall
In the Sedgefield labour club, Blair declares victory, claiming that all over the country people wanted “a party that would set about changing the things that need changing”
“A national health service rebuilt as the pride of the nation”
As D Ream arrives at Royal Festival Hall…
As activists struggle to open Champagne in Stevenage…
In Tatton, Martin Bell wins as an independent, taking the fifth safest Tory seat in the country
“I knew after the endorsement of Alec Guinness that the force was with us”
In the studio IDS blames the defeat on Europe and the ERM and claims it is an anti-government vote as much as an endorsement for New Labour
Robin Cook declares that this will be government that “works for the many not just the few’
At 3am, those still up witnessed Michael Portillo lose his seat in Enfield.
He declares it to be “a truly terrible night for the Conservatives”
And at 3:13am, Labour finally passed the 330 mark ending the Conservative's eighteen-year reign in power...
END
"A landslide? It is an asteroid hitting the planet and destroying practically all life on earth."
Longer read on how Blair won over Conservative Britain
thecritic.co.uk/how-blair-won-…
Event at @MileEndInst this Friday
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