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of the vote the final result of the election on 2 may 1997 revealed that labour had won a landslide majority making a net gain of 146 seats and winning 43 2 of the vote 150 members of parliament including 133 conservatives lost their seats the conservatives meanwhile suffered defeat with a net loss of 178 seats winning 30 7 of the vote the liberal democrats led by paddy ashdown made a net gain of 28 seats winning 16 8 of the vote labour s victory the largest achieved in its history and by any political party in british politics since the second world war brought about the party s first of three consecutive terms in power lasting a total of 13 years with blair as the newly appointed prime minister the liberal democrats success in the election in part due to anti conservative tactical voting 2 strengthened both ashdown s leadership and the party s position as a strong third party having won the highest number of seats by any third party since 1929 the conservatives lost many ministers such as michael portillo tony newton malcolm rifkind ian lang and william waldegrave and controversial mps such as neil hamilton and jonathan aitken while some of the conservative newcomers in this election were future prime minister theresa may future chancellor of the exchequer philip hammond future leader of the house andrew lansley and future speaker john bercow 3 meanwhile labour newcomers included future cabinet and shadow cabinet members hazel blears ben bradshaw yvette cooper caroline flint barry gardiner alan johnson ruth kelly john mcdonnell stephen twigg and rosie winterton as well as future scottish labour leader jim murphy and future speaker lindsay hoyle the election of 120 women including 101 to the labour benches came to be seen as a watershed moment in female political representation in the uk 4 background edit the british economy had been in recession at the time of the 1992 general election which the governing conservative party led by john major had won the recession ended within a year but later events such as black wednesday severely tarnished the conservative government s reputation for economic management meanwhile the opposition labour party elected john smith as its leader in 1992 to succeed neil kinnock however smith s death from a heart attack in 1994 led to a leadership election which was won by shadow home secretary tony blair blair sought to bring the party closer to the political centre of the era including rebranding the party as new labour he convinced the party s members and affiliated trades unions to support the removal of clause iv from its constitution which had committed it to the mass nationalisation of industry and the party also reversed its policy on unilateral nuclear disarmament the events of black wednesday also meant labour and shadow chancellor gordon brown were perceived as offering more competent economic management than the conservatives labour s manifesto new labour new life for britain was published in 1996 and outlined five key pledges class sizes to be cut to 30 or under for 5 6 and 7 year olds by using money from the assisted places scheme fast track punishment for persistent young offenders by halving the time from arrest to sentencing cut nhs waiting lists by treating an extra 100 000 patients as a first step by releasing 100 million saved from nhs red tape get 250 000 under 25 year olds off benefit and into work by using money from a windfall levy on the privatised utilities no rise in income tax rates cut vat on heating to 5 and keeping inflation and interest rates as low as possible disputes within the conservative government over european union issues and a variety of sleaze allegations severely affected the government s popularity despite the economic recovery and fall in unemployment in the four years leading up to the election the rise in conservative support was only marginal with all of the major opinion polls showing labour in a comfortable lead from late 1992 onwards 5 following the 1992 general election the conservatives remained in government with 336 of the 651 house of commons seats but through a series of defections and by election defeats the government gradually lost its absolute majority by 1997 the conservatives held only 324 seats and had not won a by election since richmond in 1989 timing edit the previous parliament first sat on 27 april 1992 the parliament act 1911 required at the time for each parliament to be dissolved on the fifth anniversary of its first sitting therefore the latest date the dissolution and the summoning of the next parliament could have been held on was 27 april 1997 the 1985 amendment of the representation of the people act 1983 required that the election must take place on the eleventh working day after the deadline for nomination papers which in turn must be no more than six working days after the next parliament was summoned therefore the latest date the election could have been held on was 22 may 1997 which happened to be a thursday british elections and referendums have been held on thursdays by convention since the 1930s but can be held on other working days campaign edit major called the election on monday 17 march 1997 ensuring the formal campaign would be unusually long at six weeks parliament was dissolved on 8 april 6 the election was scheduled for 1 may to coincide with the local elections on the same day this set a precedent as the three subsequent general elections were also held alongside the may local elections the conservatives argued that a long campaign would expose labour and allow the conservative message to be heard however major was accused of arranging an early dissolution to protect neil hamilton from a pending parliamentary report into his conduct a report that major had earlier guaranteed would be published before the election 7 in march 1997 soon after the election was called asda introduced a range of election themed beers these being major s mild tony s tipple and ashdown s ale 8 the political backdrop of campaigning focused on public opinion towards a change in government blair as labour leader focused on transforming his party through a more centrist policy platform titled new labour with promises of devolution referendums for scotland and wales fiscal responsibility and a decision to nominate more female politicians for election through the use of all women shortlists from which to choose candidates major sought to rebuild public trust in the conservatives following a series of scandals including the events of black wednesday in 1992 9 through campaigning on the strength of the economic recovery following the early 1990s recession but faced divisions within the party over the uk s membership of the european union 10 opinion polls during campaigning showed strong support for labour due to blair s personal popularity 11 12 and blair won a personal public endorsement from the sun newspaper two months before the vote 13 conservative campaign edit major hoped that a long campaign would expose labour s hollowness and the conservative campaign emphasised stability as did its manifesto title you can only be sure with the conservatives 14 however the campaign was beset by deep set problems such as the rise of james goldsmith s referendum party which advocated a referendum on continued membership of the european union the party threatened to take away many right leaning voters from the conservatives furthermore about 200 candidates broke with official conservative policy to oppose british membership of the single european currency 15 major fought back saying whether you agree with me or disagree with me like me or loathe me don t bind my hands when i am negotiating on behalf of the british nation the moment is remembered as one of the defining and most surreal moments of the election 16 14 meanwhile there was also division amongst the conservative cabinet with chancellor kenneth clarke describing the views of home secretary michael howard on europe as paranoid and xenophobic nonsense the conservatives also struggled to come up with a definitive theme to attack labour with some strategists arguing for an approach which castigated labour for stealing tory clothes copying their positions with others making the case for a more confrontational approach stating that new labour was just a façade for old labour the new labour new danger poster which depicted tony blair with demon eyes was an example of the latter strategy major veered between the two approaches which left conservative central office staff frustrated as andrew cooper explained we repeatedly tried and failed to get him to understand that you couldn t say that they were dangerous and copying you at the same time 17 in any case the campaign failed to gain much traction and the conservatives went down to a landslide defeat at the polls labour campaign edit labour ran an effective campaign that emphasised the splits within the conservative government and argued that the country needed a more centrist administration it thus successfully picked up dissatisfied conservative voters particularly moderate and suburban ones tony blair who was personally highly popular was very much the centrepiece of the campaign and proved a highly effective campaigner the labour campaign was reminiscent of those of bill clinton for the us presidency in 1992 and 1996 focusing on centrist themes as well as adopting policies more commonly associated with the right such as cracking down on crime and fiscal responsibility the influence of political spin came into great effect for labour at this point as media centric figures such as alastair campbell and peter mandelson provided a clear cut campaign and establishing a relatively new political brand new labour with enviable success in this election labour adopted the theme things can only get better in their campaign and advertising 18 19 liberal democrat campaign edit the liberal democrats had suffered a disappointing performance in 1992 but they were very much strengthened in 1997 due in part to potential tactical voting between labour and lib dem supporters in conservative marginal constituencies particularly in the south of england which explains why while given their share of the vote decreased their number of seats nearly doubled 2 the lib dems promised to increase education funding paid for by a 1p increase in income tax endorsements edit in a sign of the change of direction which new labour represented they were endorsed by the sun 13 as well as the more left leaning newspapers the daily mirror the independent and the guardian 20 the conservatives were endorsed by the daily mail the daily express and the daily telegraph the times did not endorse a specific party but instead encouraged voters to support individual candidates against the further integration of the european union 21 opinion polling edit main article opinion polling for the 1997 united kingdom general election opinion polling for uk general elections 1987 election opinion polls 1992 election opinion polls 1997 election opinion polls 2001 election opinion polls 2005 election opinion polls labour conservatives liberal democrats notional 1992 results edit see also fourth periodic review of westminster constituencies the notional results of the 1992 election as shown on a map of the 1997 constituencies the election was fought under new boundaries with a net increase of eight seats compared to the 1992 election 651 to 659 changes listed here are from the notional 1992 result had it been fought on the boundaries established in 1997 these notional results were calculated by colin rallings and michael thrasher and were used by all media organisations at the time notional uk general election 1992 party seats gains losses net gain loss seats votes votes labour 273 17 15 2 41 6 34 4 11 560 484 conservative 343 28 21 7 52 1 41 9 14 093 007 liberal democrats 18 0 2 2 2 7 17 8 5 999 384 other parties 25 1 0 1 3 6 5 9 results edit main articles results of the 1997 united kingdom general election and results of the 1997 united kingdom general election by constituency equal area projection of constituencies result by countries and english regions labour won a landslide victory with its largest parliamentary majority 177 to date on the bbc s election night programme professor anthony king described the result of the exit poll which accurately predicted a labour landslide as being akin to an asteroid hitting the planet and destroying practically all life on earth after years of trying labour had convinced the electorate that they would usher in a new age of prosperity their policies organisation and tone of optimism slotting perfectly into place labour s victory was largely credited to the charisma of tony blair 22 as well as a labour public relations machine managed by alastair campbell and peter mandelson between the 1992 election and the 1997 election there had also been major steps to modernise the party including scrapping clause iv that had committed the party to extending public ownership of industry labour had suddenly seized the middle ground of the political spectrum attracting voters much further to the right than their traditional working class or left wing support in the early hours of 2 may 1997 a party was held at the royal festival hall in which blair stated that a new dawn has broken has it not the election was a crushing defeat for the conservatives with the party having its lowest percentage share of the popular vote since 1832 under the duke of wellington s leadership being wiped out in scotland and wales a number of prominent conservative mps lost their seats in the election including michael portillo malcolm rifkind edwina currie david mellor neil hamilton and norman lamont with portillo s defeat in particular being the most symbolic since he was widely anticipated to challenge for the conservatives leadership upon the likely resignation of john major such was the extent of conservative losses at the election that cecil parkinson speaking on the bbc s election night programme joked upon the conservatives winning their second seat that he was pleased that the subsequent election for the leadership would be contested the liberal democrats stood on a more left wing manifesto than labour 22 23 and more than doubled their number of seats thanks to the use of tactical voting against the conservatives 2 although their share of the vote fell slightly their total of 46 mps was the highest for any uk liberal party since david lloyd george led the party to 59 seats in 1929 the referendum party which sought a referendum on the united kingdom s relationship with the european union came fourth in terms of votes with 800 000 votes and won no seats in parliament 24 whose leader james goldsmith unsuccessfully contested the seat of putney against incumbent former minister david mellor who ultimately lost the seat to labour with goldsmith dying two months after the election a...
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