"the Labour Party had abandoned its socialist ideology and moved to the centre under the leadership of Tony Blair and won a large number of by-elections, eventually depriving Major's government of a parliamentary majority in December 1996. Major went on to lose the 1997 general election five months later, in one of the largest electoral defeats since the Great Reform Act of 1832. Major was succeeded by William Hague as Leader of the Conservative Party in June 1997. He went on to retire from active politics, leaving the House of Commons at the 2001 general election. In 1999, a BBC"
"1997 Conservative Party (UK) leadership election The 1997 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered in the British Conservative Party when John Major resigned on 2 May 1997, following his party's landslide defeat at the 1997 general election, which ended 18 years of Conservative Government of the United Kingdom. Major had been Conservative leader and Prime Minister since November 1990. The following candidates announced their intention to stand: In the months before the general election a number of other prominent Conservatives were talked about as potential leaders; however, several failed to hold their seats in the general election including the following:"
"done to Iain Duncan Smith in October 2003. A leader could therefore (in principle) be ousted by MPs despite still enjoying the support of the mass membership. 1997 Conservative Party (UK) leadership election The 1997 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered in the British Conservative Party when John Major resigned on 2 May 1997, following his party's landslide defeat at the 1997 general election, which ended 18 years of Conservative Government of the United Kingdom. Major had been Conservative leader and Prime Minister since November 1990. The following candidates announced their intention to stand: In the months before the general"
"of British Gymnastics, as well as an enthusiastic follower of cricket and motor racing; he is also a supporter of Chelsea F.C. John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. He served as Foreign Secretary and then Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Thatcher Government from 1989 to 1990, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon from 1979 until his retirement in 2001. Since the death of Margaret Thatcher in 2013, Major has been"
"John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. He served as Foreign Secretary and then Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Thatcher Government from 1989 to 1990, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon from 1979 until his retirement in 2001. Since the death of Margaret Thatcher in 2013, Major has been the oldest living former Prime Minister. Born in St Helier, Surrey, Major grew up in Brixton. He initially worked as an insurance"
"until the Conservatives were replaced by Labour at the 1997 general election. Following the 1997 general election defeat, Hague was elected Leader of the Conservative Party in succession to John Major, defeating more experienced figures such as Kenneth Clarke and Michael Howard. At the age of 36, Hague was tasked with rebuilding the Conservative Party (fresh from their worst general election result of the 20th century) by attempting to build a more modern image. £250,000 was spent on the ""Listening to Britain"" campaign to try to put the Conservatives back in touch with the public after losing power; he welcomed"
"1995 Conservative Party (UK) leadership election The 1995 Conservative Party leadership election was initiated when the incumbent leader and Prime Minister, John Major, resigned as leader on 22 June 1995, in order to face his critics within the party. On 4 July 1995, he was re-elected, beating the only other candidate, the former Secretary of State for Wales, John Redwood. For some years the Conservative Party had been deeply divided on the issue of the European Union and there had been much speculation each year that Major would be challenged for the leadership during the annual re-election of the leader"
"and much more, John Major, in an attempt to silence his critics and opponents, announced his resignation as party leader – but not as Prime Minister – in June 1995, triggering a leadership election. He was opposed by John Redwood, the Secretary of State for Wales, and Major won the leadership election without much difficulty. The Conservative majority of 21 seats was gradually eroded by a string of by-election defeats as well as the defection of one MP to Labour, and by the turn of 1997; the Conservatives were without a majority in the House of Commons. John Major left"
"Opinion polling for the 1997 United Kingdom general election The United Kingdom general election, 1997 saw the Labour Party win a landslide victory and end 18 years of Conservative government, with Tony Blair becoming prime minister. He had become leader of the party in July 1994, two months after the sudden death of his predecessor John Smith, and rebranded it ""New Labour"", in a move which was well received by voters and which saw the abandonment of many traditional socialist policies of the Labour Party, including the mass nationalisation of industry which had been pioneered by Clement Attlee half a"
"Michael Portillo, Malcolm Rifkind and Ian Lang lost their seats, as did former cabinet minister Norman Lamont. Major carried on as Leader of the Opposition until William Hague was elected to lead the Conservative Party the month after the election. Tony Blair became Prime Minister in 1997 after a landslide victory over the Conservative Party. Under the title of ""New Labour"", he promised economic and social reform and brought Labour closer to the centre of the political spectrum. Early policies of the Blair government included the minimum wage and the introduction of university tuition fees. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon"
"from Scotland. Major's resignation as Conservative Leader formally took effect on 19 June 1997 after the election of William Hague. His Resignation Honours were announced in August 1997. Major remained active in Parliament after his resignation, regularly attending and contributing in debates. He stood down from the House of Commons at the 2001 general election, having announced his retirement live on BBC One's breakfast television show with David Frost in October 2000. Major's mild-mannered style and moderate political stance contrasted with that of Thatcher, and made him theoretically well-placed to act as a conciliatory and relatively uncontroversial leader of his"
"private minimum target of 215. Had he polled lower, he had made up his mind to resign outright. No further leadership elections took place until after the Conservatives lost the 1997 general election in the face of a Labour landslide under Tony Blair. The party temporarily reunited. Michael Heseltine had given Major staunch support in the contest, and as a result was promoted to the position of Deputy Prime Minister. However, many believed that Heseltine had missed his last chance to become Prime Minister, as he was now in his sixties. Portillo's failure to stand was widely felt to have"
"1997, Portillo was Secretary of State for Defence in the Conservative government. He had developed a reputation as one of the leading lights of the right wing of the Conservative Party, and was considered a possible candidate to follow John Major as party leader after the 1997 general election. The Labour Party candidate, Stephen Twigg – 30 years old, openly gay, and relatively unknown – was unlikely to be able to overturn Portillo's substantial majority. They had previously met when Portillo addressed Twigg's school during the latter's schooldays. The Conservatives held a small majority in the House of Commons after"
"Kenneth Baker’s four Conservative successors: John MacGregor; Kenneth Clarke; John Patten and Gillian Shepherd. It was through Gillian Shepherd’s enthusiasm and support that Taylor met with Prime Minister John Major to discuss how to include all schools as potential CTCs rather than remain limited to technology colleges who, on hearing the ideas being put forward, backed Taylor's proposals. The Conservatives lost the 1997 General Election to Labour after seventeen years in power. Taylor sought the support of the Labour Government so that his educational reforms through CTCs and the raising of standards in specialist schools could continue. David Blunkett, Secretary"
"for his own candidacy in case she withdrew. Unlike in the first ballot, a candidate only required a simple majority of Conservative MPs to win, in this case 186 of 372 MPs. The ballot was held on the afternoon of 27 November; although Major fell two votes short of the required winning total, he polled far enough ahead of both Douglas Hurd and Michael Heseltine to secure immediate concessions from them. With no remaining challengers, Major was formally named Leader of the Conservative Party that evening and was duly appointed Prime Minister the following day. The UK economy entered a"
"to the fore under the premiership of Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990) and were cited by several ministers resigning, including Geoffrey Howe, the Deputy Prime Minister, whose resignation triggered the challenge that ended Thatcher's leadership. Under Thatcher's successor, John Major (1990–1997), the slow process of integration within the EU forced party tensions to the surface. A core of Eurosceptic MPs under Major used the small Conservative majority in Parliament to oppose Government policy on the Maastricht Treaty. By doing so they undermined Major's ability to govern. The Conservative Party has members with a varying opinions of the EU, with pro-European Conservatives joining"
"Cabinet are in bold face. Second Major ministry John Major formed the second Major ministry following the 1992 general election after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to begin a new government. His government fell into minority status on 13 December 1996. The change of leader from Margaret Thatcher to John Major saw a dramatic turnaround in Tory support, with the double-digit lead in the opinion polls for the Labour Party being replaced by a narrow Conservative one by the turn of 1991. Although a general election did not have to be held until June 1992, Labour leader Neil Kinnock"
"of economic growth that would remain unbroken for 16 years, with unemployment falling accordingly, but this did little to boost the Conservative showing in local elections, by-elections and opinion polls – even more so in the aftermath of Tony Blair's election as Labour leader. In December 1996, with an election no more than five months away, the Conservative majority finally disappeared. A series of scandals involving Conservative MPs, along with the long-running division within the party over Europe, had done the government no favours either. On 17 March 1997, John Major called a general election for 1 May, and the"
"the general election of June 2001. Blair became the first Labour leader to lead the party to three successive election victories when they won the 2005 general election, though this time he had a drastically reduced majority. The Conservatives had so far failed to represent a serious challenge to Labour's rule, with John Major's successor William Hague unable to make any real improvement upon the disastrous 1997 general election result at the next election four years later. He stepped down after the 2001 election to be succeeded by Iain Duncan Smith, who did not even hold the leadership long enough"
"a tiny majority of three. The following administration also became a minority government after the collapse of the Lib–Lab pact in 1977, and the then British Prime Minister James Callaghan's Government fell in March 1979 as the result of a vote of no confidence which was carried by a single vote. A minority Government held power in the UK between December 1996 and the general election in May 1997. The Conservative Party, led by John Major, had won the 1992 General Election with an absolute majority of 21 seats over all other parties. That majority was progressively whittled away through"
"in a generation. However, the strong economic recovery failed to make much difference to the dismal Conservative performance in the opinion polls. Labour leader John Smith died of a sudden heart attack in May 1994 and was succeeded by Tony Blair, who continued the modernisation process of the party which began under Smith's predecessor Neil Kinnock, by branding the party as: ""New Labour"", and by the end of that year the opinion polls were showing Labour support as high as 60% – putting them more than 30 points ahead of the Conservatives. With the Conservative government remaining divided on Europe"
"time as Prime Minister was drawing to a close and that she should back John Major to take over the role. His reason for doing so was that he felt that her Conservative colleagues would not tell her straight that she could not win a leadership contest. Following this meeting, he was smuggled out of Downing Street's back door. Two days later Margaret Thatcher supported John Major for the post, and Major went on to become Prime Minister. Following the 1997 election, with Labour now in power, Field joined the government led by Tony Blair as its Minister for Welfare"
"The government won a fourth successive election in 1992 under John Major, who had succeeded Thatcher in November 1990, but soon afterwards came Black Wednesday, which damaged the Conservative government's reputation for economic competence, and from that stage onwards, the Labour Party was ascendant in the opinion polls, particularly in the immediate aftermath of Tony Blair's election as party leader in July 1994 after the sudden death of his predecessor John Smith. Despite two recessions, wages grew consistently by around 2% per year in real terms from 1980 until 1997, and continued to grow until 2008. In May 1997, Labour,"
"the Conservative Party and Prime Minister, David Cameron. This clear party preference led to controversy after Shaun Woodward succeeded the retiring Hurd as Conservative candidate: Woodward was elected in the 1997 General Election, but switched allegiance to the Labour Party in 1999. In the 2001 General Election Woodward stood as the Labour candidate for the more left-friendly seat of St Helens South and David Cameron retook Witney for the Conservatives. He became Prime Minister in coalition with the Liberal Democrats in May 2010 and continued after the 2015 elections in which his Conservative Party gained an absolute majority, but retired"
"a small number of MPs, were exploited by the press and Opposition for political advantage. He also conceded that the issue ""fed the public belief that the Conservative(s) ... had been in government too long, and had got into bad habits"" and quoted Labour's claim in 1997: ""Nothing better encapsulates what people think of this government. Sleaze will be one of the things which brings this government down."" On 22 June 1995, tired of continual threats of leadership challenges that never arose, Major resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party and announced he would contest the resulting leadership election –"
"a loss of confidence in Conservative economic policies and Major was never able to achieve a lead in opinion polls again. Despite the eventual revival of economic growth amongst other successes such as the beginnings of the Northern Ireland peace process, by the mid-1990s, the Conservative Party was embroiled in scandals involving various MPs (including cabinet ministers). Criticism of Major's leadership reached such a pitch that he chose to resign as party leader in June 1995, challenging his critics to either back him or challenge him; he was duly challenged by John Redwood but was easily re-elected. By this time,"
"government under the leadership of Tony Blair in May 1997 after the electoral wipeout of the Conservative government, led by John Major; this ended 18 years of Conservative rule. Having secured a landslide victory with 418 seats in the House of Commons, the party had a working majority of 179 seats, and went on to win the 2001 and 2005 elections. During its first term in office Blair's government introduced many popular policies, including legislation to establish a national minimum wage, reducing the length of hospital waiting lists, and devolving lawmaking powers to Scotland and Wales. Blair also played a"
"quickly rose through the ranks of the government of John Major and was appointed to Cabinet in 1995 as Secretary of State for Wales. Following the Conservatives' defeat at the 1997 general election by the Labour Party, he was elected Leader of the Conservative Party at the age of 36. He resigned as Conservative Leader after the 2001 general election following his party's second defeat, at which the Conservatives made a net gain of just one seat. He returned to the backbenches, pursuing a career as an author, writing biographies of William Pitt the Younger and William Wilberforce. He also"
"into the general election having changed leaders since 2005. David Cameron became Conservative leader in December 2005, replacing Michael Howard. Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister in June 2007. Nick Clegg was elected as leader of the Liberal Democrats in December 2007, succeeding Menzies Campbell who had replaced Charles Kennedy in January 2006. The last time all three main parties went into a general election with new leaders was in the 1979 election, when James Callaghan as Labour leader, Margaret Thatcher for the Conservatives, and David Steel with the then-Liberal Party took"
"and Margaret Beckett stayed put at Environment. The new Parliament met on 11 May for the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons. On 6 May, Michael Howard announced he would be standing down as leader of the Conservative Party, but not before a review of the leadership rules. The formal leadership election began in October, and was ultimately won by David Cameron. On 7 May, David Trimble resigned as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party; Sir Reg Empey was elected as his successor at an Ulster Unionist Council meeting on 24 June. The then-prime minister Gordon Brown"
"it was widely accepted - even within the Conservative Party - that the next election would produce another Labour victory, with the best realistic target for other parties being to reduce the Labour majority. The parliamentary term of 1997-2001 had seen the opinion polls led by the Labour Party, mostly with a lead in excess of 10 points, over the Conservatives (who had replaced John Major with William Hague as their new leader), apart from a brief spell in the autumn of 2000 when fuel protests threatened to bring Britain to a standstill. However, the blockades which had caused the"
"Second Major ministry John Major formed the second Major ministry following the 1992 general election after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to begin a new government. His government fell into minority status on 13 December 1996. The change of leader from Margaret Thatcher to John Major saw a dramatic turnaround in Tory support, with the double-digit lead in the opinion polls for the Labour Party being replaced by a narrow Conservative one by the turn of 1991. Although a general election did not have to be held until June 1992, Labour leader Neil Kinnock kept pressurising Major to hold"
"female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and former Chancellor of the Exchequer John Major (1990–97). Their landslide defeat at the 1997 general election saw the Conservative Party lose over half their seats gained in 1992, and saw the party re-align with public perceptions of them. The Conservatives lost all their seats in both Scotland and Wales, and was their worst defeat since 1906. In 2008, the Conservative Party formed a pact with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) to select joint candidates for European and House of Commons elections; this angered the DUP as by splitting the Unionist vote, republican parties will"