Election Case Studies Flashcards
What led tp the 1979 general election?
James Callaghan’s Labour government was running on a slim majority in the House
Despite Callaghan’s personal popularity and being up in polls in the arum o f1978, he refused to call a general election
This proved to be a mistake as public sector workers struck during the ‘winter of discontent’ over refusing to acce[t the government’s 5% pay cap, notoriously grave diggers in Liverpool,
Callaghan attempted to play down the negativity of the ‘winter of discontent’
- ‘Crisis, what Crisis?’
Callaghan lost a parliamentary vote of confidence in March 1979, triggering a general election
What was the Conservatives campaign?
focused on the incompetency of the Labour government, in particular, inability to control excess trade union pay claims, bring down inflation, and handle unemployment
The Conservatives under Margret Thatcher had appealed to people as the party of commons sense
launched campaigns in Labour supporting areas such as Cardiff, resulted in an 11% swing to Conservatives by C2 voters and a 9% swing by DE voters
gained votes of Liberal supporters as Lib-Lab pact drew major critics and Jeremy Thorpe former leader was on trial for murder
What was the outcome of the 1979 election?
the conservatives gained 62 seats while labour lost 50 seats
it was considered a ‘watershed’ election as it signalled the beginning of 18 years of Conservative government and a change in political policy
What led up to the 1997 general election?
after 109 years of Conservative government, the conservative party had become known for sleaze, incompetence and disunity
John Majors government had compromised reputation of economic competence by withdrawing form the ERM on ‘Black Wednesday’ in 1992, which damaged mortgage owners
Major’s poor leadership and party disunity was explicit in through Major passing the Maastricht bill, which increased European unity, to the chagrin of the eurosceptic back-benchers
contrasted by the charismatic leadership of Tony Blair and New LABOUR
What was new Labour?
a more appealing Labour Party under the charismatic and yutful lead of Tony Blair
challenged the Conservatives
amend Clause IV of the Labour constitution meaning the party was no longer committed to nationalisation of industry
promised to not increase income tax
had a tough stand eon law and order
What was the New Labour campaign?
Tony Blair’s press secretary, Allistair Campbell ran a tightly disciplined campaign to promote Blair as a youthful and charismatic leader
Labour pledge card was more appealing to win over voters
‘ no raise in income tax, VAT or fuel to be out to 5%
Labour appealed o more than just the core vote, showing how life could be better under the New Labour government with mapping song ‘it can only get better’
policies such as devolution drew votes from Liberal Democrat supportrs
What was the result of the 1997 general election?
Labour landslide win of 418 seats with 43% of the popular vote
Labour got 39% of the vote from C1 voters
and 50% of C2 voters
