Why were the Conservatives under Major so badly defeated? Flashcards
(21 cards)
What were the three main problems when he came PM?
- He lacked authority
- Conservatives were divided about Britain’s role in Europe
- Labour Party was revitalised under New Labour
Why did Major lack authority in Conservative Party?
- Major was elected by Conservative MPs because the majority of Conservatives did not want Heseltine, whom they blamed for engineering the fall of Thatcher
- Thatcher’s supporters voted for him because she has recently appeared to mark him out as her successor
- He was affable reliable and conscientious and may well have appealed to those MPs who had become tired of Thatcher’s bossiness
- Limited experience
- Uncharismatic personality ridiculed by media
Major’s limited experience
- MP since 1979
- Cabinet member since June 1987
- Foreign secretary June-October 1989
- Chancellor of the Exchequer
Major’s credits:
- Conservative victory in April 1992 general election –> vigorous campaigning, often speaking to crowds on a plastic container
Failings of 1992 election:
Only won Conservative Majority of 21 seats
2 problems due to low majority in 1992 election:
- Conservative MPs who disagreed with his policies could threaten him with defeat in parliament
- Any by-election defeats would increase the danger of a parliamentary defeat
Eurosceptics
Disliked European Community’s move towards closer monetary and political union.
Maastricht Treaty:
- Signed December 1991
- Full integration into Europe of European member states
- Common currency
- Foreign policy
- Defence
Known as European Union
Majors role in European Union:
- Negotiated British opt-outs from two key aspects –> Social Chapter and single European currency
- Unlikely alliance between sceptics in own party
- Major had to force ratification bill through parliament by telling MPs that, unless they voted in favour, the government would resign.
Black Wednesday: causes
September 1992 –> measures to curb inflation had tipped the British economy into depression.
- Unemployment rose, businesses went under and GDP fell.
- Exchange rate clearly too high
Black Wednesday: event
- Pound fell sharply in value as international bankers sold it at its artificially high rate before it was devalued.
- Major and his chancellor (Norman Lamont) tried unsuccessfully to sustain the pound’s value by pushing up interest rates and getting the Bank of England to buy pounds.
- These failed
- 16th September (Black Wednesday) Britain withdrew from Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM)
Major’s leadership election 1995
- Weakened by parliamentary and cabinet dissent from Eurosceptics
- Maastricht ratification process –> caught off guard complaining about ‘the bastards’ in the cabinet
- Face down critics by holding an election for party leadership
Who was Major against in 1995 leadership election?
- John Redwood –> a leading Eurosceptic and widely assumed to be one of the ‘bastards’
Results of the 1995 leadership election?
- Major won easily
- 1/3 of party didn’t vote for him
New Labour: leader 1
- Neil Kinnock (1983-92)
- Had done lots to make party electable after defeat 1983
- Blamed for being overconfident in 1992 election and resigned
What did Neil Kinnock do to make New Labour more electable?
- Expelled members of extremist groups who had infiltrated the party in 1970s.
New labour: Leader 2
- John Smith (popular and moderate)
- 1992 - 1994
New Labour leader 3
- Tony Blair (only been MP since 1983)
- Reconciled Labour to Thatcher’s reforms
- April 1995 –> succeeded in abolishing Clause IV of Labour 1918 constitution, which pledged to nationalise industry
- Party rebranded as ‘New Labour’
- Labour appealed to Conservative-supporting businessmen and city bankers
- Won leading figures in media (Rupert Murdoch owner of Sun newspaper)
Results from 1997 election:
Labour: 43.2%
Conservative: 30.7%
Why did the Conservatives loose the 1997 election?
- Major struggle with Eurosceptics had reinforced the perception that he was weak
- Conservatives reputation for economic competence had been badly tarnished by the fiasco of withdrawal from ERM
- Conservative Party looked sleazy –> series of revelations about sexual indiscretions of some MPs
- Conservative Party looked sleazy –> accusation levelled at MP Neil Hamilton that he had accepted cash from Mohamed Al-Fayed, owner of Harrods, to ask questions in parliament on his behalf, undermined public confidence
- Long era of Conservative rule
Why Labour won:
- Blair’s youth and optimism appealed to voters
- Media presentation was slick and effective
- Blair’s reform of Clause IV and his wooing of businessmen and media tycoons made nonsense of the Tory campaign message that he and the Labour Party were socialists in disguise
