1997 United Kingdom general election

1997 United Kingdom general election
← outgoing members elected members →
All 659 seats to the House of Commons; 330 seats needed for a majority
	Opinion polls
Registered	43,846,152
Turnout	31,286,284; 71.3% (6.4 pp)
	Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.; * Indicates boundary change, so this is a nominal figure.; † Notional 1992 results on new boundaries.
	Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election; John Major; Conservative	Prime Minister after election ; Tony Blair; Labour

The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labour Party led by Tony Blair, achieving a 179-seat majority and a total of 419 seats.

This was the first victory for the Labour party in a general election in nearly 23 years, its previous one registering a majority of 3 seats in October 1974 under the leadership of Harold Wilson. It was also Labour's first comprehensive victory over the Conservatives since the 1966 election, which had produced a 100-seat majority. This election also marked Labour's highest vote share since the 1970 election and its second highest total number of votes in history (the largest being the 1951 election). On the other hand, it was an ignominious end to the 18-year government of the Conservatives, the longest continuous period of government of any party in modern British history. This election marked the third-largest defeat ever suffered by the Conservatives (the largest being the 2024 election) with the party left with just 165 seats—it was left devoid of any MPs outside England, with only 17 MPs north of the Midlands, and with less than 20% of MPs in London. Additionally, the party also registered its lowest share of the vote since 1832 as well as its lowest vote in absolute terms since 1929.

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,^[3] 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.^[4]

Opinion polls during campaigning showed strong support for Labour due to Blair's personal popularity,^[5]^[6] and Blair won a personal public endorsement from The Sun newspaper two months before the vote.^[7] 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,^[8] 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.

Although 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, 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.^[9] 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.^[10]

Background

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.^[11]

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

The previous Parliament first sat on 29 April 1992. The Parliament Act 1911 required at the time for each Parliament to be dissolved before 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 28 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

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).^[12] 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.^[13]

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".^[14]

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,^[3] 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.^[4]

Opinion polls during campaigning showed strong support for Labour due to Blair's personal popularity,^[5]^[6] and Blair won a personal public endorsement from The Sun newspaper two months before the vote.^[7]

Conservative campaign

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'.^[15] 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.^[16] 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.^[17]^[15]

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."^[18] In any case, the campaign failed to gain much traction, and the Conservatives went down to a landslide defeat at the polls.

Labour campaign

Labour ran a slick 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.^[19]^[20]

Liberal Democrat campaign

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.^[8] The Lib Dems promised to increase education funding paid for by a 1p increase in income tax.

Endorsements

In a sign of the change of direction which New Labour represented, they were endorsed by The Sun (with a famous front page "The Sun Backs Blair"),^[7] as well as the more left-leaning newspapers the Daily Mirror, The Independent and The Guardian.^[21]
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".^[22]

Opinion polling

Notional 1992 results

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
	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

Labour won a landslide victory with its largest parliamentary majority (179) 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,^[23] 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. 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,^[23]^[24] and more than doubled their number of seats thanks to the use of tactical voting against the Conservatives.^[8] 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.^[25]

The six parties with the next highest votes stood only in either Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales; in order, they were the Scottish National Party, the Ulster Unionist Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Plaid Cymru, Sinn Féin, and the Democratic Unionist Party.

In the previously safe seat of Tatton, where incumbent Conservative MP Neil Hamilton was facing charges of having taken cash for questions, the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties decided not to field candidates in order that an independent candidate, Martin Bell, would have a better chance of winning the seat, which he did with a comfortable margin.

The result declared for the constituency of Winchester showed a margin of victory of just two votes for the Liberal Democrats. The defeated Conservative candidate mounted a successful legal challenge to the result on the grounds that errors by election officials (failures to stamp certain votes) had changed the result; the court ruled the result invalid and ordered a by-election on 20 November which was won by the Liberal Democrats with a much larger majority, causing much recrimination in the Conservative Party about the decision to challenge the original result in the first place.

This election saw a doubling of the number of women in parliament, from 60 elected in 1992 to 120 elected in 1997.^[26] 101 of them (controversially described as Blair Babes) were on the Labour benches,^[27] a number driven by the Labour Party's 1993 policy (ruled illegally discriminatory in 1996) of all-women shortlists. This election has therefore been widely seen as a watershed moment for representation of women in the UK.^[28]^[29]^[30]^[31]

This election marked the start of Labour government for the next 13 years, lasting until the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010.

1997 United Kingdom general election^[25]
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	Tony Blair	639	418	146	0	+146	63.4	43.2	13,518,167	+8.8
	Conservative	John Major	648	165	0	178	–178	25.0	30.7	9,591,085	–11.2
	Liberal Democrats	Paddy Ashdown	639	46	30	2	+28	7.0	16.8	5,242,947	–1.0
	Referendum	James Goldsmith	547	0	0	0	0		2.6	811,849	N/A
	SNP	Alex Salmond	72	6	3	0	+3	0.9	2.0	621,550	+0.1
	UUP	David Trimble	16	10	1	0	+1	1.5	0.8	258,349	0.0
	SDLP	John Hume	18	3	0	1	–1	0.5	0.6	190,814	+0.1
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Wigley	40	4	0	0	0	0.6	0.5	161,030	0.0
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	17	2	2	0	+2	0.3	0.4	126,921	0.0
	DUP	Ian Paisley	9	2	0	1	–1	0.3	0.3	107,348	0.0
	UKIP	Alan Sked	193	0	0	0	0		0.3	105,722	N/A
	Independent	N/A	25	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.2	64,482	0.0
	Alliance	John Alderdice	17	0	0	0	0		0.2	62,972	0.0
	Green	Peg Alexander and David Taylor	89	0	0	0	0		0.2	61,731	–0.2
	Socialist Labour	Arthur Scargill	64	0	0	0	0		0.2	52,109	N/A
	Liberal	Michael Meadowcroft	53	0	0	0	0		0.1	45,166	–0.1
	BNP	John Tyndall	57	0	0	0	0		0.1	35,832	0.0
	Natural Law	Geoffrey Clements	197	0	0	0	0		0.1	30,604	–0.1
	Speaker	Betty Boothroyd	1	1	1	0	0		0.1	23,969
	ProLife Alliance	Bruno Quintavalle	56	0	0	0	0		0.1	19,332	N/A
	UK Unionist	Robert McCartney	1	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.0	12,817	N/A
	PUP	Hugh Smyth	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	10,928	N/A
	National Democrats	Ian Anderson	21	0	0	0	0		0.0	10,829	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Peter Taaffe		0	0	0	0		0.0	9,906	N/A
	Scottish Socialist	Tommy Sheridan	16	0	0	0	0		0.0	9,740	N/A
	Independent	N/A	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	9,233	– 0.1
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	8,608	–0.1
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	24	0	0	0	0		0.0	7,906	–0.1
	Make Politicians History	Rainbow George Weiss	29	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,745	N/A
	NI Women's Coalition	Monica McWilliams and Pearl Sagar	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,024	N/A
	Workers' Party	Tom French	8	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,766	–0.1
	National Front	John McAuley	6	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,716	N/A
	Cannabis Law Reform	Howard Marks	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,085	N/A
	Socialist People's Party	Jim Hamezian	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,995	N/A
	Mebyon Kernow	Loveday Jenkin	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,906	N/A
	Scottish Green	Robin Harper	5	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,721
	Conservative Anti-Euro	Christopher Story	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,434	N/A
	Socialist (GB)	None	5	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,359	N/A
	Community Representative	Ralph Knight	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,290	N/A
	Neighborhood association		1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,263	N/A
	SDP	John Bates	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,246	–0.1
	Workers Revolutionary	Sheila Torrance	9	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,178	N/A
	Real Labour	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,117	N/A
	Independent Democrat	N/A		0	0	0	0		0.0	982
	Independent	N/A		0	0	0	0		0.0	890
	Communist	Mike Hicks	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	639
	Independent	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	593
	Green (NI)		1	0	0	0	0		0.0	539
	Socialist Equality	Davy Hyland	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	505

All parties with more than 500 votes shown. Labour total includes New Labour and "Labour Time for Change" candidates; Conservative total includes candidates in Northern Ireland (excluded in some lists) and "Loyal Conservative" candidate.^{[citation needed]}

The Popular Unionist MP elected in 1992 died in 1995, and the party folded shortly afterwards.

There was no incumbent Speaker in the 1992 election.

Government's new majority	179
Total votes cast	31,286,284
Turnout	71.3%

Popular vote

Labour			43.2%
Conservative			30.7%
Liberal Democrat			16.8%
Referendum			2.6%
Scottish National			2.0%
Others			1.9%

Parliamentary seats

Labour			63.4%
Conservative			25.0%
Liberal Democrat			7.0%
Scottish National			0.9%
Ulster Unionist			1.5%
Others			2.1%

Results by constituent country

	LAB	CON	LD	SNP	PC	NI parties	Others	Total
England	328	165	34	-	-	-	2	529
Wales	34	-	2	-	4	-	-	40
Scotland	56	-	10	6	-	-	-	72
Northern Ireland	-	-	-	-	-	18	-	18
Total	419	165	46	6	4	18	2 (inc Speaker)	659

Defeated MPs

MPs who lost their seats

Post-election events

The poor results for the Conservative Party led to infighting, with the One Nation group, Tory Reform Group, and right-wing Maastricht Rebels blaming each other for the defeat. Party chairman Brian Mawhinney said on the night of the election that defeat was due to disillusionment with 18 years of Conservative rule. John Major resigned as party leader, saying "When the curtain falls, it is time to get off the stage".^[32]

Following the defeat, the Conservatives began their longest continuous spell in opposition in the history of the present day (post–Tamworth Manifesto) Conservative Party – and indeed the longest such spell for any incarnation of the Tories/Conservatives since the 1760s and the end of the Whig Supremacy under Kings George I and George II – lasting 13 years, including the whole of the 2000s.^[33] Throughout this period, their representation in the Commons remained consistently below 200 MPs.

Meanwhile, Paddy Ashdown's continued leadership of the Liberal Democrats was assured, and they were felt to be in a position to build positively as a strong third party into the new millennium,^[34] culminating in their sharing power in the 2010 coalition with the Conservatives.

Internet coverage

With the huge rise in internet use since the previous general election, BBC News created a special website – BBC Politics 97 – covering the election.^[35] This site was an experiment for the efficiency of an online news service which was due for launch later in the year.^[36]

Footnotes

^ Conservative party leader John Major resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party on 22 June 1995 to face critics in his party and government, and was reelected as Leader on 4 July 1995. Prior to his resignation, he had held the post of Leader of the Conservative Party since 28 November 1990.^[2]

References

^ "1997 - Registered voters".
^ "1995: Major wins Conservative leadership". BBC News. 4 July 1995. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
^ ^a ^b "UK Politics - The Major Scandal Sheet". BBC News.
^ ^a ^b Miers, David (2004). Britain in the European Union. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 12–36. doi:10.1057/9780230523159_2. ISBN 978-1-4039-0452-2. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
^ ^a ^b "The Polls and the British General Election of 1997". www.ipsos.com. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Blair ahead in leadership ratings". BBC News. 3 May 2001. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Greenslade, Roy (18 March 1997). "It's the Sun wot's switched sides to back Blair". The Guardian.
^ ^a ^b ^c Hermann, Michael; Munzert, Simon; Selb, Peter (4 November 2015). "The conventional wisdom about tactical voting is wrong". London School of Economics British Politics and Policy blog. London School of Economics. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
^ "The Election. The Statistics. How the UK voted on May 1st". BBC Politics 97. BBC News. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ Harman, Harriet (10 April 2017). "Labour's 1997 victory was a watershed for women but our gains are at risk". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ "1997: Labour landslide ends Tory rule". BBC News. 15 April 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
^ "House of Lords Debates vol 579 cc653-4: Dissolution of Parliament". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 17 March 1997. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
^ Hencke, David (19 March 1997). "Fury as sleaze report buried". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
^ "Advertising & Promotion: Ads contract election fever". Campaign. 20 March 1997. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
^ ^a ^b Snowdon 2010, p. 4.
^ Travis, Alan (17 April 1997). "Rebels' seven-year march". The Guardian (London).
^ Bevins, Anthony (17 April 1997). "Election '97: John Major takes on the Tories". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
^ Snowdon 2010, p. 35.
^ Tiltman, David (1 May 2007). "The New Labour brand 10 years on". campaignlive.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 9 February 2024. In keeping with the New Labour message, the party's 1997 campaign attacked the economic record of the Tories following 1992's Black Wednesday and promised national renewal, memorably using D:Ream's song Things Can Only Get Better.
^ Gillett, Ed (22 July 2023). "'From the dancefloor to the ballot box': how house music helped Labour win a landslide in 1997". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 9 February 2024. First released in 1993, but only lightly grazing the Top 40 on its initial foray into the charts, a poppier remix of D:Ream's Things Can Only Get Better spent four weeks at No 1 the following January. Two years on from that, it was co-opted for the launch of Labour's five "pre-manifesto" pledges, written largely by Tony Blair himself. Something in the song's message clearly resonated with Labour apparatchiks, or tested well with the party's army of focus groups: by the time the election came around in May 1997, Things Can Only Get Better had displaced The Red Flag as New Labour's election anthem, the feelgood sonic backdrop to rallies, photo opportunities and campaign adverts alike.
^ Stoddard, Katy (4 May 2010). "Newspaper support in UK general elections". The Guardian.
^ "Principle Not Party". The Times. 29 April 1997. p. 23.
^ ^a ^b Ben Pimlott (October 1997). "New Labour, New Era?". The Political Quarterly. 68 (4): 325–334. doi:10.1111/1467-923X.00099.
^ Geoffrey Evans; Pippa Norris (1999). "14 - Conclusion: Was 1997 a Critical Election?". Critical elections: British parties and voters in long-term perspective. SAGE Publishing. pp. 259–271.
^ ^a ^b Morgan, Bryn (February 1999). "General Election Results, 1 May 1997" (PDF). Factsheet No. 68. House of Commons Information Office. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
^ Kelly, Richard (21 August 2018). "Women in the House of Commons: Background Paper". House of Commons Library. UK Parliament. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ Harriet Harman (10 April 2017). "Labour's 1997 victory was a watershed for women – but our gains are at risk". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
^ Flint, Caroline; Spelman, Caroline (4 May 2017). "How the Class of '97 Changed Westminster". Politics Home - The House. Politics Home. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ Kirk, Ashley; Scott, Patrick (17 June 2017). "General election 2017 sees record number of women candidates". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ Blaxill, Luke; Beelen, Kaspar (25 July 2016). "Women in Parliament since 1945: have they changed the debate?". History & Policy - Policy Papers. Retrieved 8 July 2020. We suggest that 1997 was significant because it helped normalise a large female presence at Westminster which absolved women MPs of the obligation to act as 'token women' and thus as spokeswomen for their sex.
^ Childs, Sarah (2000). "The new labour women MPs in the 1997 British parliament: issues of recruitment and representation". Women's History Review. 9 (1). Routledge (Taylor & Francis): 55–73. doi:10.1080/09612020000200228. ISSN 1747-583X. The research suggests that women MPs consider that women's presence has the potential to transform the parliamentary political agenda and style.
^ "Major players: The 1990 generation". TotalPolitics.com. 3 January 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
^ Kettle, Martin (13 May 2010). "Tories rule: but liberal Tories with a New Labour legacy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
^ "BBC Politics 97". BBC Politics 97. BBC News. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
^ "BBC Politics 97". BBC Politics 97. BBC News. 1997. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ "Major events influenced BBC's news online | FreshNetworks blog". Freshnetworks.com. 5 June 2008. Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.

External links

BBC Election Website
1997 election manifestos – Link to 1997 election manifestos of various parties.
Catalogue of 1997 general election ephemera at the Archives Division of the London School of Economics.

[MajorLeadershipElection-3] Conservative party leader John Major resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party on 22 June 1995 to face critics in his party and government, and was reelected as Leader on 4 July 1995. Prior to his resignation, he had held the post of Leader of the Conservative Party since 28 November 1990.^[2]

[1] "1997 - Registered voters".

[2] "1995: Major wins Conservative leadership". BBC News. 4 July 1995. Retrieved 26 December 2021.

[:0-4] "UK Politics - The Major Scandal Sheet". BBC News.

[:1-5] Miers, David (2004). Britain in the European Union. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 12–36. doi:10.1057/9780230523159_2. ISBN 978-1-4039-0452-2. Retrieved 10 March 2021.

[:2-6] "The Polls and the British General Election of 1997". www.ipsos.com. Retrieved 10 March 2021.

[:3-7] "Blair ahead in leadership ratings". BBC News. 3 May 2001. Retrieved 10 March 2021.

[Labour_Sun_Endorse-8] Greenslade, Roy (18 March 1997). "It's the Sun wot's switched sides to back Blair". The Guardian.

[LSEtactical-9] Hermann, Michael; Munzert, Simon; Selb, Peter (4 November 2015). "The conventional wisdom about tactical voting is wrong". London School of Economics British Politics and Policy blog. London School of Economics. Retrieved 7 July 2020.

[10] "The Election. The Statistics. How the UK voted on May 1st". BBC Politics 97. BBC News. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[11] Harman, Harriet (10 April 2017). "Labour's 1997 victory was a watershed for women but our gains are at risk". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[bbc-12] "1997: Labour landslide ends Tory rule". BBC News. 15 April 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2010.

[13] "House of Lords Debates vol 579 cc653-4: Dissolution of Parliament". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 17 March 1997. Retrieved 21 June 2010.

[14] Hencke, David (19 March 1997). "Fury as sleaze report buried". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 May 2023.

[15] "Advertising & Promotion: Ads contract election fever". Campaign. 20 March 1997. Retrieved 9 April 2017.

[FOOTNOTESnowdon20104-16] Snowdon 2010, p. 4.

[Single_currency_1997-17] Travis, Alan (17 April 1997). "Rebels' seven-year march". The Guardian (London).

[18] Bevins, Anthony (17 April 1997). "Election '97: John Major takes on the Tories". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2015.

[FOOTNOTESnowdon201035-19] Snowdon 2010, p. 35.

[20] Tiltman, David (1 May 2007). "The New Labour brand 10 years on". campaignlive.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 9 February 2024. In keeping with the New Labour message, the party's 1997 campaign attacked the economic record of the Tories following 1992's Black Wednesday and promised national renewal, memorably using D:Ream's song Things Can Only Get Better.

[21] Gillett, Ed (22 July 2023). "'From the dancefloor to the ballot box': how house music helped Labour win a landslide in 1997". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 9 February 2024. First released in 1993, but only lightly grazing the Top 40 on its initial foray into the charts, a poppier remix of D:Ream's Things Can Only Get Better spent four weeks at No 1 the following January. Two years on from that, it was co-opted for the launch of Labour's five "pre-manifesto" pledges, written largely by Tony Blair himself. Something in the song's message clearly resonated with Labour apparatchiks, or tested well with the party's army of focus groups: by the time the election came around in May 1997, Things Can Only Get Better had displaced The Red Flag as New Labour's election anthem, the feelgood sonic backdrop to rallies, photo opportunities and campaign adverts alike.

[22] Stoddard, Katy (4 May 2010). "Newspaper support in UK general elections". The Guardian.

[23] "Principle Not Party". The Times. 29 April 1997. p. 23.

[BP-24] Ben Pimlott (October 1997). "New Labour, New Era?". The Political Quarterly. 68 (4): 325–334. doi:10.1111/1467-923X.00099.

[25] Geoffrey Evans; Pippa Norris (1999). "14 - Conclusion: Was 1997 a Critical Election?". Critical elections: British parties and voters in long-term perspective. SAGE Publishing. pp. 259–271.

[1997-factsheet-26] Morgan, Bryn (February 1999). "General Election Results, 1 May 1997" (PDF). Factsheet No. 68. House of Commons Information Office. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2019.

[27] Kelly, Richard (21 August 2018). "Women in the House of Commons: Background Paper". House of Commons Library. UK Parliament. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[28] Harriet Harman (10 April 2017). "Labour's 1997 victory was a watershed for women – but our gains are at risk". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2022.

[29] Flint, Caroline; Spelman, Caroline (4 May 2017). "How the Class of '97 Changed Westminster". Politics Home - The House. Politics Home. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[30] Kirk, Ashley; Scott, Patrick (17 June 2017). "General election 2017 sees record number of women candidates". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[31] Blaxill, Luke; Beelen, Kaspar (25 July 2016). "Women in Parliament since 1945: have they changed the debate?". History & Policy - Policy Papers. Retrieved 8 July 2020. We suggest that 1997 was significant because it helped normalise a large female presence at Westminster which absolved women MPs of the obligation to act as 'token women' and thus as spokeswomen for their sex.

[32] Childs, Sarah (2000). "The new labour women MPs in the 1997 British parliament: issues of recruitment and representation". Women's History Review. 9 (1). Routledge (Taylor & Francis): 55–73. doi:10.1080/09612020000200228. ISSN 1747-583X. The research suggests that women MPs consider that women's presence has the potential to transform the parliamentary political agenda and style.

[33] "Major players: The 1990 generation". TotalPolitics.com. 3 January 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2020.

[34] Kettle, Martin (13 May 2010). "Tories rule: but liberal Tories with a New Labour legacy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 March 2020.

[35] "BBC Politics 97". BBC Politics 97. BBC News. Retrieved 29 March 2020.

[bbcPolitics97-36] "BBC Politics 97". BBC Politics 97. BBC News. 1997. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[37] "Major events influenced BBC's news online | FreshNetworks blog". Freshnetworks.com. 5 June 2008. Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.

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[2]

v t e 1997 United Kingdom general election
MPs elected Northern Ireland Scotland Wales MPs who lost their seat Opinion polling Results by constituency
Incumbent prime minister: John Major (Conservative) Appointed prime minister: Tony Blair (Labour)
Parties elected to the House of Commons	Labour (Tony Blair) Conservative (John Major) Liberal Democrats (Paddy Ashdown) Ulster Unionist Party (David Trimble) Scottish National Party (Alex Salmond) Plaid Cymru (Dafydd Wigley) Social Democratic and Labour Party (John Hume) Sinn Féin (Gerry Adams) Democratic Unionist Party (Ian Paisley) UK Unionist Party (Robert McCartney)
Results by area	England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
See also	"Things Can Only Get Better" Blair Babe Martin Bell Tatton in the general election Enfield Southgate in the election Portillo moment New Labour, New Danger Referendum Party The Queen
1997 United Kingdom local elections

v t e Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom
General elections	1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024 Next
Local elections	1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	1975 2011 2016
See also Elections in England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Great Britain

v t e John Major
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1990–1997) Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1987–1989) Foreign Secretary (1989) Chancellor of the Exchequer (1989–1990)
Politics	Premiership Major ministry First, 1990–1992 Second, 1992–1997 Shadow Cabinet One-nation conservatism Huntingdonshire Huntingdon
National	Budgets 1991 budget 1992 budget March 1993 budget November 1993 budget 1994 budget 1995 budget 1996 budget Citizen's Charter Charter Mark Cones Hotline Early 1990s recession Black Wednesday National Lottery Further and Higher Education Act 1992 Grant-maintained schools Maastricht Rebels 1993 Newbury by-election Northern Ireland peace process Downing Street mortar attack Downing Street Declaration 1993 reviews of the British honours system Council Tax Child Support Agency 1993 vote of confidence Back to Basics Privatisation of British Rail Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1995 Conservative Party leadership election Cullen Report (Dunblane massacre) Cash for Questions Committee on Standards in Public Life Arms-to-Iraq affair Scott Report United Kingdom BSE outbreak Wirral South by-election Resignation Honours
International	Gulf War Iraqi no-fly zones Sanctions against Iraq Harare Declaration Maastricht Treaty Bosnian War Operation Gabriel
General elections	1992 1997
European Parliament Election	1994
Party elections	1990 1995
Books	John Major: The Autobiography (1999) More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years (2007) My Old Man: A Personal History of Music Hall (2012)
Family	Norma Major (wife) Terry Major-Ball (brother) Tom Major-Ball (father)
Cultural depictions	Thatcher: The Final Days (TV, 1991) Independence Day UK (Radio, 1996) Margaret (TV, 2009) The Iron Lady (Film, 2011) The Audience (Play, 2013) The Crown season 5 (TV, 2022)
← Margaret Thatcher Tony Blair → Category

v t e Tony Blair
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1997–2007) Leader of the Labour Party (1994–2007) Leader of the Opposition (1994–1997) MP for Sedgefield (1983–2007)
Politics	New Labour, New Life for Britain Premiership Blair ministry First, 1997–2001 Second, 2001–2005 Third, 2005–2007 Blair–Brown deal Electoral history Shadow Cabinet of Tony Blair 1999 British cabinet reshuffle Bush–Blair 2003 Iraq memo 2006 cabinet reshuffle
Ideology	Blairism New Labour Third Way
General elections	1997 2001 2005
Party election	1994
Shadow Cabinet elections	1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
Post-premiership	2007 Sedgefield by-election Tony Blair Institute for Global Change Quartet on the Middle East Africa Progress Panel Tony Blair Faith Foundation Commission for Africa
Books	A Journey
Related topics	Ugly Rumours Respect agenda Blatcherism Cool Britannia Blair Babes Tony's Cronies Iraq Inquiry People's princess Hand of history Tonibler
Family	Cherie Blair (wife) Euan Blair (son) Leo Blair (father) Nicky Blair (son) William Blair (brother)
← John Major Gordon Brown → Category

v t e New Labour
Key figures	Tony Blair Gordon Brown Peter Mandelson Alastair Campbell Anthony Giddens Anthony Crosland Philip Gould David Sainsbury
Political ethos	Blairism Third Way Blatcherism Brownism
General elections	1997 2001 2005 2010 Post-election events
Leadership elections	1994 2007 2010
Government	Premiership of Tony Blair Blair I Blair II Blair III Chancellorship of Gordon Brown Premiership of Gordon Brown Brown
Publications	The Future of Socialism A Journey The Third Man The Blair Years The Purple Book
Funders	Michael Levy Trevor Chinn Alexander Bernstein Robert Gavron David Garrard
Related	One more heave Labour Co-ordinating Committee Blair–Brown deal Clause Four moment New Labour, New Life for Britain New Labour, New Danger "Things Can Only Get Better" "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" Progress Blair Babe Tony's Cronies Cash for Honours Future Britain Group Neoconservatism Labour Party (UK)
Category