1997 United Kingdom general election: Difference between revisions
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The '''United Kingdom general election, 1997''' was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect [[List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1997|659 members]] to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|British House of Commons]]. The [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] |
The '''United Kingdom general election, 1997''' was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect [[List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1997|659 members]] to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|British House of Commons]]. The [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of [[Tony Blair]], and won the general election in a landslide victory with 418 seats, the most seats the party has ever held. Blair subsequently became [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]]. |
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Under the leadership of [[Tony Blair]], the Labour Party had adopted a more [[centrism|centrist]] policy platform under the name '[[New Labour, New Life For Britain|New Labour]]'. This was seen as moving away from the traditionally more [[left-wing]] stance of the Labour Party. Labour made several campaign pledges such as the creation of a National [[Minimum Wage]], [[devolution]] referendums for [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]] and promised greater economic competence than the Conservatives, who were unpopular following the events of [[Black Wednesday]] in 1992. The Labour campaign was ultimately a success and the party returned an unprecedented 418 MPs and began the first of three consecutive terms for Labour in government. |
Under the leadership of [[Tony Blair]], the Labour Party had adopted a more [[centrism|centrist]] policy platform under the name '[[New Labour, New Life For Britain|New Labour]]'. This was seen as moving away from the traditionally more [[left-wing]] stance of the Labour Party. Labour made several campaign pledges such as the creation of a National [[Minimum Wage]], [[devolution]] referendums for [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]] and promised greater economic competence than the Conservatives, who were unpopular following the events of [[Black Wednesday]] in 1992. The Labour campaign was ultimately a success and the party returned an unprecedented 418 MPs and began the first of three consecutive terms for Labour in government. |
Revision as of 09:40, 17 September 2011
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Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results. Due to the nature of the source, not all constituencies may be correct * Indicates boundary change - so this is a nominal figure ^ Figure does not include the speaker | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1987 election • MPs |
1992 election • MPs |
1997 election • MPs |
2001 election • MPs |
2005 election • MPs |
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general election in a landslide victory with 418 seats, the most seats the party has ever held. Blair subsequently became Prime Minister.
Under the leadership of Tony Blair, the Labour Party had adopted a more centrist policy platform under the name 'New Labour'. This was seen as moving away from the traditionally more left-wing stance of the Labour Party. Labour made several campaign pledges such as the creation of a National Minimum Wage, devolution referendums for Scotland and Wales and promised greater economic competence than the Conservatives, who were unpopular following the events of Black Wednesday in 1992. The Labour campaign was ultimately a success and the party returned an unprecedented 418 MPs and began the first of three consecutive terms for Labour in government.
The Conservative Party was led by then-incumbent Prime Minister John Major and ran their campaign emphasising low unemployment figures and a strong economy. However, a series of scandals, party disunity over the European Union and the events of Black Wednesday all contributed to the Conservatives' worst defeat since 1906, with only 165 MPs elected to Westminster. The party was left with no seats whatsoever in Scotland or Wales, largely attributed to the party's uncompromising position on devolution, and many key Conservative politicians, including Defence Secretary Michael Portillo, Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, Trade Secretary Ian Lang, Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth and former ministers Edwina Currie, Norman Lamont, David Mellor and Neil Hamilton all lost their parliamentary seats. Following the defeat, the Conservatives began the 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, lasting 13 years.
Minor parties enjoyed success during the election, for instance the Liberal Democrats under Paddy Ashdown returned 46 MPs to parliament, the most for any third party since 1929, despite a drop in popular vote and the Scottish National Party (SNP) returned 6 MPs, double what it had in 1992. The election night was broadcast live on the BBC, and presented by David Dimbleby, Peter Snow and Jeremy Paxman.[1]
Overview
The British economy had been in recession at the time of the 1992 election, which the Conservatives had won, and although the recession had ended within a year, events such as Black Wednesday had tarnished the Conservative government's reputation for economic management. Labour had elected John Smith as its party leader in 1992, however his death from heart attack in 1994 led the way for Tony Blair to become Labour leader. Blair brought the party closer to the political centre and abolished the party's Clause IV in their constitution, which had committed them to mass nationalisation of industry. Labour also reversed its policy on unilateral nuclear disarmament and the events of Black Wednesday allowed Labour to promise greater economic management under the Chancellorship of Gordon Brown. A manifesto, entitled New Labour, New Life For Britain was released in 1996 and outlined 5 key pledges:
- Class sizes to be cut by 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 per cent, 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 had severely affected the government's popularity. Despite the strong economic recovery and substantial 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 having shown Labour in a comfortable lead since late 1992.[2]
Campaign
Prime Minister John 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[3]). It was stated at the time by Conservatives that a long campaign would expose Labour and allow the Conservative message to be heard. In fact the Conservative campaign was quickly blown off course when 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 an election.
In his speech outside Number 10 Downing Street shortly after asking the Queen for a dissolution of parliament, Prime Minister John Major said: "Not only do I think this election is winnable, I believe the Conservative Party will win this election". By the time Mr Major had made the announcement, Tony Blair was already on the campaign trail.
Labour also had their difficulties- in particular an argument about whether or not the party would privatise the air traffic control system, and over the party's relationship with the trade unions. Labour leader Tony Blair focused on a "New Labour" platform which turned away from previous Labour stalwart planks such as nationalisation; Blair said: "The presumption should be that economic activity is best left to the private sector."[4]
By the middle of the campaign, the large number of Conservative candidates - including some serving ministers - who publicly repudiated the government policy on the European single currency had become a key issue. Labour were themselves cautious about this issue, but gained heavily from the symbolism of a deeply divided Conservative party.
In the final stages of the campaign, Labour concentrated heavily on projecting an image of Tony Blair as a dynamic and energetic young leader while the Conservatives were seen to indulge in infighting - with the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke describing the views of the Home Secretary, Michael Howard, on Europe as "paranoid nonsense".
For the Liberal Democrats Paddy Ashdown ran a forthright campaign, and due to his military experiences was able to speak with great authority on foreign issues. Ashdown was key to the Liberal campaign as he was one of the few well recognised national figures in his party, he presented a strong personality and style that resonated with many voters. The Liberals put a great emphasis on education during the campaign, and in order to meet their spending pledges the Liberal Democrats told voters a 1p increase on income tax would be necessary.[2]
Notional 1992 election
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 used by all media organisations at the time.
Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | 274 | +3 | 41.58 | 34.4 | 11,560,484 | ||||
Conservative | 343 | +7 | 52.05 | 41.9 | 14,093,007 | ||||
Liberal Democrats | 18 | -2 | 2.73 | 17.8 | 5,999,384 | ||||
Others | 24 | 3.64 | 5.9 |
Results
Labour won a landslide victory with their 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 the Labour Party had completely 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 and a slick Labour public relations machine managed by Alastair Campbell. 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. New 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. Famously, in the early hours of 2 May 1997 a party was held at the Royal Festival Hall, in which Blair stated triumphantly "A new dawn has broken, has it not?".
The election was a crushing defeat for the Conservative Party, 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, remarked that he was pleased his party had won at least one seat.
The election was a massive success for the Liberal Democrats, who more than doubled their number of seats thanks to the use of tactical voting against the Conservatives. Although their share of the vote fell slightly, their total of 46 MPs was the highest since Lloyd George got 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 mainly from former Conservative voters, but won no seats in parliament. 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 duly 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 would also mark the start of Labour government for the next 13 years until the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010.
UK General Election 1997 | |||||||||||||||
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Party | Candidates | Votes | |||||||||||||
Stood | Elected | Gained | Unseated | Net | % of total | % | No. | Net % | |||||||
Labour | 639 | 418 | 145 | 0 | + 145 | 63.4 | 43.2 | 13,518,167 | + 8.8 | ||||||
Conservative | 648 | 165 | 0 | 178 | - 178 | 25.0 | 30.7 | 9,600,943 | - 11.2 | ||||||
Liberal Democrats | 639 | 46 | 30 | 2 | + 28 | 7.0 | 16.8 | 5,242,947 | - 1.0 | ||||||
Referendum | 547 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.6 | 811,849 | N/A | |||||||
SNP | 72 | 6 | 3 | 0 | + 3 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 621,550 | + 0.1 | ||||||
UUP | 16 | 10 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 258,349 | 0.0 | ||||||
SDLP | 18 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - 1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 190,814 | + 0.1 | ||||||
Plaid Cymru | 40 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 161,030 | 0.0 | ||||||
Sinn Féin | 17 | 2 | 2 | 0 | + 2 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 126,921 | 0.0 | ||||||
DUP | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - 1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 107,348 | 0.0 | ||||||
UKIP | 193 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 105,722 | N/A | |||||||
Independent | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | + 1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 64,482 | 0.0 | ||||||
Green | 89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 61,731 | - 0.2 | |||||||
Alliance | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 62,972 | 0.0 | |||||||
Socialist Labour | 64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 52,109 | N/A | |||||||
Liberal | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 45,166 | - 0.1 | |||||||
BNP | 57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 35,832 | 0.0 | |||||||
Natural Law | 197 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 30,604 | - 0.1 | |||||||
Speaker | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 23,969 | ||||||||
Prolife Alliance | 56 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 19,332 | N/A | |||||||
UK Unionist | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | + 1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 12,817 | N/A | ||||||
PUP | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 10,928 | N/A | |||||||
National Democrats | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 10,829 | N/A | |||||||
Socialist Alternative | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 9,906 | N/A | ||||||||
Scottish Socialist | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 9,740 | N/A | |||||||
Independent Labour | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 9,233 | - 0.1 | |||||||
Ind. Conservative | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 8,608 | - 0.1 | |||||||
Monster Raving Loony | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 7,906 | - 0.1 | |||||||
Rainbow Dream Ticket | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,745 | N/A | |||||||
NI Women's Coalition | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,024 | N/A | |||||||
Workers' Party of Ireland | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,766 | - 0.1 | |||||||
National Front | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,716 | N/A | |||||||
Legalise Cannabis | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,085 | N/A | |||||||
People's Labour | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,995 | N/A | |||||||
Mebyon Kernow | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,906 | N/A | |||||||
Scottish Green | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,721 | ||||||||
Conservative Anti-Euro | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,434 | N/A | |||||||
Socialist (GB) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,359 | N/A | ||||||||
Community Representative | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,290 | N/A | |||||||
Residents | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,263 | N/A | |||||||
SDP | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,246 | - 0.1 | |||||||
Workers Revolutionary | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,178 | N/A | |||||||
Real Labour | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,117 | N/A | |||||||
Independent Democratic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 982 | |||||||||
Ind. Lib Dem | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 890 | |||||||||
Communist | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 639 | ||||||||
Independent Green | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 593 | ||||||||
Green (NI) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 539 | ||||||||
Socialist Equality | 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.
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% |
Defeated Incumbent MPs
Conservatives:
A total of 127 sitting Conservative MPs were defeated, including seven members of Cabinet and thirty junior Ministers and Under-Secretaries.
Defeated Conservatives
Ministers who lost their seats
- Tony Newton (Braintree) OBE - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
- Michael Portillo (Enfield Southgate) - Secretary of State for Defence
- Malcolm Rifkind (Edinburgh Pentlands) - Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
- Ian Lang (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) - Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
- Michael Forsyth (Stirling) - Secretary of State for Scotland
- William Waldegrave (Bristol West) - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
- Roger Freeman (Kettering) - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
- Sir Derek Spencer (Brighton Pavilion) - Solicitor General for England and Wales
- Michael Morris (Northampton South) - Chairman of Ways and Means (Michael Norris was not a minister, rather he was Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons)
- James Douglas-Hamilton, Baron Selkirk of Douglas (Edinburgh West) - Minister of State at the Scottish Office
- Alistair Burt (Bury North) - Minister of State at Department of Social Security
- Phillip Oppenheim (Amber Valley) - Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
- Michael Bates (Langbaurgh) - Paymaster-General
- Raymond Robertson (Aberdeen South) - Minister for Education, Housing, Fisheries and Sport
- Greg Knight (Derby North) - Minister of State for Industry at the Department of Trade and Industry
- John Bowis OBE (Battersea) - Health Minister
- Iain Sproat (Harwich) - Trade Minister
- Robin Squire (Hornchurch) - Education Minister
- Andrew Mitchell (Gedling) - Social Security Minister
- The Hon. Tom Sackville (Bolton, West) - Home Office Minister
- Sir Nicholas Bonsor, 4th Baronet (Upminster) - Foreign Office Minister
- Timothy Kirkhope (Leeds North East) - Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
- Gwilym Jones (Cardiff North) - Under Secretary of State in the Welsh Office
- George Kynoch (Kincardine and Deeside) - Under-Secretary of State for Scotland
- Robin Squire (Hornchurch) - Under Secretary of State for Education
- Roger Evans (Monmouth) - Social Security Minister
- David Evennett (Erith and Crayford) - Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills
- Lady Olga Maitland (Sutton and Cheam) - Parliamentary Private Secretary to The Rt. Hon. Sir John Wheeler
- Simon Coombs (Swindon) - Parliamentary Private Secretary to The Rt. Hon. Ian Lang
- Timothy Wood (Stevenage) - Comptroller of the Household
- Gyles Brandreth (City of Chester) - Whip
Prominent Conservative MPs who lost their seats
Constituencies given are those contested in 1997, rather than those held prior to the election - Norman Lamont, for example, had previously represented Kingston-upon-Thames in London.
- Dame Angela Rumbold DBE (Mitcham and Morden) - Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party
- Sir Graham Bright (Luton South) - Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party
- Sir Rhodes Boyson (Brent North) - Leading Backbencher
- Sir Nicholas Budgen (Wolverhampton South West) - Leading Backbencher who rebelled against the Maastricht treaty
- Sir Marcus Fox MBE (Shipley) - Chairman of the 1922 committee
- Neil Hamilton (Tatton) - Chairman of the Monday Club
- Norman Lamont (Kingston-upon-Thames) - Former Chancellor of the Exchequer
- David Hunt MBE (Wirral West) - Former (Secretary of State for Wales)
- Edwina Currie (South Derbyshire) - Former Health Minister turned author and radio and television presenter
- Richard Tracey (Surbiton) - former Sports Minister
- Sebastian Coe OBE (Falmouth and Camborne) - Olympic gold medalist
- David Mellor (Putney) - Former Secretary of State for National Heritage
- John Cope (Northavon) - Former Paymaster General
- Sir Robert Atkins (South Ribble) - Former Minister for Sport
- Sir Jeremy Hanley (Richmond and Barnes) - Former Chairman of the Conservative Party
- Derek Conway (Shrewsbury and Atcham) - Former Vice Chamberlain of HM Household
Conservative MPs who lost their seats
- Sir Jim Lester (Broxtowe) - Former Whip
- Sir Ivan Lawrence (Burton)
- Sir Donald Thompson (Calder Valley)
- Sir Nicholas Scott (Chelsea)
- Sir Malcolm Thornton (Crosby)
- Sir Roger Moate (Faversham)
- Sir John Michael Gorst (Hendon North)
- Sir Kenneth Carlisle (Lincoln)
- Sir Andrew Bowden (Brighton Kemptown)
- Dame Peggy Fenner DBE (Medway)
- Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd (Morecambe and Lunesdale)
- Sir Patrick McNair-Wilson (New Forest)
- Sir Michael Neubert (Romford)
- Sir James Hill (Southampton Test)
- Sir Dudley Smith (Warwick and Leamington)
- Sir Peter Fry (Wellingborough)
- Sir Colin Shepherd (Hereford)
- Dr Ian Twinn (Edmonton)
- Dr Keith Hampson (Leeds North West)
- Phil Gallie (Ayr)
- Elizabeth Peacock (Batley and Spen)
- Andrew Hargreaves (Birmingham Hall Green)
- Harold Elletson (Blackpool North)
- Jonathan Evans (Brecon and Radnorshire)
- Nirj Deva (Brentford and Isleworth)
- Michael Brown (Brigg and Cleethorpes)
- Michael Stern (Bristol North West)
- David Sumberg (Bury South)
- Nigel Forman (Carshalton and Wallington)
- Den Dover (Chorley)
- Rod Richards (Clwyd North West)
- Graham Riddick (Colne Valley)
- William Powell (Corby)
- David Congdon (Croydon North East)
- Bob Dunn (Dartford)
- David Shaw (Dover)
- Harry Greenway (Ealing North)
- Spencer Batiste (Elmet)
- Hartley Booth (Finchley)
- Matthew Carrington (Fulham)
- James Couchman (Gillingham)
- Douglas French (Gloucester)
- Paul Marland (West Gloucestershire)
- Jacques Arnold (Gravesham)
- Michael Carttiss (Great Yarmouth)
- Warren Hawksley (Halesowen and Stourbridge)
- Jerry Hayes (Harlow)
- Hugh Dykes (Harrow East)
- Robert Gurth Hughes (Harrow West)
- John Leslie Marshall (Hendon South)
- Robert Jones (West Hertfordshire)
- Charles Hendry (High Peak)
- Vivian Bendall (Ilford North)
- Gary Waller (Keighley)
- Tim Rathbone (Lewes)
- Barry Legg (Milton Keynes South West)
- Peter Butler (North East Milton Keynes)
- Richard Alexander (Newark)
- Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk)
- Peter Griffiths (Portsmouth North)
- David Martin (Portsmouth South)
- Jim Pawsey (Rugby and Kenilworth)
- John Sykes (Scarborough)
- Michael Stephen (Shoreham)
- John Arthur Watts (Slough)
- Mark Robinson (Somerton and Frome)
- Matthew Banks (Southport)
- Tim Devlin (Stockton South)
- Roger Knapman (Stroud)
- David Nicholson (Taunton)
- Bill Walker (North Tayside)
- Rupert Allason (Torbay)
- Toby Jessel (Twickenham)
- Walter Sweeney (Vale of Glamorgan)
- David Porter (Waveney)
- David Evans (Welwyn Hatfield)
- Charles Goodson-Wickes (Wimbledon)
- Gerry Malone (Winchester)
Liberal Democrats who lost their seats
†Diana Maddock was elected at the Christchurch by-election, 1993, and so is not included in the table of results.
Post election events
The poor results for the Conservative Party led to infighting, with the One Nation, 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 it 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 leave the stage".
The Liberal Democrat vote fell, but in terms of seats, it was their best General Election since 1929 under David Lloyd George's leadership. Paddy Ashdown's continued leadership had been vindicated, despite a disappointing 1992 election, and they were in a position to build positively as a strong third party into the new millennium.
Internet coverage
With the huge rise in internet use since the previous general election, BBC News created a special website covering the election as an experiment for the efficiency of an online news service which was due for a launch later in the year.[5]
See also
References
- ^ “”. "BBC Vote '97 Election coverage". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "1997: Labour landslide ends Tory rule". BBC News. 15 April 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
- ^ "House of Lords Debates 17 March 1997 vol 579 cc653-4: Dissolution of Parliament". House of Lords Hansard. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
- ^ Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. p. 326. ISBN 0465041957.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) - ^ "Major events influenced BBC's news online | Social media agency London | FreshNetworks blog". Freshnetworks.com. 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
Manifestos
- Labour (New Labour, New Life For Britain)
- Conservative (You can only be sure with the Conservatives)
- Liberal Democrats (Make the Difference)
- National Democrats (A Manifesto for Britain)
- British National Party (British Nationalism- An Idea whose time has come)
- Liberal Party (Radical ideas - not the dead centre)
- UK Independence Party
- Third Way
- The ProLife Alliance
- Sinn Féin (A New Opportunity for Peace)
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Alliance of Liberty (Agenda for Change)
- Progressive Unionist Party
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Plaid Cymru (The Best for Wales)
- Scottish National Party (Yes We Can Win the Best for Scotland)
- Scottish Green Party
- Socialist Equality Party (A strategy for a workers' government!)
- Communist Party of Great Britain
External links
- BBC Election Website
- Complete BBC coverage of the election night, uploaded on Youtube in 48 parts
- Video of Conservative Michael Portillo losing his seat to Labour's Stephen Twigg
- 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.