1997

• Overview Of The General Election Result and Impact

  • New Labour's landslide victory removed the Conservatives from office for the first time in 18 years and opened the way for 13 years of Labour government. Blair was Prime Minister until 2007, when he was replaced by Brown.
  • Lib Dem emerged as a significant third force in Westminster.
  • Conservatives were troubled by ongoing divisions, poor leadership and an inability to appear relevant to contemporary society and struggled to reinvent themselves for another decade until Cameron did so successfully.
• • turnout of 71.4% and Labour won with a majority of 179 and 43.2% of the vote.
  • Lib Dems received 16.8% of the vote, but just 46 seats.
  • Conservatives had their worst election result since 1832, winning only 30.7% of the vote.
• The Declining Importance Of Class:

  • Crucial to Labour’s victory was their ability to win a significant amount of middle class voters across the country, including in the Tory heartlands of the South East, as well as maintaining the support of the majority of the working class.
  • They were able to do so because they shifted party policy significantly to the centre and successfully presented themselves as competent.
• Rational Choice and Issue Voting:

  • As Labour leader, Blair drove forward the policy of modernisation and abandoned old-fashioned party policies such as nationalisation, tax increases and the strengthening of Trade Union powers, which might put off middle-class voters.
  • Blair also gave off reassuringly tough signals of law and order, an issue that mattered to voters after rising crime rates in the early 1990s, and emphasised his links to the business community.
  • ‘Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’
• Rational Choice and Issue Voting:

  • As a sign of the party's desire to show how responsible it was, its 1997 platform stressed specific policy details where it promised to make a difference, such as reducing primary school class sizes and cutting hospital waiting lists.
  • Another of Labour's policies, constitutional reform, gave the party common ground with the Lib Dems, which made it easier for Lib Dems to vote tactically for Labour in marginal seats, which their own candidates couldn't hope to win. This may have added up to 30 seats to the Labour majority.
• There was no stark difference between Labour and the Conservatives in terms of actual policy, but the parties had different images.
• Leadership:

  • Blair was very popular across the country and was seen as a strong, competent and charismatic leader with a clear vision and control over his party.
  • This contrasted with Major, who was seen as a weak, boring leader presiding over a party divided over Europe and tainted by ‘sleaze’ and the cash for questions scandal.
• Perceived Competence:

  • Labour couldn't have won on such a large scale without the damage the Conservatives inflicted on themselves after the 1992 election.
  • Turnout was relatively low, at 71.4%, which meant that under 31% of the registered electorate actually voted Labour, which doesn't suggest a mass popular movement in support of Labour.
  • The Conservatives had their worst election result since 1832, winning only 30.7% of the vote. The 1997 result can only be fully explained by looking at the failures of Major's government.
• Perceived Competence:

  • Perceived economic competence was highly important. By 1997, the economy was recovering from the recession of the early part of the decade, but voters didn't give the Conservatives credit for this, rather they remembered the catastrophe of 'Black Wednesday' in September 1992.
  • Monthly opinion polls showed Labour consistently ahead of the Conservatives from the autumn of 1992 onwards. The Conservatives had lost their reputation as competent managers of the economy and failed to retrieve it.
• Given the context, Labour were successful in presenting themselves as an economically competent party, pledging not to increase income tax and to prioritise national finances.
• The Media:

  • Crucially, Labour won the endorsement of the greater part of the press, including The Sun and The Times. The message was that New Labour was a moderate party with the interests of 'middle England' at heart.
  • ‘The Sun Backs Blair’
• Social Factors:

  • Labour gained among most groups in the population.
  • They gained in most regions including Scotland, Wales and London, though the Tories kept their regional dominance.
  • They gained among all classes, especially the middle classes.
  • They won among white voters and BME voters.
• Key Points:

  • The ability of New Labour to win middle class voters was very important.
  • Rational choice and issue voting was important to this, with Labour moving their policy to occupy the centre ground.
  • The Conservatives had wrecked their image as the party of economic competence.
  • Leadership was important.
  • Labour benefitted from winning the support of significant sections of the press, which normally supported the Conservatives.