1997 General Election

• turnout for the 1997 General Election was 71.4%
• Turnout for the 1997 General Election was 71.4%
• In the 1997 General Election, Labour gained votes across all regions, bucking the trend towards a Conservative south and a nothern Labour. The Conservatives were wiped out in Scotland and Wales and reduced to only 11 MPs in London.
• In 1997, New Labour had realised that Labour’s natural core voters, the traditional working class was diminishing in size so in order to be able to win the election, they began to appeal to the middle classes through adopting centrist (Third Way policies.)
• The 1997 election campaign lasted six weeks which is far longer than the average 31 days.
• 1997

  The Sun switched support from Conservatives to Labour

  The Sun (and most of the press) publicly switched support to Blair and New Labour, persuading many former Conservative voters to vote Labour instead. 

  Polls suggest Labour was on course for a large victory anyway. The Press were simply reacting to the situation.
• Labour’s ability to win was greatly aided by Blair’s ability to appeal to the middle class alongside the working class. Tony Blair realised the working class was diminishing in size- wanted to attract the middle classes (part of the Conservatives core voters
• Around 45% of those in all types of employment voted for Labour
• The Labour vote increased among all age groups but there was a much larger increase among younger voters than older voters
• 70% of all non-white voters voted for Labour
• 82% of black voters voted Labour
• the larger increase in the Labour vote was among women. There are a number of theories as to why women swung to Labour in 97. One is the increase of women working, and particularly working in the public sector. 
• The party increasingly put Tony Blair the individual forward as the key image of the party, appealing to middle-class

  and young voters with a “cool”, “Britpop” image. He later, as prime minister, heralded “Cool Britannia” inviting members of Oasis and Blur to Number 10.
• Voters remembered the catastrophe of ‘Black Wednesday’ in September 1992 rather than the modest economic

  improvement that followed. There was no tangible ‘feel good factor’ in 1997, as the fruits of recovery failed to feed

  through into either tax cuts or increased investment in public services.
• The image of Tory incompetence was confirmed was confirmed by a series of financial and sexual scandals (which the media called ‘sleaze’) and continuing divisions over Britain’s relationship with the European Union. The impression of weak leadership was fatal for the Conservatives.
• Opinion polls had previously been wrong in 1992, so most didn't trust it. This can be shown as New Labour did not believe the opinion polls and campaigned as though they were losing
• The campaign lasted 6 weeks which is much longer than the average of 31 days. Labour had been seen as (fairly or unfairly) soft on crime, pro-welfare, in favour of higher taxes and prioritising cutting unemployment over concerns about inflation and interest rates. The change of image and the change of policy very much went hand in hand.
• The campaign itself was very effective. A few key slogans were regularly repeated. There was the campaign song

  (D:Ream’s “Things Can Only Get Better”) “Britain deserves better” and “New Labour: New Britain”. Another, “Labour’s Coming Home” echoed a football song from Euro 96. These slogans, together with a focus on Blair as an individual, dominated the campaign, while John Prescott in a “battle bus” shored up the “core vote” and ensured traditional Labour voters were not disillusioned by the change in focus.
• Party election broadcasts covered a range of issues, but some focused on business leaders backing Labour, pushing a “pro-Business” image, again to tackle a sense that Labour had been anti-business in the 1980s.