The 1997 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered when John Major resigned as leader on 2 May 1997, following his party's landslide defeat at the 1997 general election, which ended 18 years of Conservative Government of the United Kingdom.[1] Major had been Conservative leader and prime minister since November 1990.[1]
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Background
editMargaret Thatcher's resignation and John Major's premiership
editMargaret Thatcher, who had been Conservative leader since 1975 and Prime Minister since 1979, resigned following a challenge to her leadership, John Major entered the second stage of the contest to replace her and emerged victorious, becoming prime minister. Major went on to lead the Conservative Party to a fourth consecutive electoral victory at the 1992 election, the only election he won during his seven-year-premiership. Although the Conservatives lost 40 seats, they won over 14 million votes, which remains to this day a record for any British political party.
As prime minister, Major created the Citizen's Charter, removed the Poll Tax and replaced it with the Council Tax, committed British troops to the Gulf War, took charge of the UK's negotiations over the Maastricht Treaty of the European Union (EU),[2] led the country during the early 1990s economic crisis, withdrew the pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (a day which came to be known as Black Wednesday), promoted the socially conservative back to basics campaign, passed further reforms to education and criminal justice, privatised the railways and coal industry, and also played a pivotal role in creating peace in Northern Ireland.[3]
Internal Conservative Party divisions on the EU, a number of scandals involving Conservative MPs (widely known as "sleaze"), and questions about his economic credibility are seen as the main factors that led Major to resign as party leader in June 1995. However, he sought reelection as Conservative leader in the 1995 Conservative leadership election, and was comfortably re-elected. Notwithstanding, public opinion of his leadership was poor, both before and after. By December 1996, the government had lost its majority in the House of Commons due to a series of by-election defeats and an MP crossing the floor.[4] Major sought to rebuild public trust in the Conservatives following a series of scandals, including the events of Black Wednesday in 1992,[5][6] 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.[6]
1997 general election
editThe Conservatives were defeated by Labour in a landslide in the 1997 general election, ending 18 years of Conservative government. After Blair succeeded Major as prime minister, Major served as Leader of the Opposition for seven weeks while the leadership election to replace him took place. He formed a temporary shadow cabinet, and Major himself served as shadow foreign secretary and shadow secretary of state for defence.
Candidates
editAnnounced
edit
The following candidates announced their intention to stand:
Announced but withdrew
edit- Stephen Dorrell – withdrew in favour of Clarke before the ballot.[1] Dorrell had the support of 8 or 9 MPs, some of whom did not transfer their support to Clarke due to his pro-European opinions.[7]
Declined candidates
edit- Michael Heseltine – had been widely expected to contest the leadership but declined to do so following health concerns. Heseltine supported Kenneth Clarke during the contest.[8]
Not an MP at the time
editIn the months before the general election a number of other prominent Conservatives were talked about as potential leaders; however, several failed to hold their seats in the general election including the following:
In addition, many had speculated about Chris Patten returning to Westminster (he had lost his seat in the 1992 election) and becoming leader; however, the contest took place before Patten's term of office as Governor of Hong Kong ended.
Campaign
editDuring the campaign Jeremy Paxman asked Michael Howard whether he had threatened to overrule the former Director General of HM Prison Service Derek Lewis when he was Home Secretary. The question was put 12 times with Howard failing to give a definitive answer.[9]
Results
edit| First ballot: 10 June 1997 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Kenneth Clarke | 49 | 29.9 | |
| William Hague | 41 | 25.0 | |
| John Redwood | 27 | 16.5 | |
| Peter Lilley | 24 | 14.6 | |
| Michael Howard | 23 | 14.0 | |
| Turnout | 164 | 100 | |
| Second ballot required | |||
Howard was eliminated. He was regarded as a serious contender but had been damaged by the criticisms of Ann Widdecombe (who had served under him at the Home Office) that he had "something of the night about him"[10] and by the decision of William Hague, who had originally agreed to support Howard and become Deputy Leader, to stand in his own right.[1]
Peter Lilley withdrew voluntarily. He and Howard gave their backing to Hague.[1][11]
Second round
edit| Second ballot: 17 June 1997 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Kenneth Clarke | 64 | 39.0 | |
| William Hague | 62 | 37.8 | |
| John Redwood | 38 | 23.2 | |
| Turnout | 164 | 100 | |
| Third ballot required | |||
Redwood was eliminated.
Final round
edit_(cropped).jpg)
For the final round, Clarke, facing likely defeat by Hague, offered to stand aside in Michael Heseltine's favour. Heseltine was less unpopular with eurosceptics than Clarke, who was seen as the main Conservative Party champion of potential British membership of the planned euro. Heseltine, who had had a stent fitted after an attack of angina the day after the General Election, was tempted by the offer, but declined on medical advice.[12][13]
Redwood gave his backing to Clarke, an unusual development in that Redwood (eurosceptic) and Clarke (europhile) held opposite views on the main issue of dispute amongst Conservatives.[14] In return for the endorsement, it was generally understood that Clarke would name Redwood Shadow Chancellor.[1]
This pact backfired, however, and the agreement was seen as so cynical that it drew comparison to the Nazi–Soviet Pact of the late 1930s.[14] It prompted former Conservative Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher to publicly endorse Hague.[14] In the event, most of Redwood's supporters switched to Hague rather than to Clarke.
| Third ballot: 19 June 1997 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | ||
| William Hague | 90 | 55.2 | ||
| Kenneth Clarke | 72 | 44.2 | ||
| Abstentions | 1 | 0.6 | ||
| Turnout | 163 | 99.4 | ||
| William Hague elected | ||||
Julian Lewis announced that he was the only MP who did not vote.[why?]
Aftermath
editUnder William Hague's leadership, the party would fail to make any significant advance at the 2001 general election, netting only a single seat, and he was succeeded by Iain Duncan Smith.
In 1998, the system of leadership elections was altered to one where MPs vote in rounds to select a shortlist of two candidates, who are then presented to the mass membership to choose. This system was first used in the 2001 leadership election and a modified form of these rules remains in place today.
An incumbent leader can still be ousted by a no confidence vote of Conservative MPs, as was done to Iain Duncan Smith in October 2003. A leader could therefore (in principle) be ousted by MPs despite still enjoying the support of the mass membership.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "The 1997 Conservative Leadership Contest". BBC Politics 97. BBC. 1997. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
- ^ "European Council (Maastricht)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 11 December 1991. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
- ^ Watt, Nicholas (17 May 2011). "John Major started process that has culminated with Queen's visit to Dublin". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
- ^ "The Major minority". The Independent. 13 December 1996. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Dorrell Pulls Out of Leadership Race". BBC Politics 97. BBC. 1997. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
- ^ "Kenneth Clarke". BBC Politics 97. BBC. 1997. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
- ^ "Paxman takes on Howard one last time". BBC News. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
- ^ "Howard Under Attack by Former Minister". BBC Politics 97. BBC. 1997. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
- ^ "Lilley and Howard Quit Leadership Race". BBC Politics 97. BBC. 1997. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
- ^ Michael Heseltine, Life in the Jungle, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000, ISBN 0-340-73915-0, pp. 532–4.
- ^ Clarke 2016, p. 399.
- ^ a b c "John Redwood". BBC Politics 97. BBC. 1997. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
Books used for references
edit- Kenneth Clarke, Kind of Blue, Macmillan, 2016, ISBN 1-509-83719-1
- Michael Heseltine, Life in the Jungle, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000, ISBN 0-340-73915-0