1997 General Election Flashcards
Winner
Tony Blair
Party winner
Labour
What was different
New to the government. Fresh
Rearranged as New Labour
Background
-C waited five whole years
-scandals surrounding conservatives(opponent)
-loss of jobs
-struggling economy
- weak government
How was the opposition government weak?
In the conservative party the MPs were against each other. John Major talked bad about his team
What were the scandals within the conservative party
Conservatives mainly Major preached a lot about a happy family etc but a conservative MP was caught having an affair
Opponent for Labour
John Major
Factors to explain victory
-background
-strong positive media coverage
-short manifesto (credit card size)
-the sun switched to support Labour
- Blair was young and new
-fresh labour vs old conservatives
What did Blair do for the Sun to switch
Blair flew to Australia to meet Murdoch
Factors to explain loss for conservatives
-background
-poor campaign
-personality difference
What was the personality difference between Blair and Major
Major - old, failed to do a good job
Blair - young, strong, outgoing
Turnout
71.3%
Seats for L
418
165 for C
% for L
43.2%
Background on the economy
In 09/1997 The £ crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism EERM
Geography votes
L gained votes across all regions. Won in areas which normally vote for conservatives
example of lack of support for conservatives
Cornwall voted lib dem instead of conservatives
Class votes
Gained in all but gained the most in the C1 and C2 which are typically conservative dominant
Age vote
most age groups but conservatives still dominated the 65+ age group
Race votes
43% white votes
70% of BME votes
Was it a big or average win
big
What was Major’s scandal
Caught calling a significant number of his MPs as ‘bastards’
