UK POLITICS - GENERAL ELECTION CASE STUDY 1997

Question 1

Prior to the election, what was Major’s political position?

Answer 1

• only had a minority gov - vulnerable as no guaranteed maj when passing legislature

Question 2

Why were the Tories divided as of early 1990s?

Answer 2

1992 Maastricht Treaty - the Maastricht rebels undermined the party’s coherence

Question 3

When did Blair become Labour leader? what was his image?

Answer 3

1994 - charismatic and trustworthy

Question 4

What did Blair do to the Labour party? how was this exemplified?

Answer 4

he modernised it further from what Kinnock did to depart from the far left of Foot
- the removal of Clause IV - abandonment of nationalisation of industry and contradicting the LW value on worker controlled means of production

Question 5

What did the abandonment of Clause IV do?

Answer 5

send a message to the electorate signifying that Labour had fundamentally changed

Question 6

Tory reputation prior to the election?

Answer 6

plagued by incessant sleaze and corruption allegations

• sex scandals
• cash for questions

Question 7

What event in 1992 had significant impact on Tory reputation?

Answer 7

the crashing out of the ERM

‘ Black Wednesday’ - skewed tory reputation for economic competency

Question 8

How long was the campaign process? why was it so long?

Answer 8

6 weeks - Major wanted long bc he thought it would provide him the time needed to expose the weaknesses of the Labour party

Question 9

What concept did the tories centralise their campaign on?

Answer 9

the concept that Labour had not changed at all

slogan ‘New Labour, new danger’

Question 10

What did Labour use within their campaigning?

Answer 10

pledge cards were distributed which displayed 5 key pledges 
these included reduced class sizes, no rise in income tax, and toughness on crime

Question 11

Why was the labour pledge to no rise in income tax significant?

Answer 11

As leader, Kinnock had argued for tax increases, leading to tories criticising him and undermining the party - clear learning from this mistake

Question 12

What disrupted Tory campaigning? what did this do?

Answer 12

the emergence of the Referendum party ( a precursor to UKIP) which was devoted to Euroscepticism
emphasised Tory divisions

Question 13

What role did ‘the Sun’ play?

Answer 13

large circulation - switches sides ‘ the Sun backs Blair’ gives labour an advantage
the Murdoch empire was no longer entirely Tory backing and Labour scrutinising

Question 14

How many seats did Labour get? what percentage of the vote?

Answer 14

418 seats, 43.2%

Question 15

How many seats did tories get? percentage?

Answer 15

165 seats, 30.7%

Question 16

Lib dem seats? percentage?

Answer 16

46 seats, 16.8%

Question 17

What majority was obtained by Blair?

Answer 17

179 seat majority - landslide!

Question 18

Significant event within the election?

Answer 18

Portillo losing his seat - ‘safe’ - seemingly the Tory answer t Blair to take over Major’s leadership

Question 19

What seemingly made Labour more electable this election?

Answer 19

their steps toward the centre - median voter theory

Question 20

What aspects of Blair made him more appealing?

Answer 20

communication with public, charisma, relatability

Question 21

Why would the public be more inclined to vote Labour?

Answer 21

the previous Tory government had been ongoing for 18 years - ppl desired change

Question 22

How did the media depict Major?

Answer 22

dull and incompetent

Question 23

How did Labour attempt to portray themselves?

Answer 23

modernised and detoxified from the far left image of Foot and divided party