The effect of the three consecutive general elections on the labour party

Jaypal Sandhu 12C

The effect of the three consecutive general elections on the labour party

During the 1980’s the conservative party was, without doubt, the dominant party in England. They had overcome such opposition in the form of trade unionists and their ideology was approved. The of , was the third victory in a row for and the . She was the first leader since the to win three successive elections. However this was a major turning point in the conservative party.

The Conservative government had survived the industrial disputes with the mine workers (1984-85) and the print unions (1985-86), the 1986 problems had been put aside with the loss of and and the economy was performing well.

However in the years 1987 – 1992 the conservatives had seem to forget how they first came into power. Rather than keeping their feet on the ground they understandably got a little bit secure of their position. They became to big headed. During this period it allowed the labour party to modernise and gave them yet more time to reflect on their defeat and ways to improve, so in fact Conservatives third election wins in a row was an advantage to the labour party. Though at the time it appeared to be that the Conservatives were on the rise.

During the 1987 and 1993 elections the Conservative party became victims to their own success, they began to believe their own hype. They were so pre occupied with Europe and getting rid of the ‘wets’ that her style had almost become presidential. Also a rift began to emerge in the party with dispute between the europhiles and europhobes. The country was beginning to suffer due to ms Thatcher’s naivety. As inflation began to grow a recession emerged towards the end on 1980, as Thatcher was the one who approved of such radical changes, which goes against the traditional Conservative party, ...

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This led to being forced out of office in November 1990 also across the Atlantic Ronald Reyagn had been removed with George W Bush snr appointment; everything that she had believed in had been destroyed.

, poorly regarded by some, succeeded her through the 1922-committee. During his term leading up to the 1992 elections he oversaw the British involvement in the , abolished the disliked in favour of and signed the . Like other leaders of major industrialized nations, he failed to halt the economy's slide into . Major waited until his Chancellor, , had delivered a budget before announcing the date of the election on March 11. Some claimed the budget represented populist tax cutting.

Jaypal Sandhu 12

In the run in to the 1992 general elections the labour party had been strong favourites to overcome the Conservatives, John major was extremely unpopular, he seemed to be boring and did not fill the country with confidence. He failed to unite the party over major issues.

entered the campaign full of confidence; under the leadership of the party had undergone a deep reorganisation and modernisation following the failures at the . Most predicted a slight Labour lead, leading to a hung Parliament.

However the Conservatives pulled off yet another victory, though only marginally. Even so they thought that they were invincible, this made Labour more determined. Despite Major’s unpopularity

There was still rifts in Conservative whereas Labour where getting stronger and stronger under the dynamic duo of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. As the Conservatives were getting weaker, Labour was getting stronger. There was not a united party in power, so it was inevitable that Conservatives and John Majors reign of power had come to an end in the 1997 General elections. This was a landslide victory for Labour and Conservatives were in disarray.

In conclusion between the years of 1987 and 1997 three general elctions had taken place, despite Labour losing two of them, in the long term it was the end of the Conservatives reign of power. They had gone from a united strong powerful party to a split party with no direction and under no guidance. This was due to them believing their own hype and becoming overconfident and presidential. Labour had realised the need for modernisation ad the Conservatives failed to realise this, they thought their power trip would never end but it did, to the hands of the charismatic Tony Blair on the 1st May 1997.