1995-1997
1995 Tory Leadership Election
John Major had decided to call for a leadership election, with the conservatives behind by 25%, Major had told his freinds that if he could not get 220 of his 329 colleagues he will step down. Peter Lilley was his only opponent. Lilley who was on the hard right of the tory party had decided to challenge him over his pro-europeans credentials. The first Ballot went like this.
John Major - 209
Peter Lilley - 91
Abstentions - 19
Major had imeediatly decided to stand down, announcing he would not contest the second ballot for the leadership of the tory party. There were a few frontrunners by securing 91 MPs, Lilley carried his campaign on. Micheal Portillo announced he would stand for the leadership of the party. However for the moderate wing of the party, there was a choice of three candidates. Ken Clarke, Micheal Heseltinr and Douglas Hurd. The three most senior members of the government had a meeting and it was concluded that Heseltine would run for the conservatives and would be the banner for the centrists. Hoping that he could secure the 165 MPs to win the election.
Second Ballot
Micheal Heseltine 193 MPs
Micheal Portillo 90 MPs
Peter Lilley 46 MPs
It was a landslide for Tarzan winning 58.6% of the vote being Portillo who had only secured 27.3% of the vote. Heseltine was Prime Minister and had campaigned mainly on how compassionate toryism would win them the election.
Prime Minister Heseltine
Heseltine had won the election and was the Prime Minister, though some of the cabinet was already known mainly Ken Clarke staying on as chancellor, some of the positions were interesting as shown by the actual roles.
Prime Minister- Micheal Heseltine
Chancellor of the Exchequer - Ken Clarke
Foreign Secretary - Micheal Portillo
Home Secretary - Malcolm Rifklind
Defence Secretary - Lord Clark of Saltwood
Education Secretary - Gillian Sheppard
Health Secretary - John Gummer
Minister of Sport - David Mellor
The Cabinet was across of the part's factions, moderates like Malcolm Rifkind, Ken Clarke and David Mellor. Whilst figures of the right such as Lord Clarke of Saltwood. (I know Alan Clark isn't a lord but I imagined that he would make an interesting defence secretary).
First 100 Days
Heseltine's first 100 days were intense, within day 10 the IRA had blown up a restaurant in Manchester. Heseltine was praised by all sections of the media for his cool and calm leadership. The flooding of Cornwall and the south west, there were good photographs of Hezza cleaning up the ruin along with the front Line workers. Heseltine had been the most popular man in the tory party for years for his ability to show compassion. Though the country was still in a deep recession there was a boost and Heseltine had gained the image of farther of the nation which was shown by the polls.
Polls - 2/08./95
Labour 40%
Conservatives 36%
Liberal Democrats - 21%
Yep, that was right in 100 days, due to pragmatic and calm leadership, Hesetline had received a huge boost in the polls, though he knew it wasn't going to last. He had closed down the average labour led from 25-30% to 2-4%. Though Tony Blair polled well it was known in. the inner labour circles that Heselitne would be the hardest opponent they would ever face.
Ermergencey Budget 1995
Ken Clarke had been chancellor now for two years and had done some cuts in expenditure, This was to be different much different. Instead of announcing huge and radical long term cuts as the backbench wanted him to do. Clarke announced expenditure increases they were going to spend themselves out of the recession. They were going to put an extra £6 billion for the NHS year on year for the next four years. They announced they were going to put in £5 billions year on year. These huge investments in front line services allowed to change the perception of the tory party. Clarke also announced They promised to half unemployment by the end of the decade with Clarke renarking 'Times are tough and we have to be tough but, we will always look after those vital public services and Unemployment is never a price worth paying.
Opinion Polls
Party | Result |
Labour | 43% |
Conservatives | 34% |
Lib Dems | 23% |
Who would make a better Prime Minister?
Leader | Result |
Micheal Heseltine | 45% |
Tony Blair | 35% |
Paddy Ashdown | 20% |
Leader | Approve | Disaprove |
Micheal Heseltine | 65% | 29% |
Tony Blair | 56% | 39% |
Paddy Ashdown | 69% | 27% |
Though all three leaders had strong approval ratings. The Conservative party were still in an incredibly bad position in the polls because they were perceived as uncaring party and though Heseltine and Ken Clarke were seen as partical man who knew how to run the country and therefore they had credibility and the government were helped with latest inflation figures which showed that the inflation rate for 1995 was 2.1% along with Unemployment at 2.6 million. Which was down from the 3.2 million the year earlier. Clarke hailed these economic figures and said that he could forecast Unemployment coming down below 2 million by the end of the parliament.
Tory Confrerence 1995- Brighton - 28/09/95-1/10/95
As Heseltine became PM he came in after the best summer which saw the tories have a revival in the opinion polls and therfore Micheal Heseltine was abler to come to the tory conference a hero knowing that he was going to have a fighting chance to winning the next general election. So as Heseltine gave his speech, knowing that there is one part that was going to stand out.
'Conference, this party is the party of prudence, we don't make spending pledges we can't keep or we can afford. However in the last few months we have gone from being 24% behind in the polls to being 5% behind in the polls. The respect and pragmatism that is shown for the conservatives now, shows why we can win the general election. So, when the starting gun Is fired we are going to take the Labour Party apart like we have never done before. Not by becoming like them but by reaching out to everyone and say that in this new modern compassionate Conservative party that we can take this country forward'.
Labour Conference 1995- Liverpool - 2/10/95-6/10/95
Tony Blair had led the party for over a year now, the Labour Party had modernised and had began to change and there were strong positive approvals and therefore there was a growing lead for Labour in the opinion polls. The changes that the country have seen throughout the 1980s and the 90s where the conservatives have began to change their politics and therefore by electing Tony Blair had changed the way people think, this led to the speech from Tony Blair it was 63 minute speech with an interesting part.
'So as we sit here and prepare for the next government we have to make sure it is a Labour government and on Labour terms. This party has changed and has radically changed, we have ditched the old ideas which can not be implemented in a new age and replaced it with policies which say that whilst the values are unchangeable. the means have to be. We can win but only if we change so let's us get out there and do it'
End of 1995
As 1995 came to an end, the polling hype had died down, Labour were back to having 12% leads in the polls but the tories were back to polling in the low 30s, the economy was reviving quite considerably and it looked like Unemployment will fall below 2 million and with Inflation down to just 3.9% . Micheal Heseltine and Ken Clarke were very popular however the Labour Party would regular be poking fun at the other members such as Peter Lilley and Micheal Howard who were fair to say not very popular at all and were posing a threat to the government but they could not be got ri of.
Budget November 1996
The budget was an interesting one, Clarke had maintained his reputation for prudence and not running the nation's finances into the ground as he announced that the deficit in 1996-97 would be £9.3 billion, followed by a surplus of £3.2 billion in 1997-98 , £7 billion in 1998-99, £10.5 billion in 1999-00 , £13 billion in 2000-01. He also announced buoyant economic growth of 2.3% in 1996-97 , 1.8% in 1997-98 , 2.6% in 1998-99 , 3% in 1999-00 , 2.9% in 2000-01. These were good economic indicators that allowed Clarke to hail his economic miracle in reducing Unemployment to 2.1 million . The back to work programme which Clarke and Heseltine launched had brought 1 million people back to work.
As for front line services, Clarke announced that the £5 billion a year for the NHS and schools will be going ahead in order redevelop the nations front line services. Clarke announced that they can rebuild the 30 new hospitals and 50 new schools by 2001-02. It was clear that though they were 16% behind in the polls, Clarke was going to reach out to everyone. He also announced that the basic rate of tax would come down to 22%.
1997 Election is called
After 5 years since the election the Tories were finally forced to call the election. Heseltine had a successful 2 years with the adoption of some the third way concepts and with genuine increases in front line services mainly the NHS but overall the country was in a better place however the popularity of the Tory Party was at 29% they were 19% behind in the opinion polls. Labour were at 48% and the Liberals at 23%. The tory infighting over the euro and cash for questions had scarred them. So on the 18th March 1997 the election was called for May 1st 1997.
UPNEXT
1997 Election
Final PMQs
Tory Manifesto
Labour Manifesto
Liberal Democrat Manifesto
Leader's Debate
ITV 500
Final Day
Election Night
Quick Update on Who Governs Britiain
In case you were no aware there has been a temporary hiatus with that timeline, shads is busy and therefore I think the timeline has been stalled thanks for all the warm words and support hat was given throughout that timeline. Shads is a great graphics designer and personally he is a really nice person and I hope that this timeline can be resumed as soon as possible but in the meantime I have decided to write a new timeline based of this so hope you Enjoy. Also though I will try to upload 2 a week, I can't be sure since I will be back in college but I will do my best. So thanks for reading Part One
In case you were no aware there has been a temporary hiatus with that timeline, shads is busy and therefore I think the timeline has been stalled thanks for all the warm words and support hat was given throughout that timeline. Shads is a great graphics designer and personally he is a really nice person and I hope that this timeline can be resumed as soon as possible but in the meantime I have decided to write a new timeline based of this so hope you Enjoy. Also though I will try to upload 2 a week, I can't be sure since I will be back in college but I will do my best. So thanks for reading Part One
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