I dont believe Bottomley will let Major step down at the next election on risk of losing his seatThe Blair Years
The ashen-faced look on Sir Edward Heath's face as his near-16,000 vote majority was overturned to become a near-6,000 vote Labour majority in Old Bexley and Sidcup, bringing an end to the former Prime Minister's 47-year long tenure as an MP and 5-year period as Father of the House, just about summed up the mood of the Conservative Party on election night in 1997. Hundreds of Tories, whether they were relative newbies or respected former Prime Ministers, could not hold back the Labour tidal wave that swept across the electoral map of Great Britain on 1st May and the party was crippled to unimaginably low numbers. Apart from the seats of William Hague, Norman Fowler and John Major, the Conservatives were now a party of the South East of England. The 11 Liberal Democrats, 3 Scottish Nationalists and 2 Welsh nationalists were the only others to hold out against Labour's sweep. Northern Ireland's unique party system boosted the opposition's numbers to 55 in the new Parliament.
Tony Blair's jubilant arrival in Downing Street on 2nd May was immediately followed by the first significant task of governing - forming a Cabinet. The Shadow Cabinet was transferred almost exactly into the Cabinet, with key appointments being made such as John Prescott as Deputy Prime Minister, Gordon Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Robin Cook as Foreign Secretary and Jack Straw as Home Secretary. The new government set to work with a swift pace, Gordon Brown unexpectedly announcing on 6th May that the Bank of England would be given operational independence over monetary policy and Blair himself introducing the Bill to hold the referenda on devolution in Scotland and Wales in September 1997. Just over a month after entering office, the Labour government had the United Kingdom sign up to the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty that had contributed to the previous Tory government enduring almighty internal rows that helped seal its destruction in the election.
While the Blair government set to work, what remained of the Conservative Party set about electing a successor to John Major to take on the unenviable task of Leader of the Opposition to a totally dominant government. With Major out of the running for obvious reasons, there just 20 possible contenders and only two stepped forward. With the State Opening of Parliament out of the way on 14th May, William Hague (the Wales Secretary in Major's government) and Virginia Bottomley (the National Heritage Secretary in Major's government) announced their candidacies for the leadership. The rump of 21 MPs voted on 22nd May for their new leader and, in a result that was both a surprise and unsurprising, Virginia Bottomley won out to become the second female leader of her party thanks to John Major's casting vote. Major, as the former leader, had sought to keep his vote private, but the public declarations of his 20 colleagues - splitting evenly between the two candidates - unmasked Major as the man who had made Bottomley his successor.
Bottomley had only 20 other MPs from, and was determined to leave at least a small number of MPs on the backbenches out of the Shadow Cabinet to ensure her leadership could be held to account. Bringing in a handful of Peers and a giving a couple of members multiple portfolios, Bottomley unveiled her Shadow Cabinet on 24th May...
Leader of the Conservative PartyVirginia Bottomley MP Shadow Deputy Prime Minister
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office
Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of LancasterNorman Fowler MP Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Nicholas Soames MP Shadow Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
Shadow Attorney General of England and WalesNick Hawkins MP Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Julian Lewis MP Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
Chairman of the Conservative PartyThe Lord Baker of Dorking Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond MP Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs John Major MP Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department William Hague MP Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Richard Ottaway MP Shadow Secretary of State for Health Francis Maude MP Shadow Secretary of State for Defence Richard Benyon MP Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security Peter Ainsworth MP Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment Cheryl Gillan MP Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Ian Taylor MP Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The Lord Ryder of Wensum Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Dominic Grieve MP Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
Shadow Secretary of State for WalesMichael Mates MP Opposition Chief Whip Paul Beresford MP Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords The Lord Strathclyde
The four MPs that Bottomley had left on the backbenches were balanced 50-50 between those who had supported her in the leadership election and those who had supported William Hague. The 'loyalist' backbenchers were Geoffrey Johnson Smith and Charles Wardle, and the others were Desmond Swayne and Christopher Chope.
ES1702's Wikibox & Graphics Thread
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I dont believe Bottomley will let Major step down at the next election on risk of losing his seat
The 2018 Welsh presidential election was the eleventh presidential election to be held in Wales and was contested by seven candidates. It was held on Thursday, 21 June 2018. President Eluned Morgan was seeking re-election for a second term in office, after serving her first five-year term since 2013.
The seven candidates were Stephen Kinnock of the Social Liberal Party, Eluned Morgan of the Progressive Alliance, Robin Millar of the National Party, Lesley Griffiths of the People's Solidarity Party, Caroline Jones of the Freedom Party, Rhun ap Iorwerth of Plaid Cymru and David Rowlands of the National Patriotic Union. Candidates had to receive the nominations of no fewer than 150 elected councillors or Members of the Senedd or 5,000 registered eligible voters and pay a deposit of £25,000 - returnable if a candidate wins 7.5% or more of the first preference votes in the election.
Eluned Morgan won a plurality of first preference votes with 19.2%, though was ultimately defeated by Stephen Kinnock on the sixth and final count of the votes by a margin of 26,000 votes. Kinnock was inaugurated as President of Wales on 1st July 2018, swearing allegiance to Her Majesty The Queen and the Constitution, in accordance with the Constitution of Wales.
First Count
- Eluned Morgan: 389,111 (19.2%)
- Stephen Kinnock: 374,925 (18.5%)
- Robin Millar: 318,179 (15.7%)
- Lesley Griffiths: 310,073 (15.3%)
- Rhun ap Iorweth: 251,301 (12.4%)
- Caroline Jones: 218,875 (10.8%)
- David Rowlands: 164,156 (8.1%)
- Eluned Morgan: 430,324 (21.5%)
- Stephen Kinnock: 383,869 (19.2%)
- Robin Millar: 370,523 (18.5%)
- Lesley Griffiths: 310,073 (15.5%)
- Caroline Jones: 258,386 (12.9%)
- Rhun ap Iorweth: 251,301 (12.4%)
- Eluned Morgan: 487,196 (24.7%)
- Stephen Kinnock: 435,118 (22.1%)
- Robin Millar: 404,734 (20.6%)
- Lesley Griffiths: 376,061 (19.1%)
- Caroline Jones: 265,707 (13.5%)
- Eluned Morgan: 554,520 (28.8%)
- Robin Millar: 547,465 (28.4%)
- Stephen Kinnock: 444,862 (23.1%)
- Lesley Griffiths: 379,605 (19.7%)
- Eluned Morgan: 666,276 (35.8%)
- Stephen Kinnock: 646,304 (34.7%)
- Robin Millar: 550,453 (29.5%)
- Stephen Kinnock: 899,726 (50.7%)
- Eluned Morgan: 873,531 (49.3%)
Margaret (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 - 9 February 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth Realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2002.
Margaret was born in Glamis Castle, Angus, as the second child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) and spent much of her childhood with her parents and sister, Princess Elizabeth. Her life changed dramatically at the age of six when her paternal uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. Her father became King, and her sister heir presumptive with Margaret second in line to the throne. During the Second World War, the two sisters stayed at Windsor Castle despite suggestions to evacuate them to Canada. During the war years, Margaret was considered too young to perform any official duties and instead continued her education with Marion Crawford, the governess who educated her alongside Elizabeth. Margaret was a Brownie in the 1st Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack, formed in 1937, which enabled her to socialise with girls her own age and engage in activities.
Her life changed dramatically for a second time at the age of sixteen when her sister, the heir presumptive, died by accidental choking placing Margaret as first in line for the throne. Upon her elevation to heir presumptive, Margaret's parents arranged private tuition for her in constitutional history and in 1947 she undertook her first solo engagement and went on her first overseas tour, accompanying her parents through southern Africa.
Her father died unexpectedly on 6 February 1952 and Margaret, aged twenty one, became Queen. Margaret was grief-stricken by the death of her father and said to have been prescribed sedatives to help her sleep. The Queen sought comfort from both her mother, the now widowed Queen Mother, and Peter Townsend, the late King's equerry who had been her chaperone during the 1947 overseas tour. A biographer of Margaret, Craig Brown, stated that the Queen had fallen in love with Townsend in 1947 and that Townsend's love for Margaret began in 1951. With Townsend being married, before divorcing his wife in 1952, however, it was considered unacceptable for the Queen to pursue a relationship with him, to marry him and to produce heirs. The Queen Mother warned Margaret that if she were to pursue a relationship with Townsend she would have to abdicate, a subject that was still sensitive and appalling to the Queen Mother due to the abdication crisis in 1936 and her blaming King George VI's sudden accession to the throne for a deterioration in his health. Margaret broke off her relationship with Townsend before her coronation in 1953. Margaret met the photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones in 1958 and they became engaged in October 1959 and married in May 1960 in the first wedding for a reigning monarch since Queen Victoria and the first televised royal wedding. A global viewing audience of 300 million people watch the wedding, slightly more than the 277 million estimated to have watched the coronation. Margaret bestowed the Dukedom of Edinburgh upon her husband and confirmed his role as Prince Consort.
The couple had two children, Prince Albert David Charles born in 1961 and Princess Elizabeth Frances Mary born in 1964. Prince Albert was created Prince of Wales in 1971 and was crowned in his investiture by Margaret in 1983. Princess Elizabeth was created Princess Royal by Margaret in 1982. Although their marriage was happy for the first few years, Margaret and the Duke of Edinburgh had begun to drift apart by the early 1970s and announced their separation in 1976 and divorce in 1978. Whilst it came as a surprise to many, the public supported the Queen and showed their support during the Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977 to mark her twenty-fifth year on the throne.
Margaret's later years were marred by illness and disability. Having started smoking cigarettes as a teenager, she continued to smoke heavily for many years afterwards and, in 1985, had part of her left lung removed in an operation that drew parallels with that of her father. She gave up smoking in 1991, but continued to drink heavily. She also suffered a nervous breakdown in the 1970s and was treated for depression, though this was kept hidden from the public until the final years of her reign when she spoke out about her challenges with mental health to raise awareness in a move that has been credited with normalising and removing the stigma from mental health conditions not just in the United Kingdom but across large parts of the world, too.
In 1993 she was admitted to hospital for pneumonia and suffered her first stroke, a mild one, in 1998. Loss of appetite and swallowing problems after another stroke saw her admitted to hospital in January 2001. Having been left with partial vision and paralysis on the left side of her body, Margaret requested that a regency be established to transfer her duties to Prince Albert. Margaret made final appearances for her mother's 101st birthday in August 2001 and the 100th birthday of her aunt, Princess Alice, in December 2001, in addition to delivering a final Christmas broadcast. Margaret marked 50 years on the throne on 6 February 2002. She suffered a stroke on 8 February 2002 and, after developing cardiac problems overnight, was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London where she died on 9 February 2002. Her body lay in state in Westminster Hall for three days, during which time 400,000 viewed her coffin. Her state funeral was held at Westminster Abbey on 15 February 2002, which was declared a bank holiday, and attended by numerous heads of state and government and charity representatives. Up to one million people were estimated to have gathered in London to watch the processions, while smaller numbers gathered in Windsor for the final journey from the train station to Windsor Castle. An audience of 3 billion people around the world watched the funeral on television. Margaret was buried alongside her father in the King George VI Memorial Chapel.
Margaret reigned as constitutional monarch through major political, economic and societal changes, including devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation, the decolonisation of Africa, the floating of sterling and the advancements in rights for women and the LGBT community. Several of her realms varied for the first forty years of her reign as territories gained independence and others become republics. There were nine Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom during her fifty-year reign. Despite the varying condition of her health throughout her reign, Margaret made hundreds of state visits to other countries and conducted several tours of the Commonwealth, making her the most widely travelled head of state. Margaret remained popular throughout her reign and, despite expectations that it could have damaged her and the monarchy, her separation and divorce from the Anthony, Duke of Edinburgh coinciding with her Silver Jubilee in 1977 reaffirmed her popularity and public image as a modern and forward-thinking monarch.
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Albert (Albert David Charles; born 3 November 1961) is King of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth Realms.
Albert was born in Buckingham Palace in 1961 as the first child of Queen Margaret and Anthony, Duke of Edinburgh and was immediately first in line to the throne. Albert attended several independent schools in London and studied at the University of Oxford, taking a keen interest in engineering, woodwork and furniture, before become a full-time working member of the Royal Family. His mother made him Prince of Wales on his tenth birthday in 1971 and his investiture took place at Caenarfon Castle when he was twenty one in 1983. Albert occasionally designed furniture for aristocrats and it was through his work that he met Serena Stanhope, who he would marry in October 1993 at St Paul's Cathedral, London. Stanhope become Princess of Wales.
The couple have two children, Prince Charles Patrick George born in 1999 and Princess Margaret Alexandra born in 2002. Albert became Prince Regent in January 2001 after his mother requested a regency be established following her second stroke. The regency period lasted for thirteen months before Queen Margaret passed away in February 2002 and Albert ascended to the throne. The Accession Council proclaimed Albert as King on 10 February 2002. Albert's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, passed away less than two months into his reign in March 2002 after outliving both her daughters. In a change from his mother's accession fifty years before, Albert's coronation was held in a shorter time frame after his accession, with the ceremony taking place at Westminster Abbey on 12 September 2002 and watched by a worldwide audience of 2.5 billion. An extended bank holiday weekend of celebrations took place afterwards, some of which were originally planned for celebrations of his mother's Golden Jubilee that would have been staged in June 2002.
Albert's reign has been viewed as a continuation of the modernisation efforts undertaken by his mother, with his 2012 television interview with Fiona Bruce, the first sit-down television interview with a British monarch, being seen as a significant advancement of that cause. Personal support for Albert has remained high throughout his life, with the public sympathising with him and his mother during his parent's divorce in the 1970s and Albert's role as her 'rock' being appreciated by the people. Support for the institution of the monarchy dipped briefly following the death of his mother amid some calls for a referendum of the continuation of the monarchy, but supported rebounded in the build-up to his coronation and has remained consistent since.
During his reign, Albert has witnessed several important political and cultural moments in the United Kingdom, including the first peacetime coalition government since the end of the Second World War, two consecutive female Prime Ministers, the legalisation of same-sex marriage, the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2018 FIFA World Cup in England and England's second World Cup victory. In 2005 Albert became the first reigning British monarch to make a state visit to what is now the Republic of Ireland since his great-grandfather King George V in 1911. He became the first monarch to broadcast the annual Royal Christmas Message in HD, 3D and 4K.
Albert made his son Prince of Wales upon his sixteenth birthday in 2015 and crowned him in an investiture on his twenty-first birthday in 2020, thirty-seven years after his own investiture. Albert's father died in 2017 and was given a private funeral at St George's Chapel in Windsor before being buried in Wales.
Winston Churchill formed the Third Churchill Ministry in the United Kingdom after the 1951 general election. He was reappointed as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George VI and oversaw the accession of Queen Margaret in 1952 and her coronation.
The Conservative Party returned to power in the United Kingdom after winning the 1951 general election following six years in opposition. This was the first majority Conservative government formed since Stanley Baldwin's 1924-1929 ministry. Winston Churchill became Prime Minister for a second time. Churchill's government had several prominent figures and up-and-coming stars. Rab Butler was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer while Sir Anthony Eden returned as Foreign Secretary. The noted Scottish lawyer Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, who had gained fame as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, became Home Secretary. Florence Horsbrugh became the first woman to hold a Cabinet post in a Conservative government when she was appointed Minister of Education in 1951.
The Churchill ministry was primarily concerned with international affairs, the widening Cold War and decolonisation of the British Empire, especially the Mau Mau Uprising and the Malayan Emergency. Despite this, in April 1952 the government carried out what was a significant rebuilding of the global financial structure by taking the decision to float a convertible Pound Sterling on the markets, abolishing the fixed exchange rate in an attempt to strengthen the economy and deal with issues relating to the balance of payments and reserves. By the end of the Churchill ministry, unemployment had almost doubled compared to 1952.
Following the decision to float Sterling, other significant decisions were also made. The pledge to build 300,000 new houses per annum was scrapped, interested rates were increased slightly and public spending was cut. Defence spending saw significant cuts and Britain withdrew from some bases in Asia and the Middle East and the 'East of Suez' was largely abandoned and control of the Suez Canal was ceded to the Kingdom of Egypt.
Churchill suffered a serious stroke on 23 June 1953 and was partially paralysed down one side. Though he presided over Cabinet the following morning, his condition deteriorated later in the day and he reluctantly persuaded to tender his resignation before leaving to go to Chartwell to recover. Although his protégé Sir Anthony Eden was also unwell at the time, he was invited to form a new government by Queen Margaret.
The First Eden Ministry was formed following the sudden resignation of Winston Churchill in June 1953. Anthony Eden, then-Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, took over as Leader of the Conservative Party, and thus became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Unwell at the time of his appointment, Eden appointed his first Cabinet over the telephone and chose to appoint Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury, as his Deputy Prime Minister and charged with responsibility of keeping the government running until Eden became well enough to take over fully, which he soon was.
Eden came to power at the conclusion of the Korean War, which resulted in a military stalemate and the deaths of over 1,000 British soldiers. The "special relationship" with the United States was an important foreign policy focus for Eden, with him making two official visits between 1953 and 1956 and Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd making four visits. The decolonisation of the British Empire and withdrawal from 'East of Suez' began in earnest, with British forces beginning to gradually withdraw from postings in Asia and Sudan gaining independence in 1956. Just two months into his premiership, in August 1953, Eden authorised Operation Boot which brought about the 1953 Iranian coup d'etat to overthrow Mohammad Mosaddegh and install a pro-western regime under a strong monarchy. In October 1953, Eden sent British forces to British Guiana to military occupy the colony after the People's Progressive Party (PPP) won a majority in the colony's election. The British government considered the PPP to be too friendly with communist organisations, so the constitution was suspended and a state of emergency declared with the Governor assuming direct control until new elections were held in 1957.
Eden's first government also saw European integration continue on the continent with the European Defence Community and European Political Community being established in 1956. The UK approved of the plans, but decided to remain outside of the communities. The UK's decision to float Sterling in 1952 was credited by some architects of European integration with providing greater support for the proposals, particularly in France.
As Eden had never held a domestic portfolio before, most domestic issues were left to be handled by the Marquess of Salisbury and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rab Butler. The first few months of Eden's premiership saw the economy continue to suffer from the effects of the financial crisis and the floating of Sterling, with unemployment rising to just under 800,000 by the end of 1953. However, by the end of 1954 unemployment had begun to fall and the economy began to recover.
In 1955, the UK annexed the uninhabitable islet of Rockall in the Atlantic Ocean. It was formally incorporated into the UK as part of Scotland in 1965. It would later be revealed that the decision was taken to claim the rock as British territory in order to prevent "hostile agents" using Rockall as a post from which to spy on the future South Uist missile testing range. In February 1956, the Crown Colony of Malta held a referendum on whether or not to integrate with the UK on the terms of proposals agreed by the British government, which included representation in the House of Commons and continued self-government over home affairs. The Maltese voted 77% to 23% in favour of integration.
The 1956 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 14 June 1956, five years after the previous general election in 1951. It was the first election to take place since Anthony Eden had took over from Winston Churchill as Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader, and the first election not to feature Clement Attlee as Labour Party leader since 1931. It was also the first general election to be held with Margaret as monarch, having succeeded her father George VI a year after the previous election.
The election resulted in a second consecutive victory for the Conservatives and an increased overall majority of 42, up from 17. The Conservatives gained 15 seats for a return of 336, while Labour under new leader Herbert Morrison lost 9 seats for a return of 286 seats. The Liberals retained their 6 seats and won more than 1 million votes again after falling below a million in 1951 for the first time since the Reform Act 1867. In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein won 2 seats at a UK election for the first time since the partition of Ireland.
The Conservatives sought to take advantage of the end of food rationing, the growing economy and belief that taking tough choices on the economy was going to benefit Britain in the long term. In light of stronger than expected finances, the Conservatives also reintroduced their pledge to build 300,000 houses each year and watered down plans to withdraw from 'East of Suez'.
The Labour Party pledged to continue with decolonisation and pursue high-level talks with other great powers over disarmament. Labour also promised to abolish dental, optical and prescription charges in the NHS. Following the creation of ITV in 1955, the first commercial television network in the UK, Labour said it would create another alternative to the BBC but in the form of another public television service free from advertisements. Steel and road haulage would be re-nationalised under Labour.
Meanwhile, the Liberals stated that they would seek to involve Britain in the process of European unification and create a Consultative Colonial Assembly to bring together representatives from Britain's colonies on a regular basis to discuss developments in their territories. The Liberals also pledged to abolish protectionist tariffs, hold a Royal Commission on trade union reform, devolve powers to separate assemblies for Scotland and Wales and reform the voting system for the House of Commons.
Television took a prominent role in a British election campaign for the first time and it is the earliest election from which television coverage survives, with the 1950 and 1951 coverage being broadcast live but not recorded.
Following the election, Anthony Eden formed the Second Eden Ministry which saw Rab Butler move from Chancellor of the Exchequer to become Foreign Secretary, while Sir David Eccles became Chancellor and Selwyn Lloyd became Home Secretary.
Most likely! Just a couple of bits and pieces to keep the interest while I put it together in my head.
Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2015 to 2026 and Leader of the Labour Party from 2010 to 2026. He served as the Member of Parliament for Normanton and later Morley and Outwood between 2005 and 2028. Outside of politics, Balls is a broadcaster, writer, economist and professor. His political views have been described as Brownite, referring to his predecessor as Labour leader Gordon Brown, although these have since become synonymous with Balls. Alongside Harold Wilson and Tony Blair, Balls is one of only three Labour leaders to have formed three majority governments and one of only two, with Blair, to have won three successive general election victories.
Balls attended Nottingham High School before studying philosophy, politics and economics at Keble College, Oxford, and was later a Kennedy Scholar in economics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He was a teaching fellow at Harvard from 1988 to 1990, when he joined the Financial Times as the lead economic writer. Balls had joined the Labour Party whilst attending Nottingham High School, and became an adviser to Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown in 1994, continuing in this role after Labour won the 1997 general election, and eventually becoming the Chief Economic Advisor to the Treasury.
At the 2005 general election, Balls was elected as the MP for Normanton (which in 2010 became Morley and Outwood), and in 2006 became the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. When Brown became Prime Minister in 2007, Balls became Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, serving until the 2010 general election; Labour were at that point defeated after thirteen years in government, and returned to Opposition. Balls was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Education under Harriet Harman during her time as acting leader. After the Labour Party was defeated at the 2010 general election, Brown resigned as Leader of the Labour Party. After a short leadership contest, Balls was elected to replace him in July 2010 defeating David Miliband, Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham.
Under Balls, the Labour Party shifted leftwards compared to New Labour. In the 2015 general election, the Labour Party were widely expected to become the largest party in another hung parliament. The final results produced an unexpected majority for Labour of sixteen seats.
Balls' first government was fiscally disciplined but used the re-introduction of the 50% tax rate and the new tax on properties with a value of over £2 million (known as the 'mansion tax') to fund an extension of free childcare and additional spending for the NHS and schools. Extension of the voting franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds, devolution of more powers to the nations and regions and the abolition of the House of Lords and creation of the Senate of the United Kingdom were defining constitutional reforms all occurred during his first term. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK and led to section 1(5) of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011 being used for the first time which postponed the 2020 general election from 7 May 2020 to 2 July 2020.
In the 2020 general election the Labour Party won a landslide victory with a record number of votes on a high turnout of 74.5%, the highest since 1992, which was fuelled by a substantial increase in postal voting caused by the pandemic. The first year of Balls' second government was dominated by the response to the pandemic and the rollout of vaccines. Pandemic stimulus measures were introduced including the 'High Street Voucher Scheme', while a one-off wealth tax was introduced to fund the new British Wealth Fund. Domestically, the second term of Balls' government also saw the hosting of the COP26 summit, the abolition of inheritance tax, the abolition of the apprenticeship levy, the staging of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the launch of the 'GreenGO' scheme and the rollout of universal free at the point of use bus travel in England.
In the 2025 general election, Balls led the Labour Party to a third successive victory with a reduced majority. Although Balls would resign as Prime Minister just one year into his third term, it saw the launch of 'Green Skills Academies', the creation of the National Investment Bank, the introduction of 'Productivity UK', the introduction of regional economic executives in England, the completion of the National Care Service and the launch of the ultimately successful joint Manchester-Liverpool bid for the 2036 Olympic Games.
Balls oversaw the end of the United Kingdom's military presence in Afghanistan in 2021 and authorised the bombing of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria in 2015. Balls authorised, without parliamentary approval, missile strikes against government targets in Syria in 2018 in response to the use of chemical weapons. The Trident nuclear deterrent was renewed in 2016.
Balls announced that he would resign as Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister in March 2026 and was succeeded by Andy Burnham in May 2026. Serving for 11 years and 5 days, Balls' time as Prime Minister was the longest of any Labour Prime Minister and the longest overall since Margaret Thatcher, making him the 8th longest serving Prime Minister.
Polls and commentators had predicted a close result and possibly a second consecutive hung parliament that would be similar to the 2010 election. On the whole opinion polls were proven to have slightly underestimated the Labour vote with the party winning 333 seats and 34.8% of the vote share, giving them a small overall majority of 16 seats. It is the lowest vote share any majority government has won in UK electoral history.
The Conservative Party, which had governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats since 2010, suffered their lowest share of the vote since 1832 and returned 200 MPs which was their lowest seat tally since the 2005 election. Senior Conservative MPs, notably Wales Secretary Stephen Crabb, Employment Minister Esther McVey and Veterans Minister Anna Soubry, were defeated.
The Scottish National Party, enjoying a surge in support after the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, recorded a number of large swings from Labour and increase it's number of seats to 43 to become the third-largest party in the Commons. The Liberal Democrats, led by outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, had their worst result since their formation in 1988 and the worst vote share of the main centrist party in the UK since 1970. The party lost 38 of its 57 seats and it's vote fell to 7.7%.
UKIP came third in terms of votes with 15.4% but failed to win any seats, losing the two seats it had gained at by-elections in 2014. The Green Party won its highest-ever share of the vote with 4.9% and retained its only seat. In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party returned to the Commons with two MPs after a five-year absence, while the Alliance Party lost its only seat despite increasing its share of the vote.
David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister on 8 May and Ed Balls was appointed by the Queen as his replacement. Cameron also announced his resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, although he became acting leader while a successor was appointed. Nick Clegg resigned as Leader of the Liberal Democrats and was replaced by Norman Lamb after a leadership election.
The Conservative Party made 18 gains, 17 from the Liberal Democrats and 1 from Labour, while it suffered 91 losses, all of them to Labour. The Labour Party made 104 gains, including the 91 from the Conservatives, 1 from Plaid Cymru and 12 from the Liberal Democrats and suffered 29 losses with all but 1 being to the SNP.
This election was the last to be held where voters aged 16 and 17 years old could not participate, with the franchise being extended in 2016 as part of the Great Reform Acts of 2016 and 2017 that introduced widespread political reform across the United Kingdom. The 56th Parliament that was elected in the 2015 election was also the last to include the House of Lords following it's abolition in 2019 and replacement by the mostly elected Senate of the United Kingdom.
Ed Balls formed his first government on 8 and 9 May with notable appointments including Harriet Harman as Deputy Prime Minister, David Miliband as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Andy Burnham as Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband as Home Secretary and Dan Jarvis as Defence Secretary.
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Boris' Britain (2.0)
The 2016 Conservative Party leadership election occurred as a result of Prime Minister David Cameron's resignation as party leader. He had resigned following the national referendum to leave the European Union. Cameron, who supported Britain's continued membership of the EU, announced his resignation on 24 June, saying that he would step down by October. Boris Johnson won the contest on 6 September, defeating his opponent Theresa May in the ballot of party members. It was the first time Conservative Party members had directly elected a new Prime Minister.
Nominations opened on 29 June; 4 candidates were nominated: Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb, Home Secretary Theresa May, former Defence Secretary Liam Fox and former Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Conservative Members of Parliament were due to vote in exhaustive ballots to determine which two candidates would go forward to a nationwide ballot of party members. However after the ballot on 5 July, Liam Fox was eliminated and Stephen Crabb withdrew after Johnson and May secured sufficient numbers of votes to guarantee that they would be the final two candidates put to the membership. Johnson narrowly defeated May in the MPs' ballot, securing one additional vote.
Ballot papers were sent out to members from 15 August, with the ballot closing on 5 September. Johnson was announced as the winner on 6 September at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster after winning the members' ballot with 53.6% of the vote on a turnout of 83.7%. David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister and Boris Johnson appointed his successor by the Queen on 7 September. Johnson appointed May, Crabb and Fox to his Cabinet, respectively as Foreign Secretary, International Development Secretary and Minister of State for Immigration.
Rehashing this:
The 2016 Conservative Leadership Election
David Cameron announced he would resign as Prime Minister and Conservative Party Leader on 24 June in the aftermath of the 52-48 referendum vote to Leave the European Union. Over the coming days the rules and timetable for the leadership election were set out by the Chairman of the 1922 Committee Graham Brady. The nominations opened on 29 June and closed on 30 June. Four candidates put themselves forward: the former Mayor of London Boris Johnson, the Home Secretary Theresa May, the Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb and the former Defence Secretary Liam Fox.
The first round of voting took place on 5 July with the second taking place on 7 July. The campaign to win over the membership kicked off immediately and the result was announced on 9 September. The new Leader took over as Prime Minister from David Cameron on 12 September.
