4.1 Case Studies of three key General Elections UK

1997 Election

Result: Tony Blair’s New Labour was elected with 418 seats, and Labour remained in power till 2010. They achieved a 179-seat majority

Political Context: The conservatives were unpopular after John Major’s government failing in the past 5 years. The conservatives were viewed as weak on economic policy as a result of ‘Black Wednesday’ in 1992. Furthermore, the Conservatives were involved in quite a few sexual and financial scandals before the election which weakened their support.

Campaign: Labour’s campaign targeted marginal seats that only require a small swing for a new party to win it. Labour used public relations experts to handle the media in the election and used focus groups in order to better understand the opinion of the public

Party Policies: Modernised policy, moved away from traditional Labour policies of increasing taxes, strengthening trade unions and nationalisation. Tough on law and order. Emphasised itself as a moderate party. Constitutional reform policy appealed to Liberal Democrat voters who supported Labour in seats which their candidates had no chance of winning.

1979 Election

Result: Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party won with a majority of 43 seats, marking the beginning of a long period of Conservative rule, increasing in 1983 and 1987.

Political Context: Weakness of the Labour government, which had lost a vote of no confidence in Parliament and had been regularly defeated in the House of Commons. Callaghan was also seen as unable to control trade unions, who had been striking following attempts to impose a 5% limit on pay increases in early 1979. The country was recovering from the "Winter of Discontent"

Election Campaign: Used publicity specialists Tim Bell and Gordon Reece in her campaign and had a number of photo opportunities she took advantage of. Put pressure on Labour over the "Winter of Discontent" and their handling of the economy. Jim Callaghan, the Labour Party leader, was higher than Thatcher in the opinion polls with voters approving of his political experience.

Party Policies: Both Conservative and Labour Party manifestos were moderate and both parties prioritised lowering inflation. Thatcher mentioned privatising recently nationalised industries and reducing trade union power, but did not outline the extent to which she would do so.

2010 Election

Result: The Conservative Party were the largest party with 306 seats. But, they were short of a majority so formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Political Context: Followed the 2008 financial crisis which took place when Gordon Brown was prime minister. Brown was unpopular for not calling a general election when he took over as prime minister from Tony Blair in 2007. Voters did not clearly favour the Conservatives over Labour, with polls suggesting 29% of voters felt that the Conservatives would be best for managing the economy compared to 26% for Labour.

Campaign: Television debates were held with the three main party leaders David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg. Nick Clegg performed particularly well and saw an increase in the opinion polls after the first debate, whilst Gordon Brown was seen to have performed worse. Conservatives targeted marginal seats and market-tested their policies with voters. Gordon Brown was heard calling a voter a ‘bigoted woman’ who had asked him about immigration.

Party Policies: The main parties all focused on policies to reduce the budget deficit and making savings. The Conservatives targeted Labour’s economic policy in government, which they said included overspending and failing to regulate the banking system.

2024 Election

Result: Labour under Kier Starmer won a Landslide majority of 411 seats, with 34% of the votes, the lowest ever for a majority-winning party.

Political Context: Tories had been in power for 14 years with 5 different prime ministers, and there was public dissatisfaction due to economic challenges, NHS pressures and political instability, and in this election, there was a huge rise in Reform voters led by Nigel Farage.

Campaign: Labour focused on 'national renewal' and economic stability. Tories emphasised tax cuts and a new National Service scheme.

Party Policies: Labour policies were to renationalise railways, establish 'Great British Energy' for clean energy, tax private schools to fund state education, reform the House of Lords, Lower voting age to 16 and strengthen workers' rights.