New Labour and Tory defeat in 1997

Reasons for why the Tories lost summary

• Divisions in Tory party over Europe

• ERM - not good at financial management

• Maastricht Treaty squabbles

• Uninspiring John Major

• Lost all by-elections since 1990

• Small majority (21 seats) - obliging it to do deals with minority parties such as Ulster Unionists in order to survive

• Scandals and sleaze

When does John Smith die?

1994

New Labour programme

• Nationalisation abandoned as a party objective

• The City and the business world would be wooed by the promise that capitalism would be safe in New Labour’s hands

• Legal restrictions on trade unions maintained

• Accepting that class-based politics were no longer relevant in Britain - no policies in terms of class struggle

When was the New Labour approach formally outlined?

In a document which Blair himself had drafted which was formally accepted by the Party at a conference in Easter 1995

When was Clause IV changed?

1995 - would have appealed to middle-class - removing the 1918 commitment to common ownership of the means of production (nationalisation)

Alastair Campbell

Blair’s special adviser and chief spokesman 1994-2000

Strong media management - management e.g. securing The Sun’s endorsement for Blair, allowed the messages of New Labour to reach and appeal to lots of voters. Stark contrast to Major’s ‘soapbox’

New messages of New labour

• Simple, memorable messages; ‘New Labour, New Britain’, ‘Education, education, education’.

• ‘Inclusiveness’ - society where nobody is left out

• ‘Stakeholder society’ - ordinary people having state-protected investments and pensions

• Condemning ‘forces of conservatism’

• ‘Cool Britannia’ - fashionable

Women MPs Labour

• 101 in election of 1997

• Had adopted all-women shortlists in half of the constituencies judged to be winnable in the 1997 election - successful in outcome i.e. lots of women were MPs, was definitely discriminatory and patronising; in breach of existing anti-discrimination laws.

• Blair introduced a Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act in 2002 - made it illegal to use all-female shortlisting - to prevent possible challenges on this front

Women MPs by 2005 election

31 not MPs anymore (of original 101), even if overall no. women in commands had risen

1996 video to members

New Labour, New Life for Britain’

New Labour, New Life for Britain’ video - issues with Tories they draw on

Discussing longer NHS waiting lists, class sizes growing in primary schools (were avg. of 27), skyrocketing crime, tax rises, etc.

New Labour’s efficient image using Tory ‘failures’

Labelling Conservative failures, even if many were exaggerated, allowed New Labour’s efficient image to triumph.

Their pledges to:

• Cut NHS waiting lists by 100,000

• Halve the time between arrest and sentencing + focus on repeat offenders

• Cut unemployment by 250,000 for under 25s

• Reduce class sizes for 5, 6- and 7-year-olds

• £100m extra for NHS

• Will have been appealing in stark contrast to the aforementioned Conservative ‘failures’.

NHS waiting lists Major

There were high waiting times, ‘internal market’ reforms didn’t really help with efficiency, many patients waited 6-18 months for non-urgent procedures.

Different trusts around the country competing with each other to get more patients on board – too capitalist, veering into privatisation of the health service.

1995 up to 1m waiting list

Tax rises - legitimacy to Labour claims?

Chancellor in 1993 Budget did announce big tax rises, but there were not 22 since 1992 as claimed by New Labour

Rising crime rate - legitimacy?

Crime levels - recorded crime 1970s-1990s more than doubled.

1994 ‘Public Order’ Act – increases number of public order offences, lower-level crimes coming to court rather than theft and violent crime being addressed as the main priority.

Reasons for Blair/N.L. victory - Smith early on

• Smith replaced the trade union block vote at Labour Party Conferences with a one member-one vote system in 1993

• Smith, at same conference in 1993, committed party to creation of a Scottish parliament

• At time of his death 23% lead in polls

Reasons for Blair/N.L. victory - Blair

• ‘Spin doctors’ such as Campbell and Mandelson

• Phrases/buzzwords

• Spin on Tory problems

Reasons for Blair/N.L. victory - voting system

FPTP - despite overwhelming no. seats, Labour was a minority government - for each seat, had polled far fewer votes than Tories or Liberal Democrats