John Major, 1992-97

Why did Major win the 1992 Election?

Condoned Thatcherite ideas - Disagreed with the Poll Tax and replaced it with a new council tax, got him away from an unpopular policy.

Relaxed style of campaigning & personality - Won a lot of respect for his old-fashioned ‘soap-box’ politics (impromptu speeches in Luton), helped show he could fix the recession.

Labour’s ineffective campaign - Hadn’t reformed enough and were still living off memories from the 1980s. Kinnocks fiasco at Sheffield in 1992 made Labour and Kinnock look bad.

Press support - Major had press support, especially from The Sun which were traditionally Labour, and were ‘respected and listened to by many people.’

Negative Equity

Having to repay mortgages that were higher than the current value of their homes.

Black Wednesday

An economic crisis in 1992 which forced the UK to leave the ERM due to the falling strength of the Pound. Criticised by many after they declared in their campaign they wouldn’t leave the ERM.

Dominated the rest of Majors premiership.

Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM)

Set up in 1979, it aimed to stabilise the exchange rates between different currencies in the EEC by limiting how much their value could change.