Topic 5, Lesson 6: How did Tory Scandals and Sleaze undermine John Major's 'Back to Basics' campaign?

Topic 5, Lesson 6: How did Tory Scandals and Sleaze undermine John Major's 'Back to Basics' campaign?

John Major’s ‘Back-to-Basics’ speech and campaign

John Major, 1993:

“It’s time to return to those core values, time to get back to basics”

• This speech would return time and time again to haunt John Major

• The speech is often interpretted as a campaign for socially conservative causes such as promoting the traditional family values

• The public interpretted this as traditional Christian family values

• Major was actually referring to the need to be good neighbours and help one another out

• The campaign became the subject of ridicule when a succession of Conservative politicians were caught in scandals

Topic 5, Lesson 6: How did Tory Scandals and Sleaze undermine John Major's 'Back to Basics' campaign?

The Scott Report (1996)

The report found that the Conservative government had been involved in the 1980s in turning a ‘blind-eye’ to British arms sales to Iraq’s Saddam Hussain during the Iran-Iraq War

Shocking because Hussain was demonised as a result of te 1991 Gulf War

Conservatives were surrounded by scandals prior to the 1991 General Election

Topic 5, Lesson 6: How did Tory Scandals and Sleaze undermine John Major's 'Back to Basics' campaign?

Neil Hamilton’s Cash-for-Questions

Several Conservative MPs (including Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith) were accused of accepting money from Mohmmed Al-Fayed (owner of Harrods) in exchange for asking questions in Parliament.

This became one of the most infamous examples of political corruption in modern British history

Tim Smith (Northern Ireland Minister) resigned in 1994

Corporate Affairs Minister, Neil Hamilton, did not despite being accused by The Guardian of having recieved brown envelopes stuffed with money from Al-Fayed

Hamilton denied the ‘Cash-for-Question’ allegations in the lawsuit that followed

Topic 5, Lesson 6: How did Tory Scandals and Sleaze undermine John Major's 'Back to Basics' campaign?

Tory Sleaze (Sex Scandals and Corruption)

• The David Mellor Affair (1992)

• The Tim Yeo Scandal (1993)

• The “Outing” of David Ashby (1994)

• Stephen Milligan’s Accidental Death (1994)

• Cash-for-Question (1994)

• The Jonathan Aitken Trial (1995)

• The 1996 Scott Report (‘Arms-to-Iraq’ Scandal)