British History 1990-97

1992 Election

Conservative Leadership: John Major

  • Had been viewed as a competent PM in the 18 months he had been in power

  • Gulf War success made him popular

Labour Leadership: Neil Kinnock

  • Sheffield rally > went on stage yelling ‘we’re all right, we’re all right’

Press

  • Sun backed Major “If Kinncock wins tomorrow will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights”, next day the front page read “Its the sun wot won it”

Policies/Economy

  • John Smiths shadow budget viewed as unpopular > rises in income tax

  • Labour had failed to properly modernise from the 1980s, still viewed as a party of nationalisation

  • Lawson’s budget as chancellor popular > branded ‘vatman’

  • Replacing the poll tax with income tax proved to be popular

1990-97 Economy

Economic Background

  • Inflation had risen November 1990 inflation was in double figures

  • Unemployment high

  • Major had insisted Thatcher join the ERM

Early 1990s

  • Unemployment rose to 2.6 million by early 1992

  • High inflation

  • High levels of public spending

  • Replaced the poll tax with the council tax

  • Beginning of 1992 300,000 households in negative equity, by the end of the year this way 900,000

Black Wednesday

  • Wednesday 16th September 1992 foreign exchange speculates dumping the pound

  • Interest Rates rose from 10% to 12% to 15% in one day

  • Had to announce leaving the ERM which Major had personally pushed Thatcher to join

  • Major’s personal satisfaction rating was +46 and it fell to -27

  • ‘He is the devalued Prime Minister of the devalued government’ - John Smith leader of the opposition

  • Sun’s from page read ‘now we’ve all been screwed by the cabinet’ and the press turned on Major

Post Black Wednesday

  • Unemployment slowed and the housing market picked up

  • Control of interest rates handed back to the bank of England

  • Railway and Coal privatised (caused issues)

  • By 1997 unemployment was down, productivity was up, consumer spending up, car ownership increased

1990-97 Society

Women

  • 1994 Rape within marriage became illegal

  • Betty Boothroyd first female speaker in the House of Commons

  • ‘Lad’ culture and objectification of women continued

  • 1992 election 60 female MPs

  • Major had only two women in his cabinet (more than Thatcher though)

  • 50% of employees were women but they earned on average only 80% of the men’s wages

  • Third wave feminism movement > sisterhood and intersectionality

Race Relations

  • 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence went unpunished during Major’s time as leader despite the murderers being published on the front page of the daily mail

  • England’s first black football captain Paul Ince

  • Eric Catona 1995 banned from football after kicking a supporter who racially abused him

  • At the 1992 election black Conservative candidate John Taylor reported racial abuse from within his own party

  • No race riots from 1990-97

  • Kick it out campaign

Homosexual Rights

  • 1994 age of consent was reduced to 18, again still not entirely equal

  • 50% of people reported being against homosexual relationships but this number was down from 78% in 1987

  • Section 28 was not repealed by Major

  • Since 1984 no Conservative MP came out until 2002

  • 1990 Justin Fashanu professional footballer came out and no club offered him a full time contract after

Monarchy/Family values

  • Three of the Queens children’s marriages fell apart

  • Public reaction to Windsor castle and having to fund rebuild not popular

  • Divorce rates high

  • Percentage of children born to unmarried parents rose by 30%

The Arts/ Environment

  • ‘Swapy’ was heavily focused on for his direct action

  • Backlash against road expansions e.g. Newbury Bypass

  • Damian Hurst used dead animals in his art

  • Rave culture saw the use of ecstasy

  • 1994 criminal justice act

  • Art reflected the anti-establishment movement

Sleaze and Scandal

  • Neil Hamilton Cash for questions scandal > accused of accepting money from Mohammed Al Fayed to ask questions in parliament

  • Young MP choked to death after engaging in an act of sexually stimulating self strangulation Stephen Milligan

  • Piers Merchant kissed an underage girl at the start of the election campaign

  • Major attempted to create a society at ease with itself, using the slogan back to basics

1990-97 Foreign Policy

The Gulf War (1991)

  • Major inherited the issue of the Gulf War when he came to power

  • Britain joined a joint effort of coalition forces in operation desert sabre/storm

  • War quickly won, only 300 coalition troops lost

  • Major did not exploit victory and call an early election

  • Helped him built a personal rapport with GWB

  • Helped him gain recognition on the world stage and boosted his support at home

The USA

  • GHWB and Major able to build up a good rapport, Bush who had favoured relationships with west Germany and France under Thatcher came to see Britain as an important ally. Close bond formed during Gulf War

  • Clinton and Major less aligned, disagreed over nothern Ireland, relations were there but not strong

  • Both recieved criticism for their handling of the Balkans

Major and the the Balkans (began 1992 ended 1995)

  • UN peacekeeping forces but in place but ultimately failed

  • Vance-Owen plan created for a lasting settlement

  • Failed and the war contiuned for 3 more years

  • 1995 Srebrenica > 7000 Bosnians massacred despite UN Dutch peacekeeping forces being present

  • American air strikes eventually led to peace talks and a signed treaty

Major and Europe

  • Major’s aim was to put Britain at the heart of Europe

  • Major managed to opt out of the social chapter and euro when signing the Maastricht treaty which was met by cheers from his backbenchers

  • Issue did however divide the party

  • Thatcher encouraged backbenchers to rebel, eurosceptic cabinet members ‘I don’t want three more bastards on the backbenches’

  • Ian Smith and Ken Clarke against euro

  • So bad that Major was forced to call a leadership election in 1995

  • ‘Beef War’ after British beef declared safe EU still did not agree to trade, Major threatened to veto all EU proposals in so called beef war, Blair taunted him as ‘weak, weak, weak’

  • Major’s slim majority gave eurosceptics more power, support from the daily mail and sun

  • Cabinet divided over the euro

Northern Ireland 1990-97

The Downing Street Declaration 1993

  • Outlined that the British governments role was to facilitate and enable Northern Ireland not control it

  • Hardliners outraged > Ian Paisley ‘sell out to Dublin’

Ceasefire

  • 31st August 1994 IRA announced a ceasefire

  • Revoked this in 1996 with the bombing of London’s Canary Wharf

Mitchell Report and Decomissioning

  • Twin track initiative for decommissioning

  • Parallel decommissioning > talks alongside decommissioning rather than prior decommissioning

  • All party talks in June 1996 > Sinn Fein still banned, talks felt more focused on IRA ceasefire rather than decommissioning