John Major. What a guy!
When he took over the reins of being Prime Minister from Margaret Thatcher in 1990, he inherited a Conservative majority of 102 seats. When he resigned in 1997, that majority was wiped out as the Party he led suffered a catastrophic defeat as Labour won a majority of 179 seats. That was a nett loss of 281 seats in 7 years - Major's political epitaph.
Along the road to electoral devastation, John Major clocked up a few other noteworthy achievements. For example, his disastrous decision to allow the UK to enter the ERM, which it then had to humiliatingly abandon five months later, destroyed public confidence in the Conservative Party's ability to run a successful economy. He also explained that the very idea of his Government talking to the IRA would "turn his stomach". Naturally, even as he said this, his Government was talking to the IRA. It was Ulster's unionists who felt sick to the stomach at this pusillanimous hypocrite perched in Number 10.
And now - Major comes out with a ringing declaration for "Dave" Cameron. He even explains that he sees this as a way of seeing off the right wing of Conservatism once and for all. You can't say you've not been warned what you'll get with Cameron!
Cameron is doing well. He has been endorsed by Thatcher's political assassin (Heseltine), and now he receives endorsement from the man who ruined her political legacy.
Posted by: Allan@Aberdeen | October 24, 2005 at 08:41 AM
Oh David - don't you think the Conservatives were living on borrowed time from the moment Mrs T was made to stand down?
Posted by: DST | October 24, 2005 at 10:22 AM
DST,
I do. It was an act of party political suicide and I said so at the time. Those who stabbed Thatcher in the back - like Heseltine, Howe and Patten sealed the fate of their Party for possibly decades. Unbelievably, they are now treated as grandees and afforded an easy ride by the leftist UK media.
Posted by: David Vance | October 24, 2005 at 10:51 AM
Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of it, it was indeed an act of unbelievable political stupidity.
Enoch Powell put it well when he said "And from tha deed of blood, a curse descended on her successors."
Posted by: Sean Fear | October 24, 2005 at 12:18 PM
DV- good to hear that net loss spelled out so clearly. It makes you think of Major captions- "oops, where did I put that party sized group of MP's Maggie gave me". Historians will see him for what he is/was. He'll be a popular A-Level question (should such things still happen to exist)- a nice small topic with cartoons to describe, gossip, and plenty of extreme adjectives like 'incompetent', 'ridiculous', 'hypocritical' etc (assuming, that is, a revival in the art of spelling).
Posted by: ed | October 24, 2005 at 12:37 PM
You guys seem to forget that when Thatcher was deposed at the end of 1990 the Tories were miles behind in the opinion polls and heading for certain defeat at the next election. Major managed to turn that around and win the 1992 election. Give the guy some credit.
Posted by: Peter | October 24, 2005 at 12:50 PM
This ERM. That wouldn't be the one we joined in October/November 1990 ie while Thatcher was still PM, and left in September 1992, would it?
Posted by: Patrick Crozier | October 24, 2005 at 11:51 PM