What would a rout do to the Tories?
A historic electoral defeat would be unlikely to prompt a speedy reckoning
The votes had not all been counted by the time Sir John Major resigned as prime minister and retreated to the Oval to watch Surrey play cricket. Already, on that bright morning of May 2nd 1997, it was obvious that the Tories had been skittled. Nearly a third of the cabinet had been swept away overnight. It would turn out to be their worst performance in the modern democratic era; the party’s total of 165 seats was the lowest since it had split over free trade in 1906.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “All out?”
Britain June 15th 2024
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