Electoral history of John Major

This is a summary of the electoral history of John Major, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon from 1979 to 2001.

Council elections

1964 Lambeth London Borough Council election, Larkhall

Larkhall (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	A.J. Crouch	1,901	66.5
	Labour	G.A. Gold	1,875
	Labour	W.F. King	1,861
	Conservative	J.H. Chambers	774	27.1
	Conservative	J.R. Major	752
	Conservative	E. Brady	740
	Communist	S.G. Hope	107	3.7
	Independent	P.R. Winchester	77	2.7
Turnout			2,755	24.5
Registered electors			11,243
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

1968 Lambeth London Borough Council election, Ferndale

Ferndale (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	J.E. Langley	1,025	18.0%
	Conservative	G.R.I. Allnut	1,002	17.6%
	Conservative	John Roy Major	991	17.4%
	Labour	L.G.M. Davis	921	16.2%
	Labour	J.M. Dodson	892	15.7%
	Labour	D.J. Packer	863	15.2%
Turnout			5,694
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

1971 Lambeth London Borough Council election, Thornton

Thornton (3)^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	D. W. Wendon	2,205	15.3%
	Labour	W. P. Weston	2,176	15.1%
	Labour	H. A. Bavin	2,167	15.1%
	Conservative	A. E. S. Meyer	2,065	14.4%
	Conservative	John Major	2,061	14.3%
	Conservative	J. S. Steele	2,055	14.3%
	Liberal	J. P. Taylor	205	1.4%
	Liberal	A. G. Blackmore	182	1.3%
	Liberal	Mrs M. A. Granger	178	1.2%
	Communist	Mrs J. E. Styles	80	0.6%
Turnout			14,376
	Labour gain from Conservative
	Labour gain from Conservative
	Labour gain from Conservative

Parliamentary elections

February 1974 general election, St Pancras North

General election February 1974: St Pancras North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Albert Stallard	14,761	52.76
	Conservative	John Major	7,926	28.33
	Liberal	Paul J Medlicott	4,825	17.25	New
	Communist	Gordon McLennan	466	1.67
Majority			6,835	24.43
Turnout			27,978	67.53
	Labour hold		Swing

October 1974 general election, St Pancras North

General election October 1974: St Pancras North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Albert Stallard	14,155	58.53
	Conservative	John Major	6,602	27.30
	Liberal	Paul J Medlicott	3,428	14.17
Majority			7,553	31.23
Turnout			24,185	58.10
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.4

1979 general election, Huntingdonshire

General election 1979: Huntingdonshire^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Major	40,193	55.3	+10.2
	Labour	Julian G H Fulbrook	18,630	25.7	−3.9
	Liberal	Dennis Graham Rowe	12,812	17.6	−7.7
	National Front	K T Robinson	983	1.4	New
Majority			21,563	29.6	+14.1
Turnout			72.618	77.4	+2.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.1

1983 general election, Huntingdon

General election 1983: Huntingdon^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	John Major	34,254	62.4
	Liberal	Sheila Gatiss	13,906	25.3
	Labour	Mark Slater	6,317	11.5
	Ecology	Timothy Eiloart	444	0.8
Majority			20,348	37.1
Turnout			54,921	71.6
	Conservative win (new seat)

1987 general election, Huntingdon

General election 1987: Huntingdon^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Major	40,530	63.6	+1.2
	SDP	Anthony Nicholson	13,486	21.1	–4.2
	Labour	David Brown	8,883	13.9	+2.4
	Green	William Lavin	874	1.4	+0.6
Majority			27,044	42.5	+5.4
Turnout			63,773	74.0	+2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

1992 general election, Huntingdon

General election 1992: Huntingdon^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Major	48,662	66.2	+2.6
	Labour	Hugh Seckleman	12,432	16.9	+3.0
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Duff	9,386	12.8	–8.3
	Liberal	Paul Wiggin	1,045	1.4	N/A
	Green	Deborah Birkhead	846	1.2	–0.2
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	728	1.0	N/A
	Conservative Thatcherite	Michael Flanagan	231	0.3	N/A
	Gremloids	Lord Buckethead	107	0.1	N/A
	Forward to Mars Party	Charles S. Cockell	91	0.1	N/A
	Natural Law	David Shepherd	26	0.0	N/A
Majority			36,230	49.3	+6.8
Turnout			73,554	79.2	+5.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	–0.2

1997 general election, Huntingdon

The constituency underwent boundary changes prior to the 1997 election and the changes are not based on the 1992 result.

General election 1997: Huntingdon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Major	31,501	55.3	–9.9
	Labour	Jason Reece	13,361	23.5	+6.6
	Liberal Democrats	Matthew Owen	8,390	14.7	–6.4
	Referendum	David Bellamy	3,114	5.5	N/A
	UKIP	Charles Coyne	331	0.6	N/A
	Christian Democrat	Veronica Hufford	177	0.3	N/A
	Independent	Duncan Robertson	89	0.2	N/A
Majority			18,140	31.8	–6.8
Turnout			56,963	74.9	–4.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	–8.25

Conservative Party leadership elections

1990 leadership election

Second ballot: 27 November 1990
Candidate		Votes	%
	John Major	185	49.7
	Michael Heseltine	131	35.2
	Douglas Hurd	56	15.1
Majority		54	14.5
Turnout		372	100
Third ballot required

1995 leadership election

Only ballot: 4 July 1995
Candidate		Votes	%
	John Major	218	66.3
	John Redwood	89	27.1
	Abstentions	10	3.0
	Spoilt	12	3.6
Majority		129	39.2
Turnout		329	N/A
John Major re-elected

United Kingdom general elections

1992 general election

UK general election 1992^[5]
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	John Major	645	336	3	44	−41	51.69	41.9	14,094,116	−0.3
	Labour	Neil Kinnock	634	271	43	1	+42	41.62	34.4	11,557,062	+3.6
	Liberal Democrats	Paddy Ashdown	632	20	4	6	−2	3.07	17.8	6,027,038	−4.8
	SNP	Alex Salmond	72	3				0.46	1.9	629,552	+0.6
	UUP	James Molyneaux	13	9				1.38	0.8	270,749	0.0
	SDLP	John Hume	13	4	1		+1	0.61	0.5	184,445	0.0
	Green	Jean Lambert and Richard Lawson	253	0				0.0	0.5	170,047	+0.2
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Wigley	38	4	1		+1	0.61	0.5	156,796	+0.1
	DUP	Ian Paisley	7	3				0.46	0.3	103,039	0.0
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	14	0		1	−1	0.0	0.2	78,291	−0.1
	Alliance	John Alderdice	16	0				0.0	0.2	68,695	0.0
	Liberal	Michael Meadowcroft	73	0				0.0	0.2	64,744
	Natural Law	Geoffrey Clements	309	0				0.0	0.2	62,888
	Ind. Social Democrat	N/A	2	0				0.0	0.1	28,599
	Independent	N/A	6	0				0.0	0.1	22,844
	UPUP	James Kilfedder	1	1				0.15	0.1	19,305	0.0
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	12	0				0.0	0.1	11,356
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	25	0				0.0	0.1	7,929	+0.1
	Independent	N/A	23	0				0.0	0.1	7,631
	BNP	John Tyndall	13	0				0.0	0.1	7,631
	SDP	John Bates	8	0				0.0	0.1	6,649
	Scottish Militant Labour	Tommy Sheridan	1	0				0.0	0.1	6,287
	National Front	John McAuley	14	0				0.0	0.1	4,816
	True Labour	Sydney Bidwell	1	0				0.0	0.1	4,665
	Anti-Federalist	Alan Sked	17	0				0.0	0.1	4,383
	Workers' Party	Marian Donnelly	8	0				0.0	0.1	4,359	0.0
	Official Conservative Hove Party	Nigel Furness	1	0				0.0	0.0	2,658
	Loony Green	Stuart Hughes	5	0				0.0	0.0	2,538
	Ind. Unionist	N/A	1	0				0.0	0.0	2,256
	New Agenda	Proinsias De Rossa	2	0				0.0	0.0	2,133
	Independent Progressive Socialist	N/A	1	0				0.0	0.0	1,094
	Islamic Party	David Pidcock	4	0				0.0	0.0	1,085
	Revolutionary Communist	Frank Furedi	8	0				0.0	0.0	745
	Independent Nationalist	N/A	1	0				0.0	0.0	649
	Communist (PCC)	Jack Conrad	4	0				0.0	0.0	603

All parties with more than 500 votes shown. Plaid Cymru result includes votes for Green/Plaid Cymru Alliance.

Government's new majority	21
Total votes cast^[5]	33,614,074
Turnout	77.7%

1997 general election

1997 United Kingdom general election^[6]
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	Tony Blair	639	418	146	1	+145	63.4	43.2	13,518,167	+8.8
	Conservative	John Major	648	165	0	178	–178	25.0	30.7	9,591,085	–11.2
	Liberal Democrats	Paddy Ashdown	639	46	30	2	+28	7.0	16.8	5,242,947	–1.0
	Referendum	James Goldsmith	547	0	0	0	0		2.6	811,849	N/A
	SNP	Alex Salmond	72	6	3	0	+3	0.9	2.0	621,550	+0.1
	UUP	David Trimble	16	10	1	0	+1	1.5	0.8	258,349	0.0
	SDLP	John Hume	18	3	0	1	–1	0.5	0.6	190,814	+0.1
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Wigley	40	4	0	0	0	0.6	0.5	161,030	0.0
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	17	2	2	0	+2	0.3	0.4	126,921	0.0
	DUP	Ian Paisley	9	2	0	1	–1	0.3	0.3	107,348	0.0
	UKIP	Alan Sked	193	0	0	0	0		0.3	105,722	N/A
	Independent	N/A	25	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.2	64,482	0.0
	Alliance	John Alderdice	17	0	0	0	0		0.2	62,972	0.0
	Green	Peg Alexander and David Taylor	89	0	0	0	0		0.2	61,731	–0.2
	Socialist Labour	Arthur Scargill	64	0	0	0	0		0.2	52,109	N/A
	Liberal	Michael Meadowcroft	53	0	0	0	0		0.1	45,166	–0.1
	BNP	John Tyndall	57	0	0	0	0		0.1	35,832	0.0
	Natural Law	Geoffrey Clements	197	0	0	0	0		0.1	30,604	–0.1
	Speaker	Betty Boothroyd	1	1	1	0	0		0.1	23,969
	ProLife Alliance	Bruno Quintavalle	56	0	0	0	0		0.1	19,332	N/A
	UK Unionist	Robert McCartney	1	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.0	12,817	N/A
	PUP	Hugh Smyth	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	10,928	N/A
	National Democrats	Ian Anderson	21	0	0	0	0		0.0	10,829	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Peter Taaffe		0	0	0	0		0.0	9,906	N/A
	Scottish Socialist	Tommy Sheridan	16	0	0	0	0		0.0	9,740	N/A
	Independent	N/A	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	9,233	– 0.1
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	8,608	–0.1
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	24	0	0	0	0		0.0	7,906	–0.1
	Make Politicians History	Rainbow George Weiss	29	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,745	N/A
	NI Women's Coalition	Monica McWilliams and Pearl Sagar	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,024	N/A
	Workers' Party	Tom French	8	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,766	–0.1
	National Front	John McAuley	6	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,716	N/A
	Cannabis Law Reform	Howard Marks	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,085	N/A
	Socialist People's Party	Jim Hamezian	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,995	N/A
	Mebyon Kernow	Loveday Jenkin	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,906	N/A
	Scottish Green	Robin Harper	5	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,721
	Conservative Anti-Euro	Christopher Story	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,434	N/A
	Socialist (GB)	None	5	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,359	N/A
	Community Representative	Ralph Knight	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,290	N/A
	Neighborhood association		1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,263	N/A
	SDP	John Bates	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,246	–0.1
	Workers Revolutionary	Sheila Torrance	9	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,178	N/A
	Real Labour	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,117	N/A
	Independent Democrat	N/A		0	0	0	0		0.0	982
	Independent	N/A		0	0	0	0		0.0	890
	Communist	Mike Hicks	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	639
	Independent	N/A	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	593
	Green (NI)		1	0	0	0	0		0.0	539
	Socialist Equality	Davy Hyland	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	505

All parties with more than 500 votes shown. Labour total includes New Labour and "Labour Time for Change" candidates; Conservative total includes candidates in Northern Ireland (excluded in some lists) and "Loyal Conservative" candidate.^{[citation needed]}

The Popular Unionist MP elected in 1992 died in 1995, and the party folded shortly afterwards.

There was no incumbent Speaker in the 1992 election.

Government's new majority	179
Total votes cast	31,286,284
Turnout	71.3%

References

^ "London Borough Council Elections 13 May 1971" (PDF). London Datastore. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
^ F. W. S. Craig (1984), British Parliamentary Election Results, 1974-1983. Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services.
^ ^a ^b "British Parliamentary Election results 1983-97: English Counties". www.election.demon.co.uk.
^ "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
^ ^a ^b "General Election Results 9 April 1992" (PDF). parliament.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
^ Morgan, Bryn (February 1999). "General Election Results, 1 May 1997" (PDF). Factsheet No. 68. House of Commons Information Office. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2019.

[data-1] "London Borough Council Elections 13 May 1971" (PDF). London Datastore. Retrieved 25 December 2021.

[craig1-2] F. W. S. Craig (1984), British Parliamentary Election Results, 1974-1983. Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services.

[uker-3] "British Parliamentary Election results 1983-97: English Counties". www.election.demon.co.uk.

[4] "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

[M13-5] "General Election Results 9 April 1992" (PDF). parliament.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2011.

[1997-factsheet-6] Morgan, Bryn (February 1999). "General Election Results, 1 May 1997" (PDF). Factsheet No. 68. House of Commons Information Office. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2019.

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v t e John Major
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1990–1997) Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1987–1989) Foreign Secretary (1989) Chancellor of the Exchequer (1989–1990)
Politics	Premiership Major ministry First, 1990–1992 Second, 1992–1997 Shadow Cabinet One-nation conservatism Huntingdonshire Huntingdon
National	Budgets 1991 budget 1992 budget March 1993 budget November 1993 budget 1994 budget 1995 budget 1996 budget Citizen's Charter Charter Mark Cones Hotline Early 1990s recession Black Wednesday National Lottery Further and Higher Education Act 1992 Grant-maintained schools Maastricht Rebels 1993 Newbury by-election Northern Ireland peace process Downing Street mortar attack Downing Street Declaration 1993 reviews of the British honours system Council Tax Child Support Agency 1993 vote of confidence Back to Basics Privatisation of British Rail Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1995 Conservative Party leadership election Cullen Report (Dunblane massacre) Cash for Questions Committee on Standards in Public Life Arms-to-Iraq affair Scott Report United Kingdom BSE outbreak Wirral South by-election Resignation Honours
International	Gulf War Iraqi no-fly zones Sanctions against Iraq Harare Declaration Maastricht Treaty Bosnian War Operation Gabriel
General elections	1992 1997
European Parliament Election	1994
Party elections	1990 1995
Books	John Major: The Autobiography (1999) More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years (2007) My Old Man: A Personal History of Music Hall (2012)
Family	Norma Major (wife) Terry Major-Ball (brother) Tom Major-Ball (father)
Cultural depictions	Thatcher: The Final Days (TV, 1991) Independence Day UK (Radio, 1996) Margaret (TV, 2009) The Iron Lady (Film, 2011) The Audience (Play, 2013) The Crown season 5 (TV, 2022)
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