Case Studies of Elections

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General Election Case Study - 1979

An example of an important general election was the 1979 general election won by the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher.

In 1979, Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative party were elected, winning a small majority of 43 which increased in the 1983 and 1987 elections.

Election results can be explained by factors such as the party policies and manifesto, the political context of the election and the campaign run by each party.
- A party’s manifesto outlines the party’s programme of policies it aims to implement if elected.

A key reason for the Conservatives victory in 1979 was the weakness of the Labour government, which had lost a vote of no confidence in Parliament and had been regularly defeated in the House of Commons.
Callaghan was also seen as unable to control trade unions, who had been striking following attempts to impose a 5% limit on pay increases in early 1979, and his government was seen to be unable to address the social breakdown across the UK.
The country was recovering from the "Winter of Discontent", where there were mass strikes.

Margaret Thatcher used publicity specialists Tim Bell and Gordon Reece in her campaign and had a number of photo opportunities she took advantage of.
The Conservatives put pressure on Labour over the "Winter of Discontent" and their handling of the economy
Jim Callaghan, the Labour Party leader, was higher than Thatcher in the opinion polls with voters approving of his political experience.

Both Conservative and Labour Party manifestos were moderate and both parties prioritised lowering inflation.
Thatcher mentioned privatising recently nationalised industries and reducing trade union power, but did not outline the extent to which she would do so.

Another example of an important general election was the 1997 election won by Tony Blair.

In 1997, Tony Blair’s New Labour was elected with 418 seats, and the Labour Party remained in power until 2010.
In 1997, the Labour Party achieved a 179-seat majority.

The Conservatives were unpopular after the John Major government’s failings from the previous 5 years, and only won 30% of the vote.
- The Conservatives were viewed as weak on economic policy because of ‘Black Wednesday’ in 1992
- Despite economic improvement since then, many voters had not felt the benefits of the recovery through more investment in public services or tax cuts.
The Conservatives were involved in a number of sexual and financial scandals before the election, which weakened their appeal.

Labour used public relations experts to handle the media in the election and used focus groups in order to better understand the opinion of the public.
Labour’s campaign involved targeting marginal seats, which are seats that have a small majority and only require a small swing of the vote for a new party to win it.

Tony Blair’s ‘New Labour’ had modernised policy, in which the party moved away from traditional Labour policies of increasing taxes, strengthening trade unions and nationalisation.
- New Labour was tough on law and order and Blair emphasised his links to business.
- Labour emphasised itself as a moderate party that appealed to ‘Middle England’
- Labour’s constitutional reform policy appealed to Liberal Democrat voters who supported Labour in seats which their candidates had no chance of winning.

A third example of an important general election was the 2010 election, which led to a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.

In 2010, the Conservative Party were the largest party with 306 seats.
But, they were short of a majority so formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

The 2010 election followed the 2008 financial crisis which took place when Gordon Brown was prime minister, and gave the Conservatives a means to attack his policies and time as leader.
- Brown was unpopular for not calling a general election when he took over as prime minister from Tony Blair in 2007.
- Voters did not clearly favour the Conservatives over Labour, with polls suggesting 29% of voters felt that the Conservatives would be best for managing the economy compared to 26% for Labour.

Television debates were held with the three main party leaders David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg.
- Nick Clegg performed particularly well and saw an increase in the opinion polls after the first debate, whilst Gordon Brown was seen to have performed worse.
- The Conservatives targeted marginal seats and market-tested their policies with voters, whilst Labour had a weak campaign.
- Gordon Brown was heard calling a voter a ‘bigoted woman’ who had asked him about immigration.

The main parties all focused on policies to reduce the budget deficit and making savings.
- The Conservatives stated the need for immediate cuts, whilst Labour and the Liberal Democrats wanted more gradual public spending cuts.
The Conservatives targeted Labour’s economic policy in government, which they said included overspending and failing to regulate the banking system.
- This was a successful approach and a view shared by voters.