UK general election, 1997

The 1997 UK general election brought the first change in UK Government for 18 years. The Labour Party led by Tony Blair defeated the incumbent Conservative Party, causing a major change to the political landscape of the United Kingdom.

Results

Out of the 659 Parliamentary Seats

• Labour: 418
• Conservatives: 165
• Liberal Democrats: 46
• Other : 30 (including, unusually, an Independent English MP - Martin Bell)

The result declared for the constituency of Winchester showed a margin of victory of just 2 votes for the Liberal Democrats. The defeated Conservative candidate challenged the result, forcing a by-election which was won by the Liberal Democrats with a much larger majority.

Overall Picture

The election has been described as a bloodbath for the ruling Tories. In addition to losing all their seats outside of England, several prominent members lost their seat, including Michael Portillo and Malcolm Rifkind. Labour achieved the largest parliamentary majority (177) in living memory, and the Liberal Democrats more than doubled their number of seats.