1997 Conservative Party leadership election
The 1997 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered when John Major resigned as leader on 2 May 1997, following his party's landslide defeat at the 1997 general election, which ended 18 years of Conservative Government of the United Kingdom. Major had been Conservative leader and prime minister since November 1990.
Image: William Hague MP (3156637603) (cropped)
Image: Kenneth Clarke (2011)
Image: Official portrait of Rt Hon John Redwood MP crop 2
Clarke (pictured) had led the first two rounds of balloting but lost in the final run-off against Hague.
Sir John Major is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. He previously held Cabinet positions under prime minister Margaret Thatcher, his last as chancellor of the Exchequer from 1989 to 1990. Major was Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Huntingdonshire, from 1979 to 2001. Since stepping down as an MP in 2001, Major has focused on writing and his business, sporting and charity work, and has occasionally commented on political developments in the role of an elder statesman.
Major in 1995
St Matthew's Church, Brixton where John and Norma Major married in 1970
A demonstration against the deployment of cruise missiles at RAF Molesworth in the early 1980s
Prime Minister John Major and President Bill Clinton deliver press statements outside Downing Street in 1995
