The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Category: 1997

  • Mr Major’s Speech to 1997 Conservative Party Conference – 20 October 1997

    The text of John Major’s speech to the 1997 Conservative Party Conference, held in Blackpool in October 1997.

    JOHN MAJOR:

    Life has changed a little since I last spoke to you at Bournemouth: changed for you and for me. Five months ago, we lost the election. Like you, I wish events had been kinder to us but – on this occasion – it was not to be. So, today, my first task is to thank the British nation for the trust they placed in Conservative governments over 18 years.

    This year they made a different choice and as democrats we respect their decision – but as politicians we must work to change it at the first available opportunity.

    It’s no great secret how I feel about this Party. It’s the Party I grew up with, that fashioned the chances I had in life, that is full of people who share my hopes and values. To everyone who works in our constituencies in good days and bad – I’d like to say ‘thank you.’ ‘Thank you’ on behalf of our Party and ‘thank you’ for all the warmth and support you have always given to Norma and to me.

    On my first day as Prime Minister, I set out an ambition to build a ‘nation at ease with itself.’

    As I look around today, at the growing confidence of our Nation, at the glittering economic prospects, at the rising growth, the strong trading position, the low inflation, the falling unemployment, the low interest rates, the strong pound, the increasing number of young people in higher education, the rising level of savings and record personal well-being, then I sometimes wonder if we did not build better than we knew. If there is a New Britain, we built it.

    So when the Government boasts about the economy – it’s our economy. When they boast of falling unemployment – it’s our fall in unemployment.

    And – now I think about it – isn’t it odd. Those unemployment figures John Prescott said were ‘fiddled’ are now a triumph for New Labour as they march to the New Jerusalem. Or – as it’s probably now called – the People’s new, New Jerusalem.

    Our election defeat was not your defeat. Perhaps it was mine. Perhaps divided views – expressed without restraint – in the Parliamentary Party made our positions impossible. Perhaps it was the weariness of 18 years in government. Perhaps the democratic instinct of our Nation simply sensed it was time for a change. Probably it was some of all of these things.

    Rather than brood over it, we must accept our defeat as gracefully as we can; we should not waste time in pointless recrimination; we should work in the towns and the cities and the villages and begin to build for the future and the next Conservative Government.

    A few moments ago, we heard that you have endorsed William Hague’s election as Leader and the need for reform of the Party by a massive majority in a far larger vote than anyone expected.

    William is right. We need reform – but we don’t need to re-write every policy. Or change our name. Or deny our past. Or betray the philosophy that built us up. But neither can we leave things as they are.

    It’s a simple choice: reform the Party, back William Hague, re-discover the art of working together, fight every seat for every vote – or fight one another and lose elections.

    I know my choice. I’m backing William. I’m backing him because he’s an able man of talent and integrity with a tough job ahead.

    It’s difficult being the leader of a newly defeated Party. For a while, people won’t wish to listen to what we have to say. But that will pass. The tide will turn and – as the local election results are already suggesting – perhaps more speedily than anyone imagines. If anyone is fearful of our future, they should have heard Jane and Munish a few moments ago, for that is the future of the Conservative Party.

    In the meantime, we must use the time wisely. Party reform – yes. But we must also look at the things we left undone or uncompleted. Education reforms; market reforms; how to make better health care available; a fresh look at reviving local government – a big job there; more welfare reform; the people being left behind as prosperity grows.

    We now have the luxury of time to think anew – and we should use it to build up policies that the broad mass of the British people will know are right – and feel comfortable with.

    I propose to give William Hague the unqualified support – in public and in private – that he has a right to expect from his predecessor. If I should disagree with William, I’ll do it in private, not on College Green, not on the media, not in anonymous briefings to the Press that breed suspicion and distrust. And I’m backing reform because never again must we be constitutionally powerless to deal with people whose behaviour is damaging the Party as a whole.

    The Prime Minister said last week this was ‘the giving age.’ Well, he should know. Because we’ve given him a glowing inheritance. Not just the economy – excellent though it is. We gave him the route map to the settlement in Northern Ireland that I long to see. We gave him the ‘opt out’ from a single currency that – now the information is to hand – he should use without delay and say: ‘the economic case is not yet right: we will not be joining in 1999.’ And we gave him a lottery that – even after they’ve raided it – is still helping charities, schools, village clubs, arts and sport at local level on a truly massive scale.

    It’s good to give. And we should remind people what we gave.

    I’m confident about our future: ignore the pessimists – we can beat Labour. Never forget, their swollen majority is made up from far, far fewer votes than we polled in 1992. Our history might have been different if our votes had delivered Labour’s sort of majority in 1992.

    As I end, I’d like to say something else about the Party. Remember what we are.

    Remember that our Party has served its country in government more often and longer and better than any democratic party in the whole history of western politics.

    As we’ve seen, even such a party can be beaten at the polls. But the Conservative family can only be defeated from within.

    At the end of this week, there’s one strong message that I long to hear from this Conference:

    We are the Conservative Party.

    We exist to serve a nation that is Conservative by instinct.

    We will be back.

  • Mr Major’s Commons Statement on Re-Election of Betty Boothroyd as Speaker – 15 May 1997

    The text of Mr Major’s Commons statement on the re-election of Betty Boothroyd as Speaker of the House of Commons in May 1997.

    LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION:

    Mr Major: Madam Speaker-Elect, I am delighted to join the Prime Minister in congratulating you on your re-election to the Chair following the excellent speeches by the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody) and my right hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Mr. MacGregor), and a cherished contribution by the right hon. Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Benn).

    When you first became our Speaker, you did so with substantial cross-party support. Your success is shown by the fact that you were re-elected today without opposition and with cross-party acclamation. We are all delighted to see you back in the Chair of our House. I know that in that Chair you will continue to display for all of us-–long-serving Members and new Members alike-–the qualities that have been evident in the past few years: fairness, common sense and, when needed, as sometimes in a fractious House it is, a touch of toughness distilled with good humour, to keep the order that is necessary to allow our debates to flow properly.

    This House is a house of tradition, and it is a good tradition that in a new Parliament we meet first with a single common purpose-–the election of our Speaker. In a Parliament in which-–who knows?-–many disputes may lie ahead, it is comforting to begin on a matter on which there is complete unanimity: to restore you to the Chair of our proceedings.

    We in the House expect a great deal of our Speaker. The job specification is pretty daunting: the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon are only the basic requirements. We demand also impartiality, independence and fairness. We also like the Speaker to call us when we wish to speak and never to call those that we do not especially wish to hear. Sadly, Madam Speaker-Elect, you occasionally disappoint us on both counts from time to time, and we all have to get used to that.

    Of course, the Speaker must also tolerantly accept the patently bogus points of order that are raised from time to time, and do so with a limited air of patience.

    Madam Speaker-Elect, if I may be permitted to interject a note of controversy about an old friend, the appointment to office of the new Minister for Sport may slightly reduce your burden in that respect. It may be thought that it would be impossible for a House to produce such a paragon to govern its affairs, yet it does, and has in the past. In the past five years, Madam Speaker-Elect, it has become obvious that it has done so yet again.

    It is often said in the House that the rights of Back Benchers are as sacred as those of Front Benchers. It is usually said by Back Benchers, and invariably Front Benchers pay lip service to that principle. I find myself in a unique position in the House. There are lots of Front Benchers, and even more Back Benchers who wish to be Front Benchers; I am a Front Bencher who wishes in due course to become a Back Bencher, so let me assert that the rights of Back Benchers are as important as those of Front Benchers. On Front Bench or Back Bench, Madam Speaker-Elect, I am happy to leave my fate in your safe hands.

    Madam Speaker-Elect, the House has always expected a great deal of its Speaker. Of one of your 19th-century predecessors it was said:

    “The manner in which he lives-–his house, his table, his demeanour-–render his receptions the most pleasing and magnificent possible”.

    Today-–in that respect, at least-–we are a little less demanding. I promise you that we do not expect to be feasted on fish, fowl and claret at the end of each of our debates-–in that sense, you are better off.

    The bargain cuts both ways, does it not? How much better off are we today than the House was under another of your predecessors, Mr. Speaker Manners Sutton, whose initial qualities for being Speaker were that he

    “never . . . appeared to pay any attention to the privileges or orders of the House”?

    As to his knowledge of Parliament, it was said:

    “Some inconvenience will at first arise from his want of knowledge”.

    More chaos than inconvenience, I would think from my experience of this House. I warmly welcome all the new Members of Parliament from all parties to what is I believe the most remarkable institution in the world. I hope that they will enjoy their stay here, however long or short it may be. None of the new or old Members who has followed the proceedings of the House under your guidance, Madam Speaker-Elect, would say anything other than how fortunate we are to have your knowledge, your industry and your almost unfailing good humour at our service.

    Today, your office is both much more demanding and much more professional than it has been at any stage in our long history. You are charged with protecting the rights of the House and with imposing good order, even in moments of high drama. Whether we are Front Benchers or Back Benchers, we owe it to you to help you to do so. We owe it to you in the interests of good debate, good order and the reputation of this House. Madam Speaker-Elect, may good fortune always attend you. I wish you every satisfaction in carrying out the duties of your historic office.

  • Mr Major’s Statement at CCO on the morning of 2 May 1997

    The speech made by Mr Major’s at Conservative Central Office on the morning of 2nd May 1997.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    [Applause]

    Thank you very much for being here.

    Thank you above all for all you’ve done in the last few weeks and the last few months. I know how hard so many of you have worked, I know how much you have sacrificed, given up, hoped, dreamed for a different result and a different outcome tonight.

    It hasn’t proved that way, I don’t think there was much that we left undone that we could have done, there are some times in politics when the ball just rolls in the opposite direction, and there isn’t a great deal that you can do about it. I don’t think it is in our best interests to spend our time in the immediate future doing anything other than preparing for what lies ahead, not just in the short term but in the medium term.
    Politics is a rough old trade. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. But when you don’t, you just speak back, ask yourself why you didn’t, and put yourself in a position to make sure that next time…

    [phone rings in background]

    …That next time you get it right, and you do win. I’ve been in the Conservative Party for as long as I can remember. I guess many of the people in this room joined the Conservative Party as soon as they could as well. And we joined it for the same reasons, we didn’t join it just for the nights when you win, just for the easy victories from time to time. We didn’t join it for the office, we didn’t join it for the spoils.
    We joined it because we care about what it stands for and we care about what it can do for this country. Now we have been in being as a party for longer than any other democratic party in Western Europe, we’ve won more elections, and lost a few on the route. But we’ve won more elections, perhaps served in government longer, more often, and better in the interests of our country than in the interests of any other democratic party.

    [applause]

    And we will do so again.

    [applause]

    Tonight we have suffered a very bad defeat, let us not pretend to ourselves that it was anything other than what it was. Unless we accept it for what it was, and look at it, we will be less able to put it right.

    We’ve lost some very good servants of the party, people who have devoted a huge amount of their life to the service of this country and to the service of this party.

    We have lost, temporarily I hope, some colleagues, both senior and not so senior, who still have a lot of service to give this country and this party, and will I hope be back where they should be in the House of Commons, serving us all.

    [applause]

    And they lost, from what I saw of it, with a dignity which made me proud of this party.

    We now have a job to do, all of us.

    [phone rings in background]

    They told me the technological age was a good thing

    Forgive me, if from time to time, I have a small leave to doubt whether that’s absolutely entirely true.

    We’ll have to regroup, we’ll have to sit back, I hope that everyone will go away and have a rest, you’ve earned it. Not for too long! And then we’ll begin to work again.

    There’s a job to do in opposition, to be in opposition in Parliament is a pretty honourable way of life. To make sure that the government of the day is kept under close scrutiny. We’ll deal fairly if they do what we think is right for our country, we’ll support them, if they do what we think is wrong for our country, we’ll oppose them as vigorously as we can, with every member we have and every party worker we have up and down the country.

    I know tonight is not a night for cheers and champagne for us. It’s a night to look back, I hope with some pride, at the changes we have made to our country in the last eighteen years.

    [applause]

    I first entered Parliament 18 years ago tomorrow, I think, and the difference in our country is a difference you could not express unless you remembered what it was like in May 1979 when the Conservatives first came to government.

    Many people who voted in this General Election perhaps never knew that, for they had never known anything in their adult lives but Conservative Government. And others, perhaps, had not remembered precisely what it was like.

    Well, I said a moment ago that this party had served longer in government than any other. We’ve suffered great defeats before.

    We have always come back.

    [applause]

    And we have always come back because there is something in the Conservative philosophy and the Conservative instinct that runs absolutely with the grain of the British instinct. We must make sure that we re-discover that, not just in the interests of our party but in the interests of our country.

    I would just say two final things, three final things.

    Firstly, perhaps, I can re-iterate to this group here, all these faces I’ve come to know so well. In some cases over many years, in some cases more recently.

    If you may forgive me repeating something I said a little earlier, and you may possibly have seen.

    I think here of all places is place to pay tribute to some of the people who have done so much to help over recent years. The party chairman, not here now, but on his way here and I hope shortly here. And to those colleagues who we have lost.

    And on a more personal basis, although I have temporarily mislaid her, Norma.

    [applause]

    So right OK, we lost. So go away for the weekend, relax, fire yourself up again, and then come back. For when you come back at the beginning of next week we have a job to do and we’ll start doing it.

    [applause]

  • Mr Major’s Resignation Statement – 2 May 1997

    The text of Mr Major’s speech made outside Downing Street on 2nd May 1997.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Good morning. I said most of what I wish to say when I had the opportunity of speaking last evening. Perhaps, there are just one or two things it would be appropriate to add this morning.

    It has been an immense privilege to serve as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom over the past 6 1/2 years. It is a privilege which comes to very few people and it is a very precious privilege indeed.

    I hope, as I leave Downing Street this morning, that I can say with some accuracy that the country is in far better shape than it was when I entered Downing Street.

    The economy is booming, interest rates are low and inflation is low and unemployment is falling.

    The growth pattern is well set, the health service is expanding, the education service is improving and the crime statistics are falling.

    All of those I think are benevolent improvements in the interests of all of the people of this country. I believe the incoming government … to whom I repeat my warm congratulations upon their success … the incoming government will inherit the most benevolent set of economic statistics of any incoming government since before the First World War.

    I hope very much in the interests of the whole British nation that they are successful in retaining this economy in the future.

    If I may, I would like to clear up one area of speculation that I know has been abroad a little over the last few days.

    I have been a Member of Parliament for 18 years. I have been a member of the Government for 14 years, of the Cabinet for ten years and Prime Minister since 1990. When the curtain falls it is time to get off the stage and that is what I propose to do.

    I shall, therefore, advise my parliamentary colleagues that it would be appropriate for them to consider the selection of a new leader of the Conservative Party to lead the party through Opposition through the years that lie immediately ahead.

    This will necessarily take a little while to organise. Parliament must meet and the Members of Parliament must make their own consideration of the matter.

    Naturally, I shall remain at the service of the party during what I hope will be a reasonably brief interregnum.

    I should just like if I may to add one final thought. During the 6 1/2 years I have been in Downing Street there have been innumerable kindnesses from a huge number of people, many of whom I have never met, and never heard from except by way of their individual kindness.

    I would like to take this opportunity, if I may, to extend my thanks to them and the other millions of people in the British nation who have always given me their trust and the kindnesses to which I referred. I hope you will forgive me if I say no more this morning. I believe, as you know, I have an appointment with Her Majesty the Queen in a few moments to tender my resignation so that a new Government may then be formally appointed.

    I propose to see Her Majesty in just a few moments. The second reason I shall say no more now is that after that I hope that Norma and I will be able, with the children, to get to The Oval in time for lunch and for some cricket this afternoon. Thank you all very much indeed.

  • Review of Economy – 2 May 1997

    Below is Mr Major’s account, from his book, John Major – The Autobiography, relating to the status of the economy.

    JOHN MAJOR:

    As I left office the figures told the story of the fall and rise of the economy. On the day I became Prime Minister the tax burden was 36.3%.

    On 1st May 1997 it was 36.6%, which, over the span, puts our tax record in a proper perspective. During my premiership interest rates fell from 14% to 6%; unemployment was at 1.75 million when I took office, and at 1.6 million and falling on my departure; and the government’s annual borrowing rose from £0.5 billion to nearly £46 billion at its peak before falling to £1 billion. The economy was growing by only around 0.5% in 1990, shrinking by 1.5% in 1991 before recovering to grow by 3.5% in 1997. During the depths of the recession I inherited, all the economic indicators worsened, but they had all been corrected by May 1997. Above all, we had broken the inflationary psychology that has so bedevilled our economy. In November, the rate of inflation was 9.7%. In May 1997 it was 2.6%. It was a fine legacy.

  • General Election Night 1997 – 1 May 1997

    The text of Mr Major’s account, from his book, John Major – The Autobiography, relating to the General Election night of May 1st 1997.

    JOHN MAJOR:

    At 10pm, ballot boxes all over Britain were sealed, and the television companies revealed the results of their exit polls. They warned us what the outcome would be. Then the results began coming in. Conservative seats tumbled, with little regard to the quality of the candidate of their views about the single currency or any other matter. I sat in the sitting room alone with Norma watching the results. We said little, except to express sadness at particular results. Arabella, Howell James and Norma’s secretary, Lorne Roper-Caldbeck sat in another room, while Sheila Gunn and Shirley Stotter based themselves in the kitchen. Elizabeth, James and their partners Luke and Elaine mooched restlessly from room to room with consoling words.

    At about 2am I asked Alex Allan to get Tony Blair on the telephone, so that I could congratulate him on his success. I spoke to the new prime minister from my study, with a gloomy Howell James at my side. I can remember little of what I said, I was so exhausted, but we were both friendly enough. There was much noise in the background in his constituency of Sedgefield – the beginning of celebrations, no doubt. Then I left for my own count.

    It was a subdued affair. No one quite knew where to look or what to say when Norma and I arrived. Everyone seemed downcast, and even our opponents were not remotely triumphant. I saw how the count was progressing, chatted to the other candidates, and waited in an adjoining room, watching the election coverage on television. There were rumours that Michael Portillo had lost his seat, and pictures of Gillian Shephard at her count, sitting on an upturned box and shaking her head sadly. Thankfully, she won, but many others had not.

    …

    Central Office was a mixture of long faces, etched with tiredness, and forced jollity. But they cheered and clapped and were wonderful. I thanked all the workers, made a brief speech from the stairs, shared a drink or two, and then, for the final time as prime minister, set off for the place that had been my home for the last few years, 10 Downing Street.

  • Mr Major’s Comments on Labour Mistruths – 24 April 1997

    The text of Mr Major’s comments on Labour mistruths, made on 24th April 1997.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    They’ve spent ages with posters saying VAT on food, they know that that isn’t remotely likely under any conceivable Government at any time in the future, they know that that isn’t true. And what they have said about the state retirement pension is absolutely scurrilous.

  • Mr Major’s Comments on the European Union – 22 April 1997

    The text of Mr Major’s comments on the European Union, made on 22nd April 1997.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    There is now very clearly exposed a sharp dividing line between the parties on Europe.

    I say no to handing more powers to Brussels in a new employment chapter, Mr Blair says yes.

    I say no to the extensions of qualified majority voting, Mr Blair says yes.

    I say no to new powers to the European Parliament, Mr Blair says yes.

    On European control of foreign policy, Mr Blair says maybe, which means yes.

  • Mr Major’s Comments on GM Schools – 21 April 1997

    The text of Mr Major’s comments on grant-maintained schools, made on 21st April 1997.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    At the moment, a large amount of money is siphoned off by the education authority. Some of it does need to be as there are some things the education authority needs to do for the schools. But there’s a huge variety across the country about how much is creamed off by the local education authority. And that means that many schools are not actually getting the money per pupil that the Government intended them to get per pupil.

  • Conservative Party Election Broadcast – 18 April 1997

    The text of the Conservative Party Election Broadcast, shown on 18th April 1997.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Good Evening.

    This election is about jobs, it’s about education, it’s about health. It’s about people’s prosperity both at the moment and in the future.

    But there is becoming one central defining issue that is raised on door-step after door-step: and I would like to address it this evening. Is Britain going to join a Federal Europe or is she not? I am not in favour of a Federal Europe. I am not in favour of a Federal Europe because it takes decisions away from the British Parliament that are property those for the British Parliament. If we in Parliament make mistakes – and sometimes we do – Parliament can reverse those mistakes. It can repeal the wrong laws. If we pass powers to Europe so that those laws are made on a European basis and they turn out to be wrong, they are irreversible. There is no chance of repealing. For that reason and for many others, I don’t believe we should hand our employment policy and matters affecting British jobs and British prosperity to Brussels. So no, I am not in favour of a Federal Europe. I am flatly opposed to it.

    And then there is the wider and deeper question that I know concerns many of the people watching this broadcast. Should sterling enter a single currency if our European partners decide to proceed with it? Are there advantages in it? Yes, there are. There are advantages in it. If a single currency were to be formed and if if it were to be successful, it might extend a zone of low inflation permanently right across Europe.

    But are there risks? Yes, there are very deep risks and we have to consider those as well. What is the core element of a single currency that gives rise to such caution amongst the British nation? I believe it’s the fear that inexorably, sometimes almost invisibly, we are being dragged further and further into a position where more and more decisions are being taken away from the British Parliament and decided collectively by the European heads of government in Brussels. I have not a shred of intention, neither has any member of my Cabinet or any member of my Party so far as I am aware, of surrendering the responsibility for taxation or expenditure to our European partners or indeed to anybody else – they are matters for our Parliament and for so long as I am leader of the Conservative Party, for so long as The Conservative Party is in government, there is no question of such powers remotely being transferred away from the British Parliament

    I said this was a central issue. I think it is a defining issue as well. I will negotiate for Britain in these negotiations, firstly at Amsterdam on a Federal Europe and later on a single European currency. l am therefore in a different position from anybody else in this country when I conduct those negotiations. When I have concluded those negotiations – and do not ask me to set out every aspect of how I will negotiate now, for you will tie my hands in dealing with our European partners if I set out precisely what I would do in detail they would know precisely how to respond to it. Everybody in this country who plays cards would never put their cards face up on a table and then expect to win the game. But when I have finished the negotiations, I will come back and I will make a recommendation about a single European currency, whether we should join or whether we should not join, to the British Cabinet. The Cabinet will accept that or reject it. If it accepts that we should proceed for example, they will ask Parliament If Parliament accepts we should proceed, then that would not be the end of the matter.

    For this is a matter of such overriding importance – there has been no matter like this in peace time, in the living political memory of anyone. This is of such importance that in those circumstances, there would be a referendum on the single question of whether we should enter a single European currency or not. It would be a referendum open to every adult in the country.

    I will not take Britain into a single currency. Only the British nation can do that. Upon that, you may be certain.