November 1996 General Election:
November 1996 - Heseltine and Prescott fight the battle of their lives
Labour Party: 47% (426 MP's)
Conservative Party: 33.4% (185 MP's)
Liberal Democrats: 10.6% (19 MP's)
Others: 9% (29 MP's)
The campaign started on a good note for the Conservatives, Heseltine taking the Opposition by surprise by launching an early election. Running on a moderate yet modernizing manifesto Heseltine was particularly successful in taking advantage of Paddy Ashdown's left-turn for the Lib Dems, preventing key defections from voters into the Lib Dem camp. Yet by the second week Labour was fully adapted and prepared for battle, and John Prescott took the fight to the Conservatives with a fiery disposition and a burning desire for victory. Despite having neared 40% in the initial polls, Heseltine would soon see his numbers go down.
In retrospect, most political experts agree too many factors were against the Tories for Heseltine to overcome them all. Despite a strong economy and a change in government, the division of the party over Europe was as plain as ever, many MP's still defying Heseltine in the middle of the campaign. That had to be combined with the memory for Black Wednesday, the internal injuries of Major's resignation, the steady stream of "sleaze" scandals from MP's such as Neil Hamilton and, more important than anything, that the electorate was not inclined to give the Conservatives the benefit of the doubt after seventeen years in government. To make matters worse, the Referendum Party of Sir James Goldsmith captured about 3% of the vote despite poor organization, costing the Conservatives as much as twenty seats.
Labour didn't had a slick media operation (as Prescott refused to hand the campaign to modernizers like Peter Mandelson), but it compensated with a deep sense of Conservative fatigue, a strong and clear message (if significantly to the left) and above all, the charisma and appeal of John Prescott. Widely mocked by the Conservatives due to his confusing sentences, lack of syntaxis and his rough manners, his attitude was well received and even embraced as fresh by the voters, in deep desire for something new [1]. Compared to the sheer energy behind Labour, the Liberal Democrats failed to make a serious impact in the polls and the public debate, sinking rapidly.
The night was a hard one for the Conservatives as seat after seat fell to Labour, although Heseltine's approach and campaign strategy was believed to have saved at least a couple dozen seats from capture by the Lib Dems. Several government ministers like Ian Lang, Edwina Currie, Malcolm Rifkind and Michael Forsyth fell, but the toughest blow was when Chancellor of the Exchequer Michael Portillo lost his seat to Labour. The Lib Dems faced a gloomy night as well, with a net gain of 1 MP (losing several seats won in by-elections), the loss of almost half their voteshare and the fall of key MP's to Labour in Simon Hughes, Robert Maclennan, Vince Cable and particularly Charles Kennedy.
Speaking with beaming confidence and joy, John Prescott declared a new dawn for Britain to end almost two decades of Conservative governments. On their own side, Michael Heseltine and Paddy Ashdown decided to stay on for a few months to stabilize their parties, and then hold a leadership election.
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[1] In this case, Prescott being a sort of Boris Johnson in terms of appeal.
Poll
