John Major
John Major was a Conservative politician, member of the Parliament, and prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Contents
History
Major became involved in politics through the Young Conservatives. In 1964 he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the local council of Lambeth, a borough of London. He ran again in 1968 and won, serving for 3 years before losing the seat in 1971.
Major also contested safe Labour seats in the February 1974 general elections and October 1974 snap elections. Finally he was selected for a safe Conservative seat in Huntingdonshire, and won a seat in the Parliament in the May 1979 general elections. He rose through the party as a whip, and was appointed to the cabinet in 1987. He briefly served as foreign secretary, but after 3 months was reappointed as chancellor.
Thatcher faced leadership challenges in December 1989 and again in November 1990. While she won the first ballot of the second challenge with a slim majority, the government's support was shaken; she was advised by the cabinet, Major included, to step down in favor of an establishment candidate more likely to win. When she did withdraw her candidacy, Major received her endorsement. He won the second ballot with a plurality two votes shy of an outright majority, requiring a third ballot. Michael Heseltine and Douglas Hurd instead elected to withdraw their candidacies, leaving Major as the new leader and PM.
Much of Major's term was overshadowed by the 1990s recession and the 1992 sterling crisis. While he had led the party to victory in the April 1992 general elections, by 1994 Labour had picked up a new and much more popular leader in Blair. As expected, the general elections held in May 1997 saw a landslide defeat for the Conservatives. He quickly announced his resignation as party leader, and eventually chose to not contest the next general elections (held in June 2001).
He campaigned for Remain in the Brexit referendum.