The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday,1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labour Party led by Tony Blair,achieving a 179-seat majority and a total of 418 seats. This was the first victory for the Labour party in a general election in nearly 23 years,its previous one registering a majority of 3 seats in October 1974 under the leadership of Harold Wilson. It was also Labour's first comprehensive victory over the Conservatives since the 1966 election,which had produced a 100-seat majority. This election also marked Labour's highest vote share since the 1970 election and its second highest total number of votes in history. On the other hand,it was an ignominious end to the 18-year government of the Conservatives,the longest continuous period of government of any party in modern British history. This election marked the third-largest defeat ever suffered by the Conservatives with the party left with just 165 seats—it was left devoid of any MPs outside England,with only 17 MPs north of the Midlands,and with less than 20% of MPs in London. Additionally,the party also registered its lowest share of the vote since 1832 as well as its lowest vote in absolute terms since 1929.
Sir Roger James Gale is a British Conservative politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Herne Bay and Sandwich,formerly North Thanet,since 1983. He had a career in journalism and broadcasting from 1964,around the same time as he joined the Conservative Party,until 1983. He was a prominent and vocal critic of Boris Johnson during his leadership of the Conservative Party.
Theresa Anne Villiers is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chipping Barnet from 2005 to 2024,having previously served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2005. A member of the Conservative Party,Villiers was Minister of State for Rail and Aviation from 2010 to 2012,Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2012 to 2016 and Secretary of State for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs from 2019 to 2020.
Dover and Deal is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Mike Tapp representing the Labour Party.
The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010,to elect Members of Parliament to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system. The election resulted in a large swing to the opposition Conservative Party led by David Cameron similar to that seen in 1979,the last time a Conservative opposition had ousted a Labour government. The governing Labour Party led by the prime minister Gordon Brown lost the 66-seat majority it had previously enjoyed,but no party achieved the 326 seats needed for a majority. The Conservatives won the most votes and seats,but still fell 20 seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the second general election since the Second World War to return a hung parliament,the first being the February 1974 election. This election marked the start of Conservative government for the next 14 years.
Stewart James Jackson,Baron Jackson of Peterborough is a British politician and adviser. Jackson served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Peterborough from 2005 to 2017. After being ousted by Labour's Fiona Onasanya at the 2017 general election,he served as Chief of Staff,and Special Adviser to David Davis,Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union,until July 2018 when Davis resigned his position. He was made a member of the House of Lords as a life peer in November 2022.
Anthony Edward Timpson,is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Eddisbury in Cheshire from 2019 to 2024. He is a member of the Conservative Party.
Charles Brett Anthony Elphicke is a British former politician and convicted sex offender. As a member of the Conservative Party and later an independent,he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dover from 2010 to 2019.
Mark John Reckless is a British lawyer and former politician who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East from 2016 until 2021,having previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester and Strood from 2010 to 2015. Initially a member of the Conservative Party,he crossed the floor to join the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in September 2014. He has since changed parties a further three times.
The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 May 2015 to elect 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. It was the first of three general elections to be held under the rules of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 and was the last general election to be held before the United Kingdom voted to end its membership of the European Union (EU) in June 2016. Local elections took place in most areas of England on the same day and is to date the most recent general election to coincide with local elections. The governing Conservative Party led by the prime minister,David Cameron,won an unexpected victory;opinion polls and political commentators had predicted that the results of the election would cause a second consecutive hung parliament whose composition would be similar to the previous Parliament,which was in effect from the previous national election in 2010. However,opinion polls underestimated the Conservatives,as they won 330 of the 650 seats and 36.9 per cent of the votes,giving them a majority of ten seats.
The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017,two years after the previous general election in 2015;it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing Conservative Party led by the prime minister Theresa May remained the largest single party in the House of Commons but lost its small overall majority,resulting in the formation of a Conservative minority government with a confidence and supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland.
Melanie Onn is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes since 2024. A member of the Labour Party,she previously served as MP for Great Grimsby from 2015 to 2019,Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons from September 2015 to June 2016 and Shadow Minister for Housing from July 2017 to March 2019. At the 2019 general election,she lost her seat to the Conservative candidate,Lia Nici-Townend.
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday,12 December 2019,with 47,567,752 registered voters entitled to vote to elect 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. The governing Conservative Party led by the prime minister,Boris Johnson,won a landslide victory with a majority of 80 seats,a net gain of 48,on 43.6 per cent of the popular vote,the highest percentage for any party since the 1979 general election,though with a narrower popular vote margin than that achieved by the Labour Party over the Conservatives at the 1997 general election. This was the second national election to be held in 2019 in the United Kingdom,the first being the 2019 European Parliament election.
Natalie Cecilia Elphicke is a British Labour Party politician and former finance lawyer. Elected for the Conservative Party at the 2019 general election,she succeeded her now ex-husband Charlie Elphicke as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dover after he was charged with sexual assault.
The region of South East England is divided into 84 parliamentary constituencies,which are made up of 23 borough constituencies and 61 county constituencies. Since the general election of December 2019,72 are represented by Conservative MPs,9 by Labour MPs,2 by Liberal Democrat MPs,and 1 by a Green MP.
Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho is a British politician and former investment banker who served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero from August 2023 to July 2024. A member of the Conservative Party,Coutinho has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Surrey since 2019 and as the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. She has been described as a close ally of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak,and as an ardent supporter of Brexit.
