Premiership of John Major

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Major in 1993
Premiership of John Major 28 November 1990 – 2 May 1997
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Cabinet	First Major ministry Second Major ministry
Party	Conservative
Election	1992
Seat	10 Downing Street
← Margaret Thatcher Tony Blair →
Coat of Arms of HM Government

This article is part of a series about John Major
Electoral history MP for Huntingdon 1990 budget Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership First ministry and term (November 1990 – April 1992) 1990 leadership election Ministry Citizen's Charter Charter Mark Cones Hotline Early 1990s recession Gulf War 1992 general election Second ministry and term (April 1992 – May 1997) Ministry Black Wednesday National Lottery Further and Higher Education Act 1992 Grant-maintained schools Maastricht Treaty rebels Northern Ireland peace process Downing Street mortar attack Downing Street Declaration 1993 reviews of the British honours system Council Tax Child Support Agency 1993 vote of confidence Back to Basics Privatisation of British Rail Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 1995 Conservative Party leadership election The Cullen Reports Cash for Questions Committee on Standards in Public Life Arms-to-Iraq affair Scott Report United Kingdom BSE outbreak Wirral South by-election Resignation Honours Bibliography The Autobiography More Than a Game My Old Man
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John Major's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 28 November 1990 when he accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding Margaret Thatcher, and ended on 2 May 1997 upon his resignation. As prime minister, Major also served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Leader of the Conservative Party. Major's mild-mannered style and moderate political stance contrasted with that of Thatcher.

After Thatcher resigned as prime minister following a challenge to her leadership, Major entered the second stage of the contest to replace her and emerged victorious, becoming prime minister. Major went on to lead the Conservative Party to a fourth consecutive electoral victory at the 1992 election, the only election he won during his seven-year-premiership. Although the Conservatives lost 40 seats, they won over 14 million votes, which remains to this day a record for any British political party.

As prime minister, Major created the Citizen's Charter, removed the Poll Tax and replaced it with the Council Tax, committed British troops to the Gulf War, took charge of the UK's negotiations over the Maastricht Treaty of the European Union (EU),^[1] led the country during the early 1990s economic crisis, withdrew the pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (a day which came to be known as Black Wednesday), promoted the socially conservative back to basics campaign, passed further reforms to education and criminal justice, privatised the railways and coal industry, and also played a pivotal role in creating peace in Northern Ireland.^[2]

Internal Conservative Party divisions on the EU, a number of scandals involving Conservative MPs (widely known as "sleaze"), and questions about his economic credibility are seen as the main factors that led Major to resign as party leader in June 1995. However, he sought reelection as Conservative leader in the 1995 Conservative leadership election, and was comfortably re-elected. Notwithstanding, public opinion of his leadership was poor, both before and after. By December 1996, the government had lost its majority in the House of Commons due to a series of by-election defeats and an MP crossing the floor.^[3] Major sought to rebuild public trust in the Conservatives following a series of scandals, including the events of Black Wednesday in 1992,^[4][5] through campaigning on the strength of the economic recovery following the early 1990s recession, but faced divisions within the party over the UK's membership of the European Union.^[5]

The Conservatives lost the 1997 general election in a landslide to the opposition Labour Party led by Tony Blair, ending 18 years of Conservative government. After Blair succeeded Major as prime minister, Major served as Leader of the Opposition for seven weeks while the leadership election to replace him took place. He formed a temporary shadow cabinet, and Major himself served as shadow foreign secretary and shadow secretary of state for defence. His resignation as Conservative leader formally took effect in June 1997 following the election of William Hague.