John Major in the context of "Huntingdon"

Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne CH PC KC (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including Secretary of State for Employment, Secretary of State for the Environment and Home Secretary.

Howard was born in Swansea to a Jewish family, his father from Romania and his mother from Wales. He studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge, following which he joined the Young Conservatives. In 1964, he was called to the bar and became a Queen's Counsel in 1982. He first became a Member of Parliament at the 1983 general election, representing the constituency of Folkestone and Hythe. This quickly led to his promotion and Howard became Minister for Local Government in 1987. Under the premiership of John Major, he served as Secretary of State for Employment (1990–1992), Secretary of State for the Environment (1992–1993) and home secretary (1993–1997).

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, which achieved 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 near 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 (the largest being the 1951 election). 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 (the largest being the 2024 election) 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. This would be the last election until 2024 that the Conservatives decreased their share of the vote.

Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chingford and Woodford Green, formerly Chingford, since 1992.

The son of W. G. G. Duncan Smith, a Royal Air Force flying-ace, Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh and raised in Solihull. After education at the HMS Conway training school and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he served in the Scots Guards from 1975 to 1981, seeing tours in Northern Ireland and in Rhodesia. He joined the Conservative Party in 1981. After unsuccessfully contesting Bradford West in 1987, he was elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election. He was a backbencher during the premiership of John Major (in office from 1990 to 1997). In the shadow cabinet of William Hague, Duncan Smith served as Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security between 1997 and 1998, and as Shadow Secretary of State for Defence from 1998 to 2001.

The 1992 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 April 1992, to elect 651 members to the House of Commons. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major won a fourth consecutive election victory, with a majority of 21. This would be the last time that the Conservatives would win an overall majority at a general election until 2015 and the last general election to be held on a day which did not coincide with any local elections until 2017. This election result took many by surprise, as opinion polling leading up to the election day had shown a narrow but consistent lead for the Labour Party under leader Neil Kinnock during a period of recession and declining living standards.

John Major had won the leadership election in November 1990 following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher. During his first term leading up to the 1992 election he oversaw the British involvement in the Gulf War, introduced legislation to replace the unpopular Community Charge with Council Tax, and signed the Maastricht Treaty. Britain was sliding into its second recession in a decade at the time of Major's appointment.

Huntingdon is a constituency west of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire and including its namesake town of Huntingdon. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Ben Obese-Jecty of the Conservative Party.

Before 2024, Huntingdon was considered a safe Conservative seat and was the seat of John Major, the Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997.

Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. British athletes have competed in every single Summer Olympic Games. 300 competitors, 184 men and 116 women, took part in 175 events in 22 sports. The Atlanta games saw Great Britain's worst performance at a Summer Olympics since 1952, finishing in 36th position with a single gold medal, and 15 medals overall.

The "rock bottom" British performance at the Atlanta Olympics led to a period of soul searching about the state of British sport. Insufficient funding was identified as a major factor in the poor performance, and this led to a wholesale reform of how elite sports were funded, organised and supported in the UK: At the instigation of the then Prime Minister John Major, UK Sport was created the following year, a public body which distributes National Lottery funding for elite sports. Previously, due to a lack of funding, cyclist Chris Boardman had acclimatised to the humidity of Atlanta by practicing in his home bathroom with the shower turned on, and divers Bob Morgan and Tony Ally sold their Olympic kits while in Atlanta in order to raise funds. Leon Taylor, who would win a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, suggested the public humiliation for the British Olympic Association from the newspaper stories about Morgan & Ally's actions obligated them to bring in better athlete funding. Nevertheless, the single gold medal won by rowers Matthew Pinsent and Steve Redgrave ensured that Great Britain maintained its record of winning at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympics.

Sir Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Somerset, formerly Woodspring, from 1992 to 2024.

Fox studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and worked as a GP and civilian army medical GP before being elected as an MP. After holding several ministerial roles under John Major, Fox served as Constitutional Affairs Spokesman from 1998 to 1999, Shadow Health Secretary from 1999 to 2003, Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2003 to 2005, Shadow Foreign Secretary in 2005 and Shadow Defence Secretary from 2005 to 2010.

William Jefferson Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond (born 26 March 1961) is a British politician and life peer who was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2001 and Deputy Leader from 2005 to 2010. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond (Yorks) in North Yorkshire from 1989 to 2015. He was in the Cameron government as First Secretary of State from 2010 to 2015, Foreign Secretary from 2010 to 2014, and Leader of the House of Commons from 2014 to 2015. He has been Chancellor of the University of Oxford since February 2025.

Hague was educated at Wath-upon-Dearne Comprehensive School, the University of Oxford and INSEAD, subsequently being elected to the House of Commons at a by-election in 1989. Hague quickly rose through the ranks of the government of John Major and was appointed to Cabinet in 1995 as Secretary of State for Wales. Following the Conservatives' defeat at the 1997 general election by the Labour Party, he was elected Leader of the Conservative Party at the age of 36. Hague resigned as Conservative leader after the 2001 general election following his party's second defeat, at which the Conservatives made a net gain of just one seat. He returned to the backbenches, pursuing a career as an author, writing biographies of William Pitt the Younger and William Wilberforce. He also held several directorships, and worked as a consultant and public speaker. He was the first Leader of the Conservative Party since Austen Chamberlain (1921–1922) never to assume the office of Prime Minister.

George Gideon Oliver Osborne CH (born 23 May 1971) is a British retired politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the Cameron government. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton from 2001 to 2017.

The son of the Osborne & Little co-founder and baronet Sir Peter Osborne, Osborne was born in Paddington and educated at Norland Place School, Colet Court and St Paul's School, London before studying at the University of Oxford as an undergraduate student of Magdalen College, Oxford. After working briefly as a freelancer for The Daily Telegraph, he joined the Conservative Research Department in 1994 and became head of its political section. He went on to be a special adviser to Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Douglas Hogg and work for John Major at 10 Downing Street, including on Major's unsuccessful 1997 general election campaign. In Opposition, he worked as a speechwriter and political secretary to Major's successor as party leader, William Hague. Osborne was elected as MP for Tatton in 2001, becoming the youngest Conservative member of the House of Commons. He was appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Conservative leader Michael Howard in 2004. The following year Howard appointed him Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position Osborne kept after running David Cameron's successful party leadership campaign.