United Kingdom general election, 2001

7 June 2001

All 659 seats to the House of Commons 330 seats needed for a majority

Opinion polls
Turnout	59.4%
	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Tony Blair	William Hague	Charles Kennedy
Party	Labour	Conservative	Liberal Democrat
Leader since	21 July 1994	19 June 1997	9 August 1999
Leader's seat	Sedgefield	Richmond (Yorks)	Ross, Skye and Inverness West
Last election	418 seats, 43.2%	165 seats, 30.7%	46 seats, 16.8%
Seats won	413	166	52
Seat change	5	1	6
Popular vote	10,724,953	8,357,615	4,814,321
Percentage	40.7%	31.7%	18.3%
Swing	2.5%	1%	1.5%

Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

Prime Minister before election

Tony Blair
Labour

Subsequent Prime Minister

Tony Blair
Labour

1992 election • MPs
1997 election • MPs
2001 election • MPs
2005 election • MPs
2010 election • MPs

Ring charts of the election results showing popular vote against seats won, coloured in party colours

Seats won in the election (outer ring) against number of votes (inner ring).

The United Kingdom general election, 2001, was held on Thursday, 7 June 2001, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media,^[1] as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of five seats, though with significantly lower turnout than before – 59.4%, compared to 71.3% in the previous election. Tony Blair went on to become the first Labour Prime Minister to serve a second consecutive full term in office.

There was little change outside Northern Ireland, with 620 out of the 641 seats electing candidates from the same party as they did in 1997. Factors contributing to the Labour victory were a strong economy and falling unemployment, as well as that Labour was seen as having delivered on many key election pledges that it had made in 1997. The Conservative Party, under William Hague's leadership, was still deeply divided on the issue of Europe and the party's policy platform was considered to have shifted to a right-wing focus. Hague was also hindered by a series of embarrassing publicity stunts, and resigned as party leader three months later, becoming the first Conservative leader since Austen Chamberlain to leave office without becoming Prime Minister.

The election was essentially a repeat of the 1997 election, with Labour losing only 6 seats overall and the Conservatives making a net gain of one seat (gaining nine seats, but losing eight). The Conservatives did manage to gain a seat in Scotland, which ended the party's status as an 'England-only' party in the prior parliament. Although they did not gain many seats, one of the new MPs elected was future Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron. The Liberal Democrats gained six seats.

Change was seen in Northern Ireland, with the moderately unionist Ulster Unionist Party losing four seats to the more hardline Democratic Unionist Party. This transition was mirrored in the republican community with the moderate SDLP losing votes to the more staunchly republican and abstentionist Sinn Féin.

The election was also marked with exceptionally low voter turnout, falling below 60% for the first time since 1918.^[2] The election was broadcast live on the BBC, and presented by Jeremy Paxman, Andrew Marr, Peter Snow and David Dimbleby.^[3]

Overview

The election had been expected on 3 May, to coincide with local elections, but both were postponed because of rural movement restrictions imposed in response to the foot and mouth outbreak.

The elections were marked by voter apathy, with turnout falling to 59.4%, the lowest since the Coupon Election of 1918. Throughout the election the Labour Party had maintained a significant lead in the opinion polls and the result was deemed to be so certain that some bookmakers paid out for a Labour majority before the election day. However, the opinion polls the previous autumn had shown the first Tory lead (though only by a narrow margin) in the opinion polls for eight years as they benefited from the public anger towards the government over the fuel protests which had led to a severe shortage of motor fuel. By the end of 2000, however, the dispute had been solved and Labour were firmly back in the lead of the opinion polls.^[4]

In total, a mere 29 parliamentary seats changed hands at the 2001 election.^[5]

One of the more noted events of a quiet campaign was when countryside protester Craig Evans threw an egg at Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in Rhyl; Prescott then punched him and a struggle ensued, in front of television cameras. 2001 also saw the rare election of an independent. Dr. Richard Taylor of Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern (usually now known simply as "Health Concern") unseated a government minister. There was also a high vote for British National Party leader Nick Griffin in Oldham, in the wake of recent race riots in the town.

In Northern Ireland, the election was far more dramatic and marked a move by unionists away from support for the Good Friday Agreement, with the moderate unionist Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) losing to the more hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). This polarisation was also seen in the nationalist community, with the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) vote losing out to more left-wing and republican Sinn Féin. It also saw a tightening of the parties as the small UK Unionist Party lost its only seat.

Campaign

For Labour, the last four years had run relatively smoothly. The party had successfully defended all their by-election seats, and many suspected a Labour win was inevitable from the start. Many in the party however were afraid of voter apathy, which was epitomised in the "Hague with Lady Thatcher's hair" poster.^[6] Despite recessions in mainland Europe and the US, due to the bursting of global tech bubbles, Britain was notably unaffected and Labour however could rely on a strong economy as unemployment continued to decline toward election day, putting to rest any fears of a Labour government putting the economic situation at risk.

For William Hague, however, the Conservative Party had still not fully recovered from the loss in 1997. The party was still divided over Europe, and talk of a referendum on the Euro was rife. As Labour remained at the political centre, the Tories moved to the right. A policy gaffe by Oliver Letwin over public spending cuts left the party with an own goal that Labour soon took advantage of. Margaret Thatcher also added to Hague's troubles when speaking out strongly against the Euro to applause. Hague himself, although a witty performer at PMQs, was dogged in the press and reminded of his speech at Conservative conference at the age of 16. The Sun newspaper only added to the Conservatives woes by backing Labour once again, calling Hague a "dead parrot".^[7]

The Tories campaigned on a strongly right-wing platform, emphasising the issues of Europe, immigration and tax, the fabled "Tebbit Trinity". However, Labour countered by asking where the proposed tax cuts were going to come from, and decried the Tory policy as "cut here, cut there, cut everywhere", in reference to the widespread belief that the Conservatives would make major cuts to public services in order to fund tax cuts.

For the Liberal Democrats, this was the first election for leader Charles Kennedy.^[8]

Controversy

During the election Sharron Storer, a resident of Birmingham, criticised Prime Minister Tony Blair in front of television cameras about conditions in the National Health Service. The widely televised incident happened on 16 May during a campaign visit by Blair to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Sharron Storer's partner, Keith Sedgewick, a cancer patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and therefore highly susceptible to infection, was being treated at the time in the bone marrow unit, but no bed could be found for him and he was transferred to the casualty unit for his first 24 hours.^[9]^[10]^[11]

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the United Kingdom general election, 2001

Results

The election was effectively a repeat of 1997, as the Labour party retained an overwhelming majority. Having presided over relatively serene political, economic and social conditions, the feeling of prosperity in the UK had been maintained into the new millennium, and Labour would have a free hand to assert its ideals in the subsequent parliament. Despite the victory, voter apathy was a major issue, as turnout fell below 60% for the first time in history, 12% down on 1997. All of the 3 main parties saw their total votes fall, with Labour's total vote dropping by 2.8 million on 1997, the Conservatives 1.3 million, and the Liberal Democrats 428,000. Some suggested this dramatic fall was a sign of the general acceptance of the status quo and the likelihood of Labour's majority remaining unassailable.^[12]

For the Conservatives, the huge loss they had sustained in 1997 was repeated. Despite gaining 9 seats the Tories lost 8 behind them to the Liberal Democrats and one even to Labour. The inevitable result was the speedy resignation of William Hague in the election aftermath. Some believed that Hague had been unlucky, although most considered him to be a talented orator and an intelligent statesman, he had come up against the charismatic Tony Blair in the pomp of his political career, and it was no surprise that little progress was made in reducing Labour's majority after a relatively smooth parliament. Staying at what they considered rock-bottom however showed that the Conservatives had failed to improve their negative public image, had remained somewhat disunited over Europe and had not regained the trust that they had lost in the 1990s. But in Scotland they managed to scrape one seat from the SNP, despite continuing its vote collapse. It failed to retake former strongholds in Scotland as the Nationalists consolidated their grip on the Northeastern portion of the country.^[13]

The Liberal Democrats could point to steady progress under Charles Kennedy, gaining more seats than the main two parties – albeit only six overall – and maintaining the performance of a pleasing 1997 election, where the party had doubled its number of seats from 20 to 46. While they had yet to become electable as a government, they underlined their growing reputation as a worthwhile alternative to Labour and Conservative, offering plenty of debate in parliament and not just representing a protest vote.

The SNP failed to gain any seats and lost a seat to the Conservatives by just 79 votes. Plaid Cymru gained and lost a seat to Labour respectively.

In Northern Ireland the Ulster Unionists, despite gaining North Down, lost 5 seats behind them.

↓
413	166	52	28
Labour	Conservative	Lib Dem	O

UK General Election 2001
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	640	413	2	8	−6	62.5	40.7	10,724,953	−2.5
	Conservative	643	166	9	8	+1	25.2	31.7	8,357,615	+1.0
	Liberal Democrat	639	52	8	2	+6	7.9	18.3	4,814,321	+1.5
	SNP	72	5	0	1	−1	0.8	1.8	464,314	−0.2
	UKIP	428	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.5	390,563	1.2
	UUP	17	6	1	5	−4	0.9	0.8	216,839	0.0
	Plaid Cymru	40	4	1	1	0	0.6	0.7	195,893	+0.2
	DUP	14	5	3	0	+3	0.8	0.7	181,999	+0.4
	Sinn Féin	18	4	2	0	+2	0.6	0.7	175,933	+0.3
	SDLP	18	3	0	0	0	0.5	0.6	169,865	0.0
	Green	145	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.6	166,477	+0.3
	Independent	136	0	0	1	−1	0.0	0.4	97,070	+0.3
	Scottish Socialist	72	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.3	72,516	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	98	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	57,553	N/A
	Socialist Labour	114	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	57,288	0.0
	BNP	33	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	47,129	+0.1
	Alliance	10	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	28,999	−0.1
	Health Concern	1	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.1	28,487	N/A
	Liberal	13	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	13,685	0.0
	UK Unionist	1	0	0	1	−1	0.0	0.1	13,509	+0.1
	ProLife Alliance	37	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	9,453	−0.1
	Legalise Cannabis	13	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	8,677	N/A
	People's Justice	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	7,443	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	15	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	6,655	0.0
	PUP	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	4,781	0.0
	Mebyon Kernow	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	3,199	0.0
	NI Women's Coalition	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,968	0.0
	Scottish Unionist	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,728	N/A
	Rock 'n' Roll Loony	7	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,634	N/A
	National Front	5	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,484	0.0
	Workers' Party	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,352	0.0
	Neath Port Talbot Ratepayers	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,960	N/A
	NI Unionist	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,794	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,454	0.0
	Reform 2000	5	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,418	N/A
	Isle of Wight	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,164	N/A
	Muslim	4	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,150	N/A
	Communist	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,003	0.0
	New Britain	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	888	0.0
	Free Party	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	832	N/A
	Leeds Left Alliance	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	770	N/A
	New Millennium Bean Party	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	727	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	607	0.0
	Tatton	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	505	N/A

Government's new majority	167
Total votes cast	26,368,204
Turnout	59.4%

All parties with more than 500 votes shown.

The seat gains reflect changes on the 1997 general election result. Two seats had changed hands in by-elections in the intervening period. These were as follows:

Romsey from Conservative to Liberal Democrats. This seat stayed Liberal Democrat in 2001.
South Antrim from Ulster Unionists to Democratic Unionists. This seat reverted to the Ulster Unionists in 2001.

The results of the election give a Gallagher index of dis-proportionality of 17.74.

Popular vote

Labour			40.7%
Conservative			31.7%
Liberal Democrat			18.3%
Scottish National			1.8%
UK Independence			1.5%
Others			6.1%

Parliamentary seats

Labour			62.7%
Conservative			25.2%
Liberal Democrat			7.9%
Ulster Unionist			0.9%
Scottish National			0.8%
Democratic Unionist			0.8%
Others			1.8%

Seats changing hands

Seat	1997 election		Constituency result 2001 by party						2001 election
Seat	1997 election		Con	Lab	Lib	PC	SNP	Others	2001 election
Belfast North		UUP								DUP gain
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr		Labour	4,912	13,540	2,815	16,130		656		Plaid Cymru gain
Castle Point		Labour	17,738	16,753	3,116			1273		Conservative gain
Cheadle		Conservative	18,444	6,086	18,477			599		Liberal Democrat gain
Chesterfield		Labour	3,613	18,663	21,249			437		Liberal Democrat gain
Dorset Mid and Poole North		Conservative	17,974	6,765	18,358			621		Liberal Democrat gain
Dorset South		Conservative	18,874	19,027	6,531			913		Labour gain
Fermanagh and South Tyrone		UUP								Sinn Féin gain
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale		SNP	12,222	7,258	3,698		12,148	588		Conservative gain
Guildford		Conservative	19,820	6,558	20,358			736		Liberal Democrat gain
Isle of Wight		Liberal Democrat	25,223	9,676	22,397			2,106		Conservative gain
Londonderry East		UUP								DUP gain
Ludlow		Conservative	16,990	5,785	18,620			871		Liberal Democrat gain
Newark		Labour	20,983	16,910	5,970					Conservative gain
Norfolk North		Conservative	23,495	7,490	23,978			649		Liberal Democrat gain
Norfolk North West		Labour	24,846	21,361	4,292			704		Conservative gain
North Down		UK Unionist								UUP gain
Romford		Labour	18,931	12,954	2,869					Conservative gain
Romsey		Conservative	20,386	3,986	22,756					Liberal Democrat gain
Strangford		UUP								DUP gain
Tatton		Independent	19,860	11,249	7,685					Conservative gain
Taunton		Liberal Democrat	23,033	8,254	22,798			1,140		Conservative gain
Teignbridge		Conservative	23,332	7,366	26,343					Liberal Democrat gain
Tyrone West		UUP								Sinn Féin gain
Upminster		Labour	15,410	14,169	3,183			1,089		Conservative gain
Wyre Forest		Labour	9,350	10,857				28,487		Independent gain
Ynys Mon		Plaid Cymru	7,653	11,906	2,772	11,106				Labour gain

MPs that lost their seats

	Name	Constituency	Year elected	Defeated by
Labour Party	Alan Wynne Williams	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr	1987	Adam Price	Plaid Cymru
	Christine Butler	Castle Point	1997	Dr. Bob Spink	Conservative Party
	Fiona Jones	Newark	1997	Colonel Patrick Mercer OBE	Conservative Party
	George Turner	Norfolk North West	1997	Henry Bellingham	Conservative Party
	Eileen Gordon	Romford	1997	Andrew Rosindell	Conservative Party
	Keith Darvill	Upminster	1997	Angela Watkinson	Conservative Party
	David Lock	Wyre Forest	1997	Dr. Richard Taylor	Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern
Conservative Party	Stephen Day	Cheadle	1987	Patsy Calton	Liberal Democrats
	Christopher Frazer	Mid Dorset and North Poole	1997	Annette Brooke	Liberal Democrats
	Ian Bruce	Dorset South	1987	Jim Knight	Labour Party
	Nick St Aubyn	Guildford	1997	Sue Doughty	Liberal Democrats
	The Hon. David Prior	Norfolk North	1997	Norman Lamb	Liberal Democrats
	Patrick Nicholls	Teignbridge	1983	Richard Younger-Ross	Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats	Dr. Peter Brand	Isle of Wight	1997	Andrew Turner	Conservative Party
Liberal Democrats	Jackie Ballard	Taunton	1997	Adrian Flook	Conservative Party
Ulster Unionist Party	Willie Ross	East Londonderry	1974	Gregory Campbell	Democratic Unionist Party
	Cecil Walker	North Belfast	1983	Nigel Dodds OBE	Democratic Unionist Party
	William Thompson	West Tyrone	1997	Pat Doherty	Sinn Féin
Independent	Martin Bell	Tatton contesting Brentwood and Ongar	1997	Eric Pickles	Conservative Party

The disproportionality of the house of parliament in the 2001 election was 18.03 according to the Gallagher Index, mainly between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

Manifestos

References

↑ Parkinson, Justin (3 August 2010). "The rise and fall of New Labour". BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
↑ "Election Statistics: UK 1918–2007" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 1 February 2008. p. 18. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6weF6Q37F2w&feature=mfu_in_order&playnext=1&videos=UsHbCo8smUk| BBC Vote 2001 Coverage
↑ "Tories 'to cut fuel duty'". BBC News. 10 May 2001. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
↑ "2001: Labour claims second term". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
↑ "Get out and vote. Or they get in.". The Guardian (London).
↑ http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ThhguC97EdA/STaU-tJdVzI/AAAAAAAAASA/GVBGsJaLKAI/s400/PARROT-HAGUE.jpg
↑ "2001: Labour claims second term". BBC News. 5 April 2005.
↑ Duncan Watts (2006). British Government and Politics: A Comparative Guide. Edinburgh University. ISBN 978-0-7486-2323-5.
↑ BBC story from 16 May 2001
↑ BBC story from 17 May 2001
↑ "The poll that never was". BBC News. 11 June 2001.
↑ "Labour romps home again". BBC News. 8 June 2001.

Bibliography

Butler, David and Dennis Kavanagh. The British General Election of 2001 (2002), the standard scholarly study
General Election results, 7 June 2001 (Research Party 01/54), House of Commons Library

External links

BBC News: Vote 2001 – in depth coverage.
Catalogue of 2001 general election ephemera at the Archives Division of the London School of Economics.
Election Night coverage All 34 parts uploaded onto YouTube

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Tony Blair

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1997–2007) Leader of the Labour Party (1994–2007) Leader of the Opposition (1994–1997) MP for Sedgefield (1983–2007) Born 6 May 1953 (age 61)

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