Major won the Huntingdon seat by a large margin in the 1979 general election, which brought Margaret Thatcher to power. [259][260], Following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, Major was appointed a special guardian to Princes William and Harry, with responsibility for legal and administrative matters. [201][202], Unlike in the first ballot, a candidate only required a simple majority of Conservative MPs to win, in this case 187 of 372 MPs. [257] They also own a flat in London and a holiday home on the Norfolk coast at Weybourne, which they have in the past invited ex-soldiers to use for free as part of the Afghan Heroes charity. To the surprise of many pollsters, the Conservatives won a majority, with 336 seats, and earning 41.9% of the vote. 'I have been receiving chemotherapy for the last couple of months and I'm about to start a course of radiotherapy. Get in touch for commercial uses. He formed a temporary Shadow Cabinet, but with seven of his Cabinet ministers having lost their seats at the election, and with few senior MPs left to replace them, several MPs had to hold multiple briefs. "[323], The media (particularly The Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell) used the allegation by Alastair Campbell that he had observed Major tucking his shirt into his underpants to caricature him wearing his pants outside his trousers,[324] as a pale grey echo of both Superman and Supermac, a parody of Harold Macmillan. Look who's talking. His task became even more difficult after the election of the modernist and highly media-savvy Tony Blair as Labour leader in July 1994, who mercilessly exploited Conservative divisions whilst shifting Labour to the centre, thus making it much more electable. [75][76] Major then attempted to get selected as a candidate for a more promising seat, and despite numerous attempts was unsuccessful until December 1976. [7] John Major later described the family's circumstances at this time as being "comfortable but not well off". [362][363][364][365][366], Major has been keen on sports since his youth, most notably cricket;[367] he is also a supporter of Chelsea F.C. Oi Polloi 'John Major, Fuck You' YouTube, Fotomax Vintage Photo of Mrs. Major unveiling a Portrait of John Major Painted, 1990 Conservative Party leadership election, 1995 Conservative Party leadership election, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State forSocial Security, 1993 reviews of the British honours system, Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, St Helier Hospital and Queen Mary's Hospital for Children, 1964 Lambeth London Borough Council election, 1968 Lambeth London Borough Council election, 1971 Lambeth London Borough Council election, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Health and Social Security, National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years, wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter, 1997 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours, "John Major started process that has culminated with Queen's visit to Dublin", "Ex Prime Minister Sir John Major and his Sewell Ancestors", "LSBF Great Minds Series :Sir John Major on Vocational Education", "The young John Major and the older woman", "Mr Major's Maiden Speech 13 June 1979", "University of Bradford Papers of Ian and Jennifer Hartley on the Molesworth Peace Camp", "A Brief History of the ECU, the Predecessor of the Euro", "Chancellor announces new framework for monetary policy", "5 December 1989: Thatcher beats off leadership rival", "Revealed: How police panic played into the hand of the poll tax rioters", "Geoffrey Howe, the close cabinet ally who became Thatcher's assassin", "1990: Tories choose Major for Number 10", "MAJOR, CONSERVATIVES IN DEEP POLITICAL TROUBLE IN BRITAIN", "Every UK recession to have taken place in modern history: From the three-day week to the 2008 crash and the coronavirus crisis", "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2021: A century of elections", "Brexit: the Conservatives and their thirty years' war over Europe", "Tories Slip Into Minority; Labor Silent on Forcing Election", "Labour Party returns to power in Britain", "Weekly Information Bulletin: 17th May 1997", "Mr Major's Announcement of his Retirement from the House of Commons 10 March 2000", https://harpercollins.co.uk/9780007400461/john-major-the-autobiography, "John Major in peace talks on MCC land row", "John Major lends home to give heroes a holiday", "The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust", "The Rt Hon Sir John Major KG CH (Vice President)", "Why do European companies bother to hire ex-politicians? 'Elizabeth and I and the families are very upbeat about it and believe I will beat it. "[374], In the 1999 New Year Honours List, Major was made a Companion of Honour for his work on the Northern Ireland peace process. [59][60] Despite the Lambeth housing team being well-regarded nationally, Major lost his seat in the 1971 Lambeth London Borough Council election. Since leaving office, Major has tended to maintain a low profile in the media, occasionally making political interventions. [223] Some polling at the end of 1994 and the start of 1995 had Labour with a vote share of over 60%. [180][177], The rest of Major's Chancellorship prior to the leadership contest was largely uneventful; he considered granting the Bank of England operational independence over monetary policy, with the ability to set interest rates, but decided against it. Seldon writes "She made Major smarten his appearance, groomed him politically, and made him more ambitious and worldly. [236], Like some post-war former prime ministers (such as Edward Heath), Major turned down a peerage when he retired from the House of Commons in 2001. [134] Major accepted the job and began to settle into the department, living in an upstairs room at the FCO and devolving decision making where necessary, though he found the increased security burdensome and disliked the extensive ceremonial aspects of the role. [351][353] They had a son, Harrison, born July 2000, who was later diagnosed with autism. [221][222], On 12 May 1994, John Smith died from a heart attack and was replaced by Tony Blair who continued Labour's modernisation under the slogan of "New Labour". [100] Major was invited to join the prestigious 'Blue Chip' group of rising stars in the Conservative Party,[101] and he was promoted to Treasury Whip in October 1984. 'I'd had the ring for about six weeks but I had the moment planned for a long time,' he said at the time. [277] He told BBC News that he and Lamont had been the victims of "whispering voices" to the press. [246][247], John Major has also been actively engaged in charity work, being President of Asthma UK,[248] and a Patron of the Prostate Cancer Charity, Sightsavers UK, Mercy Ships, Support for Africa 2000[248] and Afghan Heroes. [288] Major feared Brexit would make the UK poorer and could endanger the peace settlement in Northern Ireland. [135][136], Amongst Major's first acts as Foreign Secretary was to cancel the sale of Hawk aircraft to Iraq, over concerns they would be used for internal repression. [139] Major also met with US secretary of state James Baker, with whom he primarily discussed the issue of Vietnamese boat people, and with Qian Qichen, Foreign Minister of China, becoming the first senior Western politician to meet with a Chinese official since the violent crackdown of pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square the previous month. [381], In 2008, Major won the British Sports Book Awards (Best Cricket Book) for More Than a Game. 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. Mr Salter, who was 30 and had qualified recently as a hospital doctor, was the childhood sweetheart of the Majors' only daughter Elizabeth, whom he married two years ago. [47] In May 1967 he was involved in a serious car crash in which he broke a leg and had to be flown home. He describes the illness as 'a form of cancer of the meninges, the layer of tissue that overlays the brain and spinal cord'. [191][177] On 1 November, the pro-European deputy prime minister Geoffrey Howe resigned, issuing a fiercely critical broadside against Thatcher in the House of Commons on 13 November. [123][124] Major successfully concluded a second round of such spending reviews in July 1988. Brexit may even break up our historic United Kingdom. [73], Despite his setback at the 1971 Lambeth Council election, Major continued to nurse political ambitions, and with help from friends in the Conservative Party managed to get onto the Conservative Central Office's list of potential MP candidates. [385][386][387] There is another bust of Major in the Norman Shaw Building North by Neale Andrew, sculpted in 1993 and installed in 2004, however this is not accessible to the public. [306] Others remain unconvinced however and, writing in 2011, the BBC's Home editor Mark Easton judged that "Majorism" had made little lasting impact. [239][240] Major went on to write a book about the history of cricket in 2007 (More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years)[241] and a book about music hall (My Old Man: A Personal History of Music Hall) in 2012. Dr. Luke Salter was born on 14 September 1972. [345][62][63] She was a teacher and a member of the Young Conservatives. [107][108] The large size of the DHSS granted Ministers a greater degree of responsibility than in other departments,[nb 6] with Major assisting with work on the Social Security Act 1986 and improving provision for disabled people. He is married to Norma Major; the two share a son and daughter. [205][206][207] At 47, he was the youngest prime minister since Lord Rosebery some 95 years earlier. DETAILS Restrictions: Mr Salter said he was 'upbeat' about his chances of beating the killer disease - but that the rarity of his tumour made it impossible to say what his chances of a full recovery were. [10] Following a German V-1 flying bomb attack in the area in 1944 which killed several people, the Majors moved to the village of Saham Toney, Norfolk, for the duration of the war.[7][8]. I can't believe he's here and sometimes I think he can't either. [371][372] Major is a Christian, though his upbringing was never especially religious and he states that he is "a believer at a distance". [112][113] He first attracted major national media attention in January 1987 over cold weather payments to the elderly, when Britain was in the depths of a severe winter. [304] In 2012 Oborne had written that Major's government looks ever more successful as time goes by. [318] Major's appearance was noted for its greyness, his prodigious philtrum, and large glasses, all of which were exaggerated in caricatures. [15][16] The family's fortunes took a turn for the worse, with his father's health deteriorating,[nb 2] and the business in severe financial difficulties. By the end of his premiership his puppet would often be shown observing the latest fiasco and ineffectually murmuring "oh dear". 1 [248][273] Major was also a Director with the Ditchley Foundation from 2000 to 2009,[259][274] and a President of the influential centre-right think tank the Bow Group from 2012 to 2014.

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