When was the last time the Tories had such a good night?

Winning London.  Ousting Ken Livingstone - something never achieved by Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair.  Holding as many councils in Wales as Labour.  Winning Bury in the North West and North Tyneside in the NE.  Winning Southampton - an achievement that elections specialist Michael Thrasher said was beyond the reach of any party.  More than 300 extra councillors - three times as many gains as the LibDems.  A 44% share of the national vote.  Not only Labour defeated but clueless as to how they might recover.  A majority of Westminster insiders now (for the first time) predicting Tory victory at the next General Election.

There's still a lot of work to do over the next two years but 1st May 2008 was a great night for the Conservatives.  When was the last time we had such a good night?

• Sixteen years ago - 1992?  Our last General Election victory - won against all the odds with more than 13 14 million votes.
• Twenty-five years ago - 1983?  Our best ever General Election victory in modern times when Thatcherism triumphed and the defeat of Michael Foot began the modernisation of the Labour Party?

Hat tip to News Biscuit graphic for the image above.

Comments

[David (One of many)]

Anyone else think that the first thing Boris should do is actually add that to City Hall?

Being a relative youngling, I can honestly say I don't remember a better night than this for the Tories! I was barely a teenager in 1992, though I do remeber disliking Kinnock quite a lot.

[Paul D]

Love the Photoshop graphic!

[David Belchamber]

And two 18 years olds won seats for us! Well done indeed to them.

[Daniel Furr]

A very good night for the Conservatives, media reaction has been very successful too. All are claiming Brown will struggle to win in 2010

[Veritas]

When IDS resigned.

[Richard]

Can we have a thread for ideas of what we think Boris should do in his first 100 days?

[rightwingery]

John Major actually won 14 million-plus votes in 1992; a feat not even bettered by Blair at the height of his powers.

I have never EVER experienced the raw dilerium of yesterday. Ever.

[StevenAdams]

As a 27yo, with a county div. majority of just 30 and up for re-election next May, I'm hoping that we have another night as successful as this then!

[sjm]

I think we should recognise just how much of the victory in London and the rest of England and Wales is down to David Cameron.

He has been harried and hassled and insulted, here and elsewhere, but he and George Osborne have had the guts and tenacity to carry through the plan they had to make our Party electable again.

They have been proved right, and the doomsayers are wrong. Of course, there is a lot more to do, and there may be mistakes along the way, but Cameron has proved himself worthy of our complete support.

[Sean Fear]

In local government terms, 1976 and 1977 were similar. In general elections, 1983 and 1987 come to mind.

[Martin Cole]

A constant critis of Camerons Conservatives would like to say CONGRATULATIONS!

The last best night? Heath's General Election victory in 1970 on the clear and correct policies listed in their manifesto "A Better Tomorrow" known as representing 'Selsdon Man' and very shortly thereafter ditched until the arrival of Margaret Thatcher.

"A Better Tomorrow" -Dig a copy out from the archives, I have one somewhere but blowed if I can remember where!

[Ted]

Sean F - they didn't come after such a long famine though. I thought 1970 was great, a surprise win, 1979 was a relief and there was pride in our first woman PM. 1983 was awesome in its destruction of Labour, 1992 as surprising as 1970.
Perhaps Friday wasn't as history changing but after 16 years we finally won a major election in UK terms. Bo Boris Go!
Thank God we chose Cameron.

[Cllr David Sammels]

As a 24 year old who first joined the party in the dark days of 1999, I can quite safely say that I can't remember a better time for us!

[MikeV]

Well done All councils old and new and Boris Mayor of London!

All Conservatives cannot now fail the British people because if they can be convinced in an open and honest manner in London with good policy then they can also be convinced country wide at the General Election for the same reasons. The post below from a lifelong Labour voter has appeared on the daily mail website. I place it here as I believe this sums up the night perfectly.

POST---
"I've no doubt Boris was right when he said many people will have hesitated before putting their cross in his box - myself included. As a lifelong Labour voter it pained me to vote Tory, but I was determined to get Ken Livingstone and his cronies out and get a new man and a new team running this great city. Boris - myself and many other non Tories have taken a huge leap of faith in voting for you - please learn from Ken's mistakes and don't let the people of London down!"
POST END --

[ChrisD]

Well done Boris, I raised a glass to him last night during his victory speech. What a 24 hours for the Conservative party, well done to everyone involved

As a teenager just becoming interested in politics and a growing fan of Mrs Thatcher's, I have to say that 1979 was a great election night.
But the most memorable night has to be 1992, stayed up and watched Snow's graphics/predictions unravel as the BBC came to terms with Major winning. I know with hindsight we would have been better losing and regrouping to fight another day, but the turnout for 1992 showed how engaged the nation was in politics and I hope we see that again.

[Ellesmere Dragge]

When the gloating is over, can someone, somewhere explain precisely why Cameron Mk.I will be substantially different from New Labour Mk. III?

Refer to taxation, Europe, Iraq, Afghistan and other topics, but do not write on more than one side of the issue.

[Joe James Broughton]

As has been mentioned, John Major won 14,092,891 votes - higher than anybody else has won before - or since, even in landslides.
Of course, ironically, that was because turnout in 1992 was very high, as it was very closely fought in the marginals.

Margaret Thatcher won 13.7million in 1979, and 13.76m in 1987, but we actually took a dip to 13.0m in 1983 probably because a walkaway result was expected.

To answer the question - 44% hasn't been achieved by the Tories since 1979 (44.9%) - with two exceptions - the May 1992 local elections just after John Major won in April 1992 - the share was projected to between 45 and 48%. Something similar also happened in the June 1979 Euro elections, when a honeymoon effect brought Tories out to vote again with Labour voters demotivated.

[StevenAdams]

Ellesmere Dragge:

Taxation:
Neither NuLab or Cons are as ideologically extreme in their fiscal policies as was once the case, I acknowledge. However, over time, their leanings are clear. The response to the credit crunch is a great example: "Show me one other major country that has responded to this crisis by raising taxes; just one?!" David Cameron, PMQs.

The 10p tax rate is another great example, if anything because it shows a govt that WANTED to raise income tax, but didn't believe it could win the argument in the country (as it had with N.I.). Indeed, when the 10p tax rate came to be removed, the governing party was thrown into crisis. Cameron-led Conservative govt would not have embarked upon the whole 'raise this, introduce that, remove that two years later' debacle.

Over time, you'll see a Conservative govt under Cameron reduce the tax burden. You'll see a response to crises such as the credit crunch that is markedly different to NuLab and you'll see a far leaner and simpler taxation system, that retains parity but gets rid of complication (such as the ridiculous tax credits system).

Europe.
This is simple - be honest and firm. Stay on the outer ring of European integration (no Euro, no more concessions) whilst remaining in the economic driving seat of European countries and there European influence.

Certainly no repeat of anything like the ridiculous giveaway of the EuroRebate withour ANY concession of the CAP agenda.

[Editor]

Thanks rightwingery and James; I've corrected the post re John Major's 14 million votes.

[Graeme Archer]

We were lucky enough to be in the room today as Boris signed the official oath of office book. The room went wild. I'm just two years too young to remember the Labour wipe-out of 1968, but I can honestly say, in answer to the articles question, that I have never experienced political joy such as I experienced in the last 48 hours.

Would like also to offer congratulations to the amazing GLA candidates, esp of course the wonderful Alexander Ellis. We were third in NE London last time: under Alexander's leadership we ran the most structured campaign I've experienced and he was rewarded with a near-doubling of our vote with the LibDems shoved hard into a poor third place. I also laugh with pleasure every time I remember that (brilliant) James Cleverly now has a majority larger than most parliamentary electorates! Was horrible to lose Brent and Harrow so narrowly, but it is wonderful that we now have three extra Tories thanks to our Londonwide vote. Esp since one of them is Andrew Boff!

Now going to lie down in a dark room (with Doctor Who).

[Tory Owl]

Andrew Boff's back. Good.

[Northernhousewife]

sjm
Well said

[Ellesmere Dragge]

StevenAdam at 16:28:

Except, of course, none of your consummations-devoutedly-to-be-wished are firm commitments.

The Conservatives have now voted three different ways on the 10p tax band, while Cameron has apparently now ruled out restoring it. Since you mention "simplifying" the tax-credit system, is that a firm pledge on raising benefits, increasing tax allowances (which won't help the really poor), or simply telling the bottom tiers of society to get stuffed? Are we still committed to the family sufficiently to over-ride the judiciary and tax married couples more favourably than cohabitation? What other real-life policies do we have to mend "broken" society? How do we reverse the growing social division? Are we prepared for rampant excess in city-bonuses and at boardroom level while imposing pay-restraint and no-strike "deals" on the lower-paid and public service?

How much further are we to finance policing? Don't come the "cut-back-bureaucracy" line: much of that is required by the justice system. Stop-and-search: yes or no? Do we slap youth curfews on Brixton and Hoxton? If not, how do you overcome the view that street crime is increasing (when all the facts say it isn't -- but we persist is saying the opposite)?

Pretty well all the other discernible tax plans (e.g. all that touchy-feely green stuff, courtesy of Zach) imply tax hikes. Are we going to reduce taxation on cars, or not? Do we put an impost on packaging and plastic bags, or is that too trivial for words? Do we continue to ramp up the costs of land-fill? etc etc.

Do we build roads or not? Do we invest in public transport, or do our cities descend into grid-lock? Do we hope that railway and airport privatizations (not to mention water and the other utilities) finally come good? Do we tax aviation fuel, or is our "greenness" merely a token gesture? Do we support alternative energy, or are all those windmills to be installed in Notting Hill? In what ways are our policies here sufficiently different from Labour to be convincing? Or are we merely titting around for points and ha'pence?

Do we build on the Green Belt or not? If not, where else? If that "where else" is brown-field sites, do we subsidize the redevelopment or price out those who need low-cost housing?

Do we continue with PPPs, or do we come honest and put it onto Government revenues?

As for the "credit crunch", does that mean we support intervention on the likes of Northern Rock (Cameron/Osborne, phase 1) or not (ditto, phase 2)? Do we agree that the BoE should be pumping liquidity into the system or not? Or do we just sit on our hands and hope it all goes away?

The EU stuff seems vague in the extreme: formulae of words, still trying desperately to "in" rather than "out", even if semi-detached. I wasn't aware that there had been significant concessions from Blair/Brown on the rebate or on CAP.

The truth is that we've had it easy for the last twelve months. However, we cannot be blind to the threat from the racist and Euro-sceptic far right. We cannot forever live on the mistakes and failings of others, or rely on the economic climate not improving. At some stage, a credible Conservative government needs a clear-cut set of manifesto commitments. Very few of the regular -- too regular -- Monday morning kite-flyings have come anywhere near a coherent philosophy.

[John Moss]

Sorry to repeat something posted elsewhere, but it the combination of LEft List and Respect votes would have kept out the BNP.

[Cllr Nicholas Bennett]

1967 was an excellent result. We took the GLC, the first time since 1934 that London was controlled by the Conservatives. We Young Conservatives sang 'We all live a Tory GLC' to the tune of the Beatles Yellow Submariane at the count for Southwark GLC seat.

1968 was even better. 28 of the 32 London Boroughs went Tory. Islington went from no Conservative councillors to 48 and Hackney from zero to 31 overnight. We haven't controlled either borough since the following elections in 1971. The four boroughs we didn't win were Southwark (27 Conservative councillors to Labours 33), Tower Hamlets (no Conservative councillors), Newham and Barking and Dagenham.

June 18th 1970 was a great night when a complacent Wilson, who thought he could coast to victory found himself out of office.

Who could forget 1979 when Margaret Thatcher
took power to begin the Tory revolution?

[Yarmouth Tory]

Its got to have been our best night since'87 !!!

Ellesmere Dragge says " I wasn't aware that there had been significant concessions from Blair/Brown on the rebate or on CAP "

Well mate if you dont call giving away 2 billion quid a year of our rebate with absolutely no concessions on CAP not "significant" then god help us !!!

Am expensive price tag for the country to pay to guarantee Blair's next gravytrain, oh err I mean job !!!!

[Buckinghamshire Tory]

I am not old enough to remember the victories of Margaret Thatcher in the 80s. I had just joined the party when Margaret Thatcher was forced out. I remember seeing John Major as a safe pair of hands, and a very decent man. I have held that view to this very day. I can however remember his victory i 1992. I know that it was not as great a victory as 1983 and 1987, but it felt great to have trashed Labour for the fourth time in a row. I think our victory in 1992 was just as important as the victory in 1987, since their 4th electoral defeat finally killed the socialism in Labour.
It is just so very unfortunate that our victory in 1992 was followed by the bitter infighting over Europe, and then the Wilderness Years of 1997-2005.
It feels good to be winning again.

[Gloy Plopwell]

Don't claim victory on the basis of local elections and opinion polls. What about the Lib Dem momentum? We have had fabulous, suspenders results in Hull and Sheffield, and we'll win all the Parliamentary seats there aswell.
We are on our way to victory.