In 1997 Labour also had a candidate that was acceptable to many centre/moderate Conservative voters. And whilst not in disarray, the Tories were divided over Europe and suffering from sleaze scandals. Blair was undoubtedly more media-friendly that Major. All that helped tip the balance for Labour's decisive 1997 victory.gle1975 wrote: ↑Thu May 13 2021 9:27amIt seems strange now that after 1992 Labour thought they could not win a general election and planned to work closely with the Lib Dems. Then people got sick of the conservatives, there was a lot of tactical voting in 1997 and Labour got a giant majority. Maybe it will happen again - especially the tactical voting.
Today, whilst we may be sick of the Tories, they have a flamboyant leader who outclasses Starmer in charisma. The Tories are not especially divided, whereas Labour is.
The Tories main failure - Brexit - has been masked by the pandemic and in particular the successful vaccination programme.
Until Labour can unite behind a centrist candidate and capitalise on the failings of Brexit, I think it's unlikely they'll tempt the middle-ground voter. We'd have to be really sick of the Tories, and right now they've got the wind in their vaccination sails.