On 1May 1997 – 18 years and six days ago – the Labour Party under Tony Blair came back to power after four successive Conservative governments with a majority of 179. They gained 146 seats from the 1992 election and won 43.2% of the popular vote.
18 years before that, the beginning of May 1979, and we were in the closing stages of another election campaign, the first of those four Conservative governments. Jim Callaghan was the Labour leader and Margaret Thatcher was a few days off winning a majority of 43 with 43.9% of the vote.
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