Major shadow cabinet

Major Shadow Cabinet
Major Shadow Cabinet
File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg; Shadow cabinet of the United Kingdom
May – June 1997
	File:Major PM full (cropped).jpg
Date formed	2 May 1997
Date dissolved	19 June 1997
People and organisations
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Leader of the Opposition	John Major
Deputy Leader of the Opposition	Michael Heseltine
Member party	Conservative Party;
Status in legislature	Official Opposition 165 / 659 (25%)
History
Election	1997 general election
Outgoing election	1997 Conservative Party leadership election
Legislature terms	52nd UK Parliament
Predecessor	Blair shadow cabinet
Successor	Hague shadow cabinet

John Major was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2 May 1997, following his defeat at the 1997 general election, until 19 June 1997, when William Hague was elected to succeed him. Following the defeat, Major announced his resignation as leader. But, for logistical reasons, a new leader could not be elected for several weeks. In the intervening period, Major appointed an interim Shadow Cabinet.

The Shadow Cabinet was based on Major's final Cabinet. However, as seven Cabinet Ministers had lost their seats in the general election and another had not contested his seat, there were several vacancies. These were largely filled by either Major himself or by a relevant minister in the outgoing Cabinet.^[1] The position of Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland was not filled as the Conservatives had lost all their Scottish MPs in the election. Michael Howard (Shadow Home Secretary) and William Hague (Wales Secretary) were given joint responsibility for constitutional matters, including the brief to handle the Scottish and Welsh devolution^[2] legislation.

Shadow Cabinet list

Portfolio	Shadow Minister
Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition Leader of the Conservative Party Shadow Foreign Secretary Shadow Secretary of State for Defence	File:Major PM full (cropped).jpg	John Major
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry	File:Lord Heseltine (6969083278).jpg	Michael Heseltine
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer	File:Kenneth Clarke (cropped).gif	Kenneth Clarke
Shadow Home Secretary Shadow Minister with special interest in constitutional matters	File:Michael Howard as Home Secretary.jpg	Michael Howard
Shadow Secretary of State for Health	File:Stephen Dorrell 2011 (cropped).jpg	Stephen Dorrell
Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment	File:Gillian Shephard official portrait (cropped).jpg	Gillian Shephard
Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security	File:Peter Lilley (cropped).jpg	Peter Lilley
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport	File:George Young Minister.jpg	Sir George Young
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Shadow Minister with special interest in constitutional matters	File:William Hague MP (3156637603) (cropped).jpg	William Hague
Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	File:DouglasHogg 20040917 (cropped).jpg	Douglas Hogg
Shadow Lord Chancellor	File:James Mackay LSE (cropped).jpg	James Mackay, Lord Mackay of Clashfern
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment	File:John GUMMER 1991.jpg	John Gummer
Shadow Secretary of State for National Heritage	File:Virginia Bottomley crop (cropped).jpg	Virginia Bottomley
Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords	File:Robert Gascoyne-Cecil 2013-crop.jpg	Viscount Cranborne
Chairman of the Conservative Party		Brian Mawhinney
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Opposition Chief Whip	File:Official portrait of Lord Goodlad crop 2.jpg	Alastair Goodlad

Changes from final Cabinet

Malcolm Rifkind (Foreign Secretary) lost his seat and was replaced by Major himself, who had previously been Foreign Secretary in 1989.
Michael Portillo (Defence Secretary) lost his seat and was replaced by Major himself
Roger Freeman (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster) lost his seat and was replaced by Deputy leader Michael Heseltine.
Ian Lang (Secretary of State for Trade and Industry) lost his seat and was replaced by Heseltine, who had previously held the role between 1992 and 1995.
Tony Newton (Leader of the House of Commons) lost his seat and was replaced by Chief Whip Alastair Goodlad.

References

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External links

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[1]

[2]

v t e United Kingdom Shadow Cabinets of the United Kingdom
Official Opposition	MacDonald I (1923–1924) Baldwin I (1924) MacDonald II (1924–1929) Churchill (1945–1951) Attlee (1951–1955) Gaitskell (1955–1963) Brown (1963) Wilson I (1963–1964) Douglas-Home (1964–1965) Heath I (1965–1970) Wilson II (1970–1974) Heath II (1974–1975) Thatcher (1975–1979) Callaghan (1979–1980) Foot (1980–1983) Kinnock (1983–1992) Smith (1992–1994) Beckett (1994) Blair (1994–1997) Major (1997) Hague (1997–2001) Duncan Smith (2001–2003) Howard (2003–2005) Cameron (2005–2010) Harman I (2010) Miliband (2010–2015) Harman II (2015) Corbyn (2015–2020) Starmer (2020–2024) Sunak (2024) Badenoch (2024–present)
Liberal Democrats	Ashdown (1997–1999) Kennedy (1999–2006) Campbell (2006–2007) Cable I (2007) Clegg (2007–2010) Farron (2015–2017) Cable II (2017–2019) Swinson (2019) Davey (2020–present)
Scottish National Party	Robertson (2015–2017) Blackford (2017–2022) Flynn (2022–present)
1964 to Present

v t e John Major
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1990–1997) Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1987–1989) Foreign Secretary (1989) Chancellor of the Exchequer (1989–1990)
Politics	Premiership Major ministry First, 1990–1992 Second, 1992–1997 Shadow Cabinet One-nation conservatism Huntingdonshire Huntingdon	File:John Major 1993 (3).jpg
National	Budgets 1991 budget 1992 budget March 1993 budget November 1993 budget 1994 budget 1995 budget 1996 budget Citizen's Charter Charter Mark Cones Hotline Early 1990s recession Black Wednesday National Lottery Further and Higher Education Act 1992 Grant-maintained schools Maastricht Rebels 1993 Newbury by-election Northern Ireland peace process Downing Street mortar attack Downing Street Declaration 1993 reviews of the British honours system Council Tax Child Support Agency 1993 vote of confidence Back to Basics Privatisation of British Rail Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1995 Conservative Party leadership election Cullen Report (Dunblane massacre) Cash for Questions Committee on Standards in Public Life Arms-to-Iraq affair Scott Report United Kingdom BSE outbreak Wirral South by-election Resignation Honours
International	Gulf War Iraqi no-fly zones Sanctions against Iraq Harare Declaration Maastricht Treaty Bosnian War Operation Gabriel
General elections	1992 1997
European Parliament Election	1994
Party elections	1990 1995
Books	John Major: The Autobiography (1999) More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years (2007) My Old Man: A Personal History of Music Hall (2012)
Family	Norma Major (wife) Terry Major-Ball (brother) Tom Major-Ball (father)
Cultural depictions	Thatcher: The Final Days (TV, 1991) Independence Day UK (Radio, 1996) Margaret (TV, 2009) The Iron Lady (Film, 2011) The Audience (Play, 2013) The Crown season 5 (TV, 2022)
← Margaret Thatcher Tony Blair → Error creating thumbnail: File missing Category

Major shadow cabinet

Contents

Shadow Cabinet list

See also

References

External links

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Major Shadow Cabinet
File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Shadow cabinet of the United Kingdom
May – June 1997
File:Major PM full (cropped).jpg
Date formed	2 May 1997
Date dissolved	19 June 1997
People and organisations
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Leader of the Opposition	John Major
Deputy Leader of the Opposition	Michael Heseltine
Member party	Conservative Party
Status in legislature	Official Opposition 165 / 659 (25%)
History
Election	1997 general election
Outgoing election	1997 Conservative Party leadership election
Legislature terms	52nd UK Parliament
Predecessor	Blair shadow cabinet
Successor	Hague shadow cabinet

Major shadow cabinet

Shadow Cabinet list

See also

References

External links

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