Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
One of the tragedies of watching this coverage is knowing exactly what happened next, and then thinking about what could have happened instead of what did.
Rewatching the 1997 General Election (bbc iplayer) and memories of it
- Thread starter Elpenor
- Start date
seeformiles
Lost in the wood
Probably the only GE I stayed up all night for. We voted in the evening, went for a curry and a couple of pints then went back for the results. Someone had given me an E so I split it with Mrs SFM and it kicked in just as Portillo lost his seat which was quite exhilarating. I recall the idealism and optimism at the time - even if it was just that the Tories were getting their arses kicked. I imagine this might be a rerun but minus the optimism.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
"Were you coming up for Portillo?"
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Today I have watched - so you don’t have to
Have you run out of paint to watch dry?Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
I was 18 so it was the first time I'd voted. I was in halls at uni and we went to a beer festival in the afternoon then bought some boxes of beer and had a big party watching it in the TV room. Had a great night tbh and it did feel like the start of a new era of some sort. Didn't quite work out like that though did it.
Last edited:
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Felt the same way rewatching all 6 hours of Jesus of Nazareth, recently
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Watched it till about 2am, (knew I had to be up at sparrow-fart for work), but AFAIR we went to bed knowing that it looked like the big LP win.
Aged 35, it was the first time the vermin had lost in my adult/voting life so I do remember a degree of pleasure about that, but I think we already knew enough about the Blair/Brown/Mandelson project to not get too excited.
Aged 35, it was the first time the vermin had lost in my adult/voting life so I do remember a degree of pleasure about that, but I think we already knew enough about the Blair/Brown/Mandelson project to not get too excited.
nogojones
spelling is overrated
I can forgive the wars. All politicians do that shit
Which polls are these, now? I don’t recall seeing any polls with the Tories in third.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
I've re-watched '97 not too long ago. Definitely a lot different to how things are now. No social media, no smartphones, only a fraction of people even used the internet, most people only had 4 channels (I think channel 5 had only just launched but it was patchy. Remember having to re-tune your video to watch it? There were 'channel 5 men' who used to go house to house do it for the technically incompetent. I did it myself. So much crap on there but some of the late night stuff was good. I digress).
It's a good snapshot of peak mainstream media anyway. The problems of 1997 seemed petty by todays standards though. Tories arguing over Europe and sleaze. By todays standards, people like Major and Heseltine actually seemed palatable. It was a great night though. I was desperate for Blair to get in. I was 15 so too young to vote but to me he seemed like the next JFK. Britain finally embracing Europe. A chance of a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. A better NHS, better schools. The Tories (what remained of them) looked miserable AF. Hague in his stupid baseball cap at a theme park. Old duffers like Widdecombe, Ancram, and Howard making up the numbers in the opposition. It was funny for a while watching them reduced to such a dismal shadow of the Thatcher years. I seemed to last until around 2000 then Bush got in, and 9/11 and then the whole mood of the next decade seemed to be soured by the 'war on terror', Afghan, Iraq, and the Blair/Brown infighting.
It's a good snapshot of peak mainstream media anyway. The problems of 1997 seemed petty by todays standards though. Tories arguing over Europe and sleaze. By todays standards, people like Major and Heseltine actually seemed palatable. It was a great night though. I was desperate for Blair to get in. I was 15 so too young to vote but to me he seemed like the next JFK. Britain finally embracing Europe. A chance of a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. A better NHS, better schools. The Tories (what remained of them) looked miserable AF. Hague in his stupid baseball cap at a theme park. Old duffers like Widdecombe, Ancram, and Howard making up the numbers in the opposition. It was funny for a while watching them reduced to such a dismal shadow of the Thatcher years. I seemed to last until around 2000 then Bush got in, and 9/11 and then the whole mood of the next decade seemed to be soured by the 'war on terror', Afghan, Iraq, and the Blair/Brown infighting.
QueenOfGoths
Fuck you Dave!
Yeah I remember thinking that this was the start of a new era, something to make up for the Thatcher years.
I was so happy the morning after, there was a real sense of hope. And it's the hope that gets you
Still, that Portillo moment was special!
Fez909
toilet expert
The polls have Cons in 2nd place on % but electorial calculus seat predictor puts them in 3rd
EC Seat Calculator
Obviously there are lots of problems with this. I don't think the seat calculator works when there's such a big swing. But still, one can hope
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
I think your summary in the second paragraph is more or less how I viewed it at the time and at around the same age.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Who's the most likely equivalent of Portillo this year? Raab was my big hope but he's jumping ship. Rees Mogg would surely be too much to hope for.
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
Wasn’t the Ecclestone affair a few weeks in the first sign that they would be as crooked as the lot we’d just booted out?
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Rees Mogg would truly be the trump card. I'd take Hunt or Cleverley as a consolation though.
I can't see Sunak sticking around on the opposition back benches. I bet the moment they lose he'll fuck off to some mega bucks earner somewhere else.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Well that has cheered me up. I guess I had assumed he was in an ultra safe seat down in Somerset.
At the very least we know Lee Anderson will lose so there is that to tune in for.
At the very least we know Lee Anderson will lose so there is that to tune in for.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
I stay up for most of them. I can’t remember if I bothered in 2001 or 2005 though.
2010 and 2015 were just depressing and I probably didn’t last until the morning. 2017 was better because May fucked it and lost a controlling majority. I think I stayed up and toasted the beginning of her demise with a beer in the morning for that one.
I don’t think I bothered in 2019 because it was obvious from the exit polls Corbyn was going to lead Labour to a resounding defeat.
This upcoming one I will definitely be up through the night, with several feeds of TV, twitter, urban, 5 Live/LBC, some energy snacks, beer, tea/coffee and breakfast supplies.
And pretty early on, they announced cuts to lone parent benefits.
I remember having a few drinks with my union fulltimer right after that (we must've just had a union meeting). He was a big Labour activist and spent ages trying to justify it to us union reps. We were all pretty unsurprised if disgusted by it.
ska invita
back on the other side
I do think this should be chalked up as a class victory. The BBC actively developed some kind of Regional Voices policy, but this goes beyond the BBC. Received pronunciation is on its last whimper, according to a linguist Charles who reckons he's king is one of the few public figures who do it. Even his sons drop t's.
Accents alone don't change the class structure of society, the princes are still princes, but it does have some real world effect. Britain in the 20c had clear cut class positions in which everyone knew their place and accents cemented that. Some of that remains but nowhere near as much as it used to.
And on top of that theres much more widespread cynicism about elites in general. Yes liberal ID politics blah blah, that's all true too but nonetheless I think it's eating away at the edifice and older pillars of the class hierarchy are likely horrified.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
it so happened that the new series of Expanse was airing the same night so I took one look at the exit poll and headed straight for the sci fiction.
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
“Highlights” from part 2, this goes from around 0400 through to mid afternoon and the duration is around 8 hours. By this time it’s less about the story as we know what has happened and more about the reactions. Less action but still some interesting bits (if you have nothing else to do while working). We have the various victory / defeat speeches, and the continuation of Tory leadership manoeuvres.
An enormous bottle of Champagne takes a farcically long time to be opened by the victorious Labour candidate at Stevenage Barbara Follett, lots of champagne socialist jokes made
D:Ream at the festival hall, a couple of people in the audience are having a very good time and perhaps have double dropped.
Frank Skinner in a club at 5am with some mashed punters. One of them says Labour need to be a real change. Someone else opines “oranges and stockings for John Major”. Frank cuts away very quickly from him
When Major speaks to his team at central office there’s a young staffer clearly gurning his face off
On flags, Union Jack hat being worn at Trimdon Labour club (Blair constituency) Dimbleby remarks that this is more usually seen with Tory supporters. A few cross of St George flags at Royal festival hair too, and lots outside Blair’s Islington house and when he arrives at downing st. Paxman comments on the choreography and reclaiming the St George / UJ flags from the far right, a journo later says that this has successfully helped to woo middle England, and that that the rise / embrace of English nationalism is a response to growing Scottish nationalism.
Labours ultra disciplined media strategy is commented on throughout
Swing is noted as being a lot higher in what they term middle class seats compared to working class seats.
A Gary glitter impersonator stands for the Monster Raving Loony party in Falmouth and Camborne where Seb Coe loses. The real Glitter was jailed in 1999, so I guess he chose a different costume next time round!
Earlier on at Tatton there was a marvellous drag queen whose outfit appeared to be the size of a small car
A lot of talk that due to the tactical voting this is a big rejection of the tories but not a big endorsement of Labour, who have swapped ideology for banality. Also that overall vote is down as turnout is lower.
Brian Mawhinney is described as having a “sickly grin” by Dimpleby, which was quite apt I thought.
A lot more Labour Grandees in the studio now as we reach midday on the Friday. Fledgling Tory MPs interviewed include Graham Brady and Damian Green.
Overall a sense of frustration at what Labour could have done in government combined with anger at a lot of what they did do. Plus with hindsight you do see the beginnings of things that come to the fore in the first quarter of this century.
An enormous bottle of Champagne takes a farcically long time to be opened by the victorious Labour candidate at Stevenage Barbara Follett, lots of champagne socialist jokes made
D:Ream at the festival hall, a couple of people in the audience are having a very good time and perhaps have double dropped.
Frank Skinner in a club at 5am with some mashed punters. One of them says Labour need to be a real change. Someone else opines “oranges and stockings for John Major”. Frank cuts away very quickly from him
When Major speaks to his team at central office there’s a young staffer clearly gurning his face off
On flags, Union Jack hat being worn at Trimdon Labour club (Blair constituency) Dimbleby remarks that this is more usually seen with Tory supporters. A few cross of St George flags at Royal festival hair too, and lots outside Blair’s Islington house and when he arrives at downing st. Paxman comments on the choreography and reclaiming the St George / UJ flags from the far right, a journo later says that this has successfully helped to woo middle England, and that that the rise / embrace of English nationalism is a response to growing Scottish nationalism.
Labours ultra disciplined media strategy is commented on throughout
Swing is noted as being a lot higher in what they term middle class seats compared to working class seats.
A Gary glitter impersonator stands for the Monster Raving Loony party in Falmouth and Camborne where Seb Coe loses. The real Glitter was jailed in 1999, so I guess he chose a different costume next time round!
Earlier on at Tatton there was a marvellous drag queen whose outfit appeared to be the size of a small car
A lot of talk that due to the tactical voting this is a big rejection of the tories but not a big endorsement of Labour, who have swapped ideology for banality. Also that overall vote is down as turnout is lower.
Brian Mawhinney is described as having a “sickly grin” by Dimpleby, which was quite apt I thought.
A lot more Labour Grandees in the studio now as we reach midday on the Friday. Fledgling Tory MPs interviewed include Graham Brady and Damian Green.
Overall a sense of frustration at what Labour could have done in government combined with anger at a lot of what they did do. Plus with hindsight you do see the beginnings of things that come to the fore in the first quarter of this century.
Nylock
I hate 'these days'...
I was also in Uni halls for the 97 election. We voted, went for a curry, had a few beers and then proceeded to get smashed in the telly room watching the results roll in. Someone brought a colour portable into the TV room from their room and we hooked up a PS1 to it so we had the GE results on the big telly and Doom, Wipeout and F1 on rotation on the PS1. Fun times. 
The portillo moment got a big cheer. I think the last of us went to bed at 9am to the sound of various students who didn't pull an all-nighter out in the carpark yelling "we did it" and "fuck the tories!"
The portillo moment got a big cheer. I think the last of us went to bed at 9am to the sound of various students who didn't pull an all-nighter out in the carpark yelling "we did it" and "fuck the tories!"
Similar threads
- Poll
- Poll
