Back to Basics (campaign) explained

Back to Basics was a political campaign announced by British Prime Minister John Major at the Conservative Party conference of 1993 in Blackpool.

Though it was intended as a nostalgic appeal to traditional values such as "neighbourliness, decency, courtesy", the campaign was widely interpreted in the media as a campaign for socially conservative causes such as the traditional family. It became the subject of ridicule when a succession of Conservative politicians were caught up in scandals.

The previous year of Major's premiership had been beset by infighting within the Conservative party on the issue of Europe, including rebellions in several Parliamentary votes on the Maastricht Treaty. He was also dealing with the fallout from the Black Wednesday economic debacle of September 1992.

John Major's speech

Major's speech, delivered on 8 October 1993, began by noting the disagreements over Europe:

Major then changed the subject to "a world that sometimes seems to be changing too fast for comfort". He attacked many of the changes in Britain since the Second World War, singling out developments in housing, education, and criminal justice. He then continued:

Major mentioned the phrase once again near the conclusion of his speech:

Media reaction

During 1993, Britain was going through what has been characterised as a moral panic on the issue of single mothers.^[1] Government ministers regularly made speeches on the issue, such as John Redwood's condemnation of "young women [who] have babies with no apparent intention of even trying marriage or a stable relationship with the father of the child" from July 1993, and Peter Lilley's characterisation of single mothers as "benefit-driven" and "undeserving" from the same year. The murder of James Bulger earlier in 1993, by two young boys from single-parent families, served to intensify the media frenzy.^[1]

Apart from some generic platitudes about families and self-reliance, Major's speech said nothing specific about sexual behaviour or single motherhood. On 6 January 1994, Major explicitly stated that the campaign was not "a crusade about personal morality".^[2] Despite this, the "Back to Basics" campaign was widely interpreted by the media as including a "family values" component.^{[3] [4]}

According to Debbie Epstein and Richard Johnson:

Writing in his diary shortly after and in reference to the Michael Brown story (Brown being a government whip who resigned in 1994 in the wake of newspaper revelations that he had taken a trip to Barbados with a 20-year-old man), Piers Morgan, who exposed many of the sexual scandals as editor of the News of the World, opined:

Scandals

The following scandals were linked to the "Back To Basics" campaign in the media:

1991

• In April 1991 Chancellor Norman Lamont was embarrassed when it was revealed that a sex therapist lived in his rented-out London flat, and that his credit cards were frequently in arrears.^{[5] [6] [7]}

1992

• On 24 September 1992 David Mellor resigned as National Heritage Secretary. Mellor had been the subject of intense press attention regarding his extramarital affair with an actress, Antonia de Sancha.^{[8] [9]} The Sun, relying on material supplied by publicist Max Clifford, made a number of lurid claims about their lovemaking - eg. that Mellor had sucked her toes and had worn a Chelsea football shirt - that de Sancha later admitted in a newspaper interview were entirely untrue.^[10] Mellor remained in office for two months after the story broke, but was forced to resign when it was revealed that he had accepted a free holiday from the daughter of the PLO's finance director.^{[11] [12]} Although Mellor's resignation antedated John Major's "Back to Basics" speech by more than a year, the media were quick to link the new campaign to the scandal. There was some speculation that the press were taking revenge over Mellor's support for the creation of a Press Complaints Commission, to rein in what he saw as excessive press snooping in people's private lives.^{[13] [14]}
• In 1992 an MP named Alan Amos received a police caution for indecency after being found cruising for gay sex on Hampstead Heath.^{[15] [16] [17]}

1993

• In February 1993 Major himself sued a publication which falsely alleged he had conducted an affair with Downing Street caterer Clare Latimer.^{[18] [19] [20] [21]}
• In May 1993 Michael Mates, a junior minister in the Northern Ireland office, resigned over his links to Asil Nadir, a UK-based Northern Cypriot businessman who later fled the country after an indictment by the Serious Fraud Office.^{[22] [20] [23]}
• Between September and November 1993 newspapers revealed that junior transport minister Steven Norris had separated from his wife and was conducting simultaneous affairs with three different women (who were not all aware of each other's existence). A further two long-term mistresses from his past were also exposed in the media. This prompted the headline, "YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, MINISTER!!!" Norris remained in office, with John Major reportedly believing that he "was entitled to act as he likes in his private life". The revelations continued during the conference at which Major made his "Back to Basics" speech.^{[24] [25] [26]}
• In December 1993 it was revealed that Tim Yeo, Minister for the Environment and Countryside, had fathered an illegitimate child, despite having publicly talked of the need to "reduce broken families and the number of single parents"; he later resigned in January 1994.^{[27] [28] [29] [30]}

1994

• On 8 January 1994 Alan Duncan MP, a millionaire, resigned as a Parliamentary Private Secretary after it was revealed that he had acquired a house in Westminster (which had been designated as a council house) adjoining his own 18th century townhouse, at a reduced price, by exploiting a government programme to increase home ownership for the underprivileged. The house had been occupied for decades by an elderly next-door neighbour, and Duncan gave him the money to purchase the house at a huge discount under the "Right to Buy" scheme, on condition that Duncan would take over the house on the neighbour's death.^{[27] [31] [32] [33]}
• On 9 January 1994 the Earl of Caithness resigned from his post as Minister for Aviation and Shipping one day after his wife committed suicide. According to his wife's father, the tragedy had been precipitated by the Earl's involvement in an extra-marital affair.^{[27] [31] [33] [34]}
• On 10 January 1994 a married Conservative MP, David Ashby, admitted that he had shared a hotel bed with a "close" male friend on a rugby tour, but denied claims by his wife that he had left her for a man, or that he was having a homosexual relationship.^{[31] [35] [33] [36]}
• On 16 January 1994 another Conservative MP, Gary Waller, confirmed newspaper reports that he had fathered a child with the secretary of another MP.^{[37] [38] [39] [21]}
• On 7 February 1994 the Conservative MP Stephen Milligan was found dead on his kitchen table as a result of auto-erotic asphyxiation, wearing only a pair of women's stockings and suspenders, with his head covered and an orange segment in his mouth.^{[40] [41] [42] [43]} According to the diary of his long-time friend, the Conservative MP Gyles Brandreth, Milligan had just been offered promotion to a ministerial job earlier that day, and Brandreth speculated that Milligan had gone home "to celebrate".^{[44] [45]}
• On 13 February 1994 Hartley Booth resigned as a Parliamentary Private Secretary. The married father of three and Methodist lay preacher claimed that his 22-year-old female researcher had "seduced [him] into kissing and cuddling".^{[27] [46] [47] [48]}
• On 8 May 1994 Michael Brown resigned as a junior government whip after the News of the World revealed that he had taken a holiday in Barbados in the company of a 20-year-old man. At that time, the age of consent for same-sex male relationships was still 21 (it was due to be reduced to 18 later in 1994).^[27] Brown subsequently acknowledged his sexuality, becoming the second openly gay MP.^[49] In his diaries, Conservative MP Gyles Brandreth wrote of this revelation:
• On 10 July 1994 Parliamentary Private Secretaries David Tredinnick and Graham Riddick resigned after being caught by The Sunday Times taking cash in exchange for asking Parliamentary questions.^{[50] [51]}
• On 20 October 1994 Tim Smith resigned as Northern Ireland minister after being accused by The Guardian of accepting cash for asking Parliamentary questions on behalf of Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed.^[52] Smith admitted the allegations.
• On 25 October 1994 Neil Hamilton resigned as minister for regulation and corporate affairs over the cash-for-questions affair.^[53] Unlike Smith, Hamilton denied taking money and gifts from Al-Fayed and vowed to sue his accusers in court.^[54]
• On 10 November 1994 the Pergau Dam case was decided. Back in the Thatcher years Britain had provided aid money to Malaysia to build the Pergau Dam allegedly as part of a quid pro quo for favourable business deals. The court found that Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd had not been legally entitled to supply the funds, as the economic viability of the project had not been proven.^{[55] [56] [57] [58]}

1995

• On 8 February 1995 Under-Secretary of State for Scotland Allan Stewart resigned from the Scottish Office after waving a pickaxe at an anti-motorway protester.^{[27] [59] [60]} Later, in 1997, he also resigned his position of MP after allegations of an affair.^{[61] [62]}
• On 6 March 1995, Robert Hughes resigned as Minister responsible for the Citizen's Charter over an affair with a constituency worker who had come to him for help from an abusive relationship. Hughes confessed the affair and resigned when he believed that the liaison was about to be exposed in a Sunday newspaper.^[63]
• On 9 April 1995 Richard Spring resigned as a Parliamentary Private Secretary after a News of the World sting allegedly caught him in a "three in a bed sex romp" with a male acquaintance and the acquaintance's girlfriend.^{[54] [64] [65]} The fact that Spring was single at the time raised accusations that the paper was conducting an unwarranted intrusion into his private life.^[48]
• On 10 April 1995 Jonathan Aitken resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in order to sue The Guardian and the ITV investigative journalism series World in Action, after they alleged that Saudi businessmen had paid for his stay at the Paris Ritz hotel, that he had enjoyed inappropriate commercial relations with two British-Lebanese arms dealers while minister for defence procurement, and that he had also procured prostitutes for a Saudi prince and his entourage while they stayed at a British health farm.^{[66] [67]} Aitken denied all accusations and promised to wield "the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play" in libel proceedings which he brought against The Guardian and the producers of World in Action (Granada Television). At an early stage in the trial, it became apparent that he had lied under oath, and he was subsequently convicted of perjury (after the Major government had fallen from power) and sentenced to a term of imprisonment.^{[68] [69] [70]}

1996

• In 1996 a long-running investigation into the 'Homes for votes scandal' found that the Conservative-controlled Westminster City Council had conducted an unofficial policy of removing homeless people from the borough and replacing them with likely Conservative voters.^{[71] [72] [73]}
• On 2 June 1996 Rod Richards resigned as a Welsh Office minister after his extra-marital affair was disclosed in the News of the World.^[74] Richards had been a staunch advocate of the "Back To Basics" campaign in his strongly religious Welsh constituency.^[54] Upon hearing of the revelations, John Major demanded that Richards resign immediately; this so-called "one bonk and you're out" policy was a notable contrast with his earlier leniency towards Norris, Yeo and David Mellor.^[75]
• In late 1996 MP and Paymaster General David Willetts was disciplined by the parliamentary ombudsman over his intervention in a parliamentary enquiry in 1996.^[76]

1997

• On 5 January 1997 the News of the World revealed that Conservative MP Jerry Hayes had been engaged in an extra-marital relationship with a young man. The affair began in 1991, when the man was 18 (the age of consent for same-sex male relationships at that time was 21).^{[77] [78] [79] [49]}
• In March 1997 Michael Hirst, Chairman of the Scottish Conservatives, resigned in the wake of revelations that he had had several previous homosexual affairs with other, younger Scottish Tories.^{[80] [81] [82] [83]}
• In 1997 the MP Piers Merchant was revealed to be having an affair with a Soho nightclub hostess, and was forced to resign after it emerged he had conducted another affair with a parliamentary researcher.^{[84] [60] [85]}

Later revelations

John Major lost the 1997 general election, subsequently resigning as prime minister and Conservative Party leader. Several years later, it was revealed that he had conducted a four-year-long extra-marital affair with fellow Conservative MP Edwina Currie in the 1980s. The liaison occurred when both were backbenchers, and had two years before Major became prime minister. Currie disclosed the romance in her diaries, published in 2002, adding that she considered the "Back to Basics" campaign to have been "absolute humbug".^[86]

In 2017, Major said the slogan was an example of how sound bites can mislead the public, saying "[I]t was taken up to pervert a thoroughly worthwhile social policy and persuaded people it was about something quite different."^[87]

In popular culture

The phrase has since been used by UK political commentators to describe any failed attempt by a political party leader to relaunch themselves following a scandal or controversy.

The phrase was satirised in the Viz strip Baxter Basics.

Further reading

• News: Major goes back to the old values. 26 September 2007 . The Guardian . London . Patrick . Wintour . 9 October 1993.
• News: British Scandals Jeopardizing Party's 'Back to Basics' Effort. Richard W. Stevenson. The New York Times. 14 January 1994. 3 January 2008.

Notes and References

1. Book: Chambers, Deborah . Representing the Family . 147 . SAGE . London . 2001 . 1412931622 . registration .
2. News: Family Values Issue Creates Stir Among British Politicians . Christian Science Monitor . Alexander . MacLeod . 10 January 1994 . 30 December 2015 . 4 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074812/http://www.csmonitor.com/1994/0110/10041.html . live .
3. Book: Page, Robert . Revisiting The Welfare State . McGraw-Hill International . Maidenhead . 2007 . 978-0335213177 . 97 . 10 October 2016 . 7 January 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140107173345/http://books.google.com/books?id=6Gl4vIkJhCMC . live .
4. News: British Scandals Jeopardizing Party's 'Back to Basics' Effort . The New York Times . Richard W. . Stevenson . 14 January 1994 . 14 February 2017 . 7 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160307111311/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/14/world/british-scandals-jeopardizing-party-s-back-to-basics-effort.html . live .
5. Book: John Major. John Major: The Autobiography. Phoenix Books. 1999. 678.
6. Book: Anthony Seldon. Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. 1997. 346.
7. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 28, 208–9.
8. Book: John Major. John Major: The Autobiography. Phoenix Books. 1999. 551.
9. Book: Anthony Seldon. Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. 1997. 300, 323–24.
10. News: Euan Ferguson . Antonia de Sancha on moving forwards and emotional hangovers . . 2 November 2002 . 12 July 2014 . 10 September 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140910040357/http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/nov/03/features.review17 . live .
11. Stephen Ward "Mellor family guests of PLO man's daughter", The Independent, 15 September 1992
12. News: 1992: Mellor resigns over sex scandal. BBC News. 24 September 1992. 14 August 2020. 7 March 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080307130832/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/24/newsid_2529000/2529115.stm. live.
13. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 86–7.
14. News: Sir David Calcutt . 22 March 2019 . The Times . 17 August 2004 . subscription . 22 March 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190322121943/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sir-david-calcutt-b6jzsvwk8qj . live .
15. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 207.
16. Web site: THAT NIGHT ON THE HEATH » 18 Jan 1997 » the Spectator Archive. 14 August 2020. 20 May 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140520043928/http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/18th-january-1997/22/that-night-on-the-heath. live.
17. News: BBC News | UK POLITICS | Clutching at straws. 14 August 2020. 6 March 2003. https://web.archive.org/web/20030306015144/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/603435.stm. live.
18. Book: Major . John Roy . John Major: The Autobiography . 2000 . HarperCollins . 978-0-00-653074-9 . 553–554.
19. Book: Anthony Seldon. Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. 1997. 355–7.
20. Book: Anthony Seldon. Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. 1997. 382–3.
21. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 209.
22. Book: John Major. John Major: The Autobiography. Phoenix Books. 1999. 565.
23. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 250.
24. News: Steve Norris: Tory who ran as a liberal . BBC News . 5 May 2000 . 2 September 2012 . 12 March 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120312160816/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk_politics/2000/london_mayor/726055.stm . live .
25. News: Ministering to the Needs of a Nation . People Magazine . Judith . Newman . 8 November 1993 . 30 December 2015 . 7 February 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160207083003/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20106687,00.html . live .
26. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 206.
27. News: The Major Scandal Sheet . BBC News . BBC . 27 October 1998 . 28 December 2012 . 31 March 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090331063000/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/202525.stm . live .
28. News: The revenge of the Moral Majority: The Yeo Affair: Traditional values saved John Major's career at last year's party conference. Now he is paying the price . The Independent . 9 January 1994 . 29 August 2009 . London . Nick . Cohen . Paul . Routledge . 11 November 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121111045636/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-revenge-of-the-moral-majority-the-yeo-affair-traditional-values-saved-john-majors-career-at-last-years-party-conference-now-he-is-paying-the-price-1398970.html . live .
29. News: The Yeo Resignation: Minister falls foul of 'back to basics' policy: Swift demise after constituency association released statement . The Independent . 5 January 1994 . Patricia . Wynn Davies . 19 September 2017 . 5 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305085046/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-yeo-resignation-minister-falls-foul-of-back-to-basics-policy-swift-demise-after-constituency-1398284.html . live .
30. News: Conservative Party minister admits to love child . 26 December 1993 . UPI . 11 January 2016 . 4 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062111/http://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/12/26/Conservative-Party-minister-admits-to-love-child/2082756882000/ . live .
31. News: Sex Scandals Contradict Tory Moralizing: Prime Minister John Major can't seem to plug all the leaks in his 'back to basics' policy . Los Angeles Times . William . Tuohy . 15 January 1994 . 30 December 2015 . 11 December 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151211121416/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-01-15/news/mn-12048_1_john-major . live .
32. News: Alan Duncan claimed thousands for gardening: MPs' expenses . Holly . Watt . . 10 May 2009 . London . 14 August 2020 . 27 May 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200527064002/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5304976/Alan-Duncan-claimed-thousands-for-gardening-MPs-expenses.html . live .
33. Book: Anthony Seldon. Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. 1997. 433.
34. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 213.
35. News: Tories in Turmoil: MP denies homosexual affair: David Ashby: Wife blames marital problems on long hours in Parliament . Rhys . Williams . The Independent . 10 January 1994 . 19 September 2017 . 15 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181215065911/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/tories-in-turmoil-mp-denies-homosexual-affair-david-ashby-wife-blames-marital-problems-on-long-hours-1406050.html . live .
36. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 211.
37. News: Two months of sex and sleaze . Colin . Brown . 7 February 1994 . The Independent . 19 September 2017 . 8 August 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170808154701/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/two-months-of-sex-and-sleaze-1392667.html . live .
38. News: Pecadillo Circus . Ian . Katz . 1 March 1994 . Washington Post . 11 January 2016 . 5 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305092432/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/03/01/peccadillo-circus/c415d747-e1ff-416b-9316-8a767fa95c49/ . live .
39. News: TORIES IN TURMOIL / The Press: Waller attacks 'harassment' after. Independent.co.uk. 17 January 1994. 14 August 2020. 8 August 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170808153640/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/tories-in-turmoil-the-press-waller-attacks-harassment-after-admitting-he-has-son-1400518.html. live.
40. Book: John Major. John Major: The Autobiography. Phoenix Books. 1999. 556–7.
41. Book: Anthony Seldon. Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. 1997. 438–9.
42. News: BBC ON THIS DAY | 8 | 1994: Police probe MP's suspicious death . BBC News . 8 February 1952 . 29 August 2009 . 7 March 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080307131153/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/8/newsid_2538000/2538165.stm . live .
43. News: Rising Tory Politician Found Dead Mysteriously . The New York Times . John . Darnton . 9 February 1994 . 14 February 2017 . 7 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160307123654/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/09/world/rising-tory-politician-found-dead-mysteriously.html . live .
44. Gyles Brandreth, Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries, 1992–97 (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999),
45. News: MP 'was worried over tarnished television image': Coroner records misadventure verdict on Milligan. 15 December 2015. The Independent. 23 March 1994. 8 December 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181208010620/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/mp-was-worried-over-tarnished-television-image-coroner-records-misadventure-verdict-on-milligan-1430950.html. live.
46. News: New Scandal Rocks Tory Party, With M.P. Admitting Infatuation . The New York Times . William E. . Schmidt . 13 February 1994 . 14 February 2017 . 19 August 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160819154649/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/14/world/new-scandal-rocks-tory-party-with-mp-admitting-infatuation.html . live .
47. Book: Anthony Seldon. Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. 1997. 439.
48. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 210.
49. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 215.
50. News: Cash-for-questions MPs suspended by Commons . The Independent . 21 April 1995 . 29 August 2009 . London . Donald . MacIntyre . 25 September 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150925165821/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cashforquestions-mps-suspended-by-commons-1616440.html . live .
51. Book: Foley, Michael . The British Presidency . Manchester University Press . Manchester . 2000 . 0719050154 . 156 . 9 January 2016 . 19 July 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200719210848/https://books.google.com/books?id=-tK4nZYLyxcC . live .
52. News: The Cash-for-Questions Affair: Tim Smith finds forgiveness – UK, News . The Independent . 22 October 1994 . 29 August 2009 . London . Glenda . Cooper . 11 November 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121111045705/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-cashforquestions-affair-tim-smith-finds-forgiveness-1444253.html . live .
53. News: Profile: Neil Hamilton . BBC News . 10 August 2001 . 29 August 2009 . 17 December 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20061217203114/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1485089.stm . live .
54. Web site: Key Resignations & Dismissals in the 1992–1997 Parliament . 1997 . BBC . 21 June 2018 . 21 June 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180621055551/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/resign.shtml . live .
55. Book: Anthony Seldon. Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. 1997. 435–6, 480.
56. https://sites.tufts.edu/corruptarmsdeals/the-pergau-dam-arms-for-aid-scandal/ The Pergau Dam ‘Arms for Aid’ Scandal
57. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/dec/12/pergau-dam-affair-aid-arms-scandal The Pergau dam affair: will an aid for arms scandal ever happen again?
58. Book: Garnett, Mark . Hickson . Kevin . Williams . Ben . John Major - An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? Reappraising John Major . Biteback Publishing . 2017 . 282 . 16. Foreign and Defence Policy . 978-1-785-90271-0.
59. Book: Anthony Seldon. Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. 1997. 532.
60. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society: Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 275.
61. News: Tory MP fined pounds 200 for waving pickaxe - News - The Independent. 12 September 1995. The Independent. 22 February 2015. 28 October 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171028150014/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/tory-mp-fined-pounds-200-for-waving-pickaxe-1600654.html. live.
62. News: Film tribute to the 'Pollok birdman'. 18 April 2008. BBC Online. 22 February 2015. 22 April 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080422023120/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7352763.stm. live.
63. News: Minister admits affair and quits. Major pre-empts scandal by accepting resignation. The Sunday Herald. 5 March 1995. 10 January 2016. 4 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104407/http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12541827.Minister_admits_affair_and_quits__Major_pre_empts_scandal_by_accepting_resignation/. live.
64. News: Three-in-a-bed session MP was victim of 'set-up' . Nick . Cohen . Richard . Williams . The Independent . 15 April 1995 . 19 September 2017 . 10 August 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170810113540/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/three-in-a-bed-session-mp-was-victim-of-set-up-1615827.html . live .
65. "Tory MP, The Tycoon and the Sunday School Teacher", News of the World, 9 April 1995
66. News: Aitken sues over Saudi claims . 11 April 1995 . Michael . White . The Guardian . 14 December 2016 . 7 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170307192320/https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2011/jun/06/newspapers-national-newspapers . live .
67. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 244.
68. News: Pallister . David . Aitken, the fixer and the secret multi-million pound arms deals | Politics . The Guardian . 29 August 2009 . London . 5 March 1999 . 8 May 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140508003631/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/mar/05/uk.davidpallister . live .
69. Book: Alwyn W Turner. A Classless Society:Britain in the 1990s. Aurum Press Ltd. 2013. 351.
70. Book: Anthony Seldon. Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. 1997. 480, 500–02.
71. News: Matthew Weaver . Dame Shirley Porter back in Westminster . The Guardian . 7 August 2006 . 2011-01-29 . London . 4 January 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080104065947/http://politics.guardian.co.uk/localgovernment/story/0,,1839223,00.html . live .
72. News: 24 April 2004. Dame Shirley agrees £12.3m deal. BBC News. 27 November 2013. 29 May 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20060529045508/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3655851.stm. live.
73. News: Dumping the poor: Nick Cohen unravels the homes-for-votes scandal engulfing Dame Shirley Porter and reveals that her successors on Westminster council are still . . . – UK – N... . London . The Independent . 19 September 2017 . 25 September 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150925161757/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/dumping-the-poor-nick-cohen-unravels-the-homesforvotes-scandal-engulfing-dame-shirley-porter-and-reveals-that-her-successors-on-westminster-council-are-still-1407226.html . live .
74. "Minister's bondage romp with divorcee", News of the World, 2 June 1996
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76. News: Programmes | Question Time | This week's panel . BBC News . 16 November 2005 . 29 August 2009 . 1 December 2005 . https://web.archive.org/web/20051201080234/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/4438982.stm . live .
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