2005 United Kingdom general election

{{ukpolitics}}
The '''2005 UK general election''' is mainly remembered for two reasons; it was the first time the [[Labour Party]] ([[Tony Blair|and leader]]) won a third consecutive election and the first election after the events of the [[War on Terror]] and the [[Iraq War|Invasion of Iraq]]. Due to the strongest showing by the [[Liberal Democrats]] since 1929 and the vagaries of '[[First past the post|First Past the Post]]'; it holds the record in which a majority government was formed on the lowest share of the popular vote. It was also vaguely-notable in that it was the first election since 1935 where one of the major party leaders followed a non-[[Christian]] religion<ref group=note>The [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] leader, Michael Howard being [[Jewish]].</ref>.

==Background==
The shape of the Second Blair Ministry was formed two months in with the events of [[9/11|September 11<sup>th</sup>]]<ref group=note>The term '9/11' isn't popular due to the fact in the British date system that refers to the 9th of November.</ref> which had the United Kingdom immediately aligning with the [[United States]]. However, political strains (both inside the government and among the public in general) rapidly began to show as domestic attempts to combat '[[Islamic extremism]]' became reminiscent of the failed attempts to quash '[[The Troubles]]' and the deepening impression/suspicion that Blair was in fact [[George W. Bush|President Bush's]] stooge<ref>[https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/03/george-w-bush-tony-blair-iraq-war Why the George W. Bush–Tony Blair Political Bromance Is Still a Mystery] ''Vanity Fair'', 8 March 2016</ref> ("Bush's poodle"<ref>[https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/ten-years-later-still-bushs-poodle-8392 Ten Years Later, Still Bush's Poodle: Why is Tony Blair still defending George W. Bush?] ''The National Interest'', 23 April 2013.</ref>). This came to a head over the [[Iraq War]]<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2750983.stm Blair risks everything on Iraq] ''BBC News'', 12 February 2003</ref>; causing the largest single political protest in at least a century<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2767761.stm Anti-war rally makes its mark] ''BBC News'' 19 February 2003</ref>, the largest 'backbench rebellion' against Blair<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2862325.stm Blair wins war backing amid revolt] ''BBC News'', 19 March 2003</ref>, irreparable damage to his popularity and a gaping division within Labour which took a political generation to recover from.

However, Blair's political luck hadn't completely given out. To his right, he had the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] who'd failed to make traction with Iain Duncan Smith for the same reasons William Hague had failed before&nbsp;— lack of appeal and credibility as a possible Prime Minister. So after a quick deposition<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/oct/29/conservatives.uk IDS loses confidence vote] ''The Guardian'', 29 Oct 2003</ref> the [[John Major|Major]]-era Home Secretary Michael Howard was brought in as a stopgap who could at least sort out the latter issue. On the left he faced the Liberals who under Charles Kennedy had proven a bit of a 'damp squib'; while gaining a significant number of anti-war and/or anti-[[Third Way]] supporters they tended to be in the 'wrong' places and perhaps more seriously, only managed to get a single defection from Labour in the whole parliament.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/paul-marsden-i-have-lost-confidence-in-the-labour-government-9258099.html Paul Marsden: ' I have lost confidence in the Labour Government'] ''The Independent'', 11 December 2001</ref> Lastly, the internal opposition was disjointed, led by the same old suspects who were [[Diane Abbott|mainly people]] [[Jeremy Corbyn|Blair didn't]] [[George Galloway|like anyway]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/mar/27/labour.uk Abbott faces reselection fight over Iraq] ''The Guardian'', 27 March 2003</ref><ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-stop-the-war-speech-video-15-years-on-iraq-2003-a8211816.html Jeremy Corbyn's Stop The War speech is 15 years old today] ''The Independent'', 15 February 2018</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/oct/23/labour.georgegalloway Galloway expelled from Labour] ''The Guardian'', 23 October 2003</ref>

Two other events of long-term importance happened in this period; firstly the first round of '[[EU]] enlargement' took place which due to an 'open-door' policy and strong economy led to the first waves of some 1.5m Eastern Europeans who would come to work and live in the UK&nbsp;— half of which on a long-term basis<ref group=note>Representing a 1.25% long-term rise in the total UK population starting 2004.</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jan/17/eastern-european-uk-migrants Young, self-reliant, educated: portrait of UK's eastern European migrants] ''The Observer'', 17 January 2010</ref>. Naturally, the likes of [[Nigel Farage]] almost wet themselves on realising that they could now could get people to hate [[European Union|Brussels]] by tapping into their [[xenophobia]] but in a totally-not-[[racist]] manner. On the financial front, [[Gordon Brown]] not only failed to notice [[Great Recession|the coming storm]] despite the memos but was splashing out on (very needed) new hospitals, schools and roads but paying for them on the never-never via a wheeze called 'private finance initiatives',<ref group=note>To be fair, a Conservative invention.</ref> which provided the stuff now but avoided either raising [[taxes]] or issuing debt to pay for it immediately, which would make some headline numbers [[Fiscal responsibility|'look bad']].<ref>[https://theconversation.com/why-private-finance-initiatives-are-so-addictive-and-yet-offer-such-poor-value-for-money-40421 Why private finance initiatives are so addictive – and yet offer such poor value for money] ''The Conversation'' 1 September 2015 </ref>

==Campaign==
The polls had shown the two main parties rather close to each other in the approach; what with the lingering fallout of Iraq and Blair's own waning personal popularity. This led to a much stronger Labour fightback; pointing to the (apparently) stable economy and improving public services, while reminding them of the 'failures' of the Major era — something which was helped by the fact the Conservative leader had been a senior member of said government. This was also the first election campaign where the Chancellor played a major role; the jury is out whether the electoral bonuses were greater than the losses due to the clear antipathy and rivalry between Brown and Blair by this point.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jan/09/uk.labour1 Blair-Brown feud out of control over new claims] ''The Observer'', 9 January 2005</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01614/2005-fighting_1614460i.jpg?imwidth=960 'Blair-Brown Rift' Conservative attack poster, 2005] ''The Telegraph'', 12 April 2010</ref>

The Conservatives played a rather traditional 'immigration, crime and defence' manifesto, perhaps hoping to capitalise on Howard's Home Office experience and 'tough' reputation in a time where swathes of 'Middle England' was having vague fears over immigrants, criminals and/or [[terrorist]]s (partly due to the ''[[Daily Mail]]''). However, it soon realised it had an image problem; that some people were supportive of Conservative policies until told they ''were'' Conservative policies, and that they were still viewed as the 'Nasty Party'.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/oct/08/uk.conservatives2002 'Nasty party' warning to Tories] ''The Guardian'', 8 October 2002</ref>

The Liberals continued in their progressive tradition, running 'to the left' of Labour on issues of the public services and taxation. However, while Kennedy was clearly a popular leader with the public, he was a somewhat uneven campaigner; partly due to the stresses of being a new father and representing a remote constituency but also due to his [[Alcohol|drink]] problem, which was made public the following year.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4582930.stm Kennedy admits battling alcohol] ''BBC News'', 5 January 2006</ref>

==Results==
[[File:House of Commons 2005 Election.svg|thumb|right|250px|Post-election makeup of the House of Commons.]]
While much of the media portrayed the results as showing that the increasingly haughty Blair had been 'cut down to size', this reduced size was still a 'working majority' of 69 for Labour; one which was more than adequate. What's more, the two main opposition parties were considered unlikely to be able to present a united front on most issues. Once again, the vagaries of the electoral system caused somewhat confusing results; such as Labour losing votes to Liberals in constituencies which resulted in a Conservative victory. A clear message that while nearly 1.2m 'left' Labour, only 400k had gone to the Conservatives.

In the general dissatisfaction, the minor parties flourished; [[UKIP]] increased their popular vote by 50% (becoming the 'fourth party' in numbers), the Green Party managed similar growth numbers and the fascists from the [[BNP]] managed to grow threefold (all still failing to gain a seat, however). The 'Anti-War Coalition' had morphed into the '[[Respect Party]]', which if nothing else allowed the House of Commons to enjoy George Galloway's company for a while longer<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4519575.stm Galloway's East End street fight] ''BBC News'', 6 May 2005</ref> and the British people to watch his continuing strange political adventure.

Part of the decline in Labour seats was beyond mere voting patterns; due to [[Scottish]] devolution, the number of Scottish MPs was reduced by 18% (13 seats) and the majority of the abolished seats had been held by Labour (which is also why the 'Changed Seats' totals don't add up; in [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001]] there was 659 seats, not the 646 contested in 2005).

[[File:2005UKElectionNominalMap.svg|thumb|right|450px|Results map.]]

{| class="wikitable"

! Turnout: 61.4% (+2%) !! Seats !! Change !! Vote % !! Change
|-
| <u>'''Labour'''</u> || '''355 '''|| <span style="color:red">'''-58'''</span> || '''35.2''' || <span style="color:red">'''-5.5'''</span>
|-
| <u>'''Conservatives'''</u> || '''198''' || <span style="color:green">'''+32'''</span> || '''32.4''' || <span style="color:green">'''+0.7'''</span>
|-
| <u>'''Liberal Democrats'''</u> || '''62''' || <span style="color:green">'''+10'''</span> || '''22.0''' || <span style="color:green">'''+3.7'''</span>
|-
| <u>'''Other'''</u> || '''31''' || '''+3''' || '''10.4''' || '''+1.0'''
|}

[[File:2005 UK General Election Constituencies.svg|thumb|left|225px|Map showing constituencies as equal area to better indicate the number of seats.]]

{{clear}}

==External links==
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/default.stm BBC's 'Election 2005' website], still (mainly) functional.

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|3|80%}}

[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:British politics]]
[[Category:UK general elections]]

Categories: Elections, British politics, UK general elections