John Major

The Rt Hon Sir John Major was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Leader of the Conservative Party from November 1990 until May 1997. He has held three of the four Great Offices of State.

Born into a humble background in South London, he left school at sixteen and became an insurance clerk. He was active in politics form his teens and in 1979 was elected as Member of Parliament for Huntingdon.

John Major served in the Thatcher administration as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Foreign Secretary and as Chancellor of the Exchequer. In November 1990, on the resignation of Margaret Thatcher he became Prime Minister. He oversaw the negotiation of the Maastricht Treaty and led the Conservative Party to a fourth consecutive General Election victory, winning the largest number of votes in British electoral history. However his government was in charge in 1992 during Black Wednesday in which the UK crashed out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism [ERM] after it proved unable to keep the Pound Sterling above its agreed lower limit.

in 1995 after challenging his euro-sceptic opponents within his own party he was re-lected as Leader but went on to lose the General Election of 1997 to Tony Blair’s resurgent New Labour. John Major was succeeded by William Hague.

In the aftermath of the EU Referendum John Major has declared his belief that ‘there is undoubtedly a case for second EU referendum’.