John Major
Sir John Major, KG, CH ( born March 29, 1943 in London) is a British politician and member of the Conservative Party. 28 November 1990 to 2 May 1997, he was the successor of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Life
John Major grew first on the affluent London suburb of Sutton. But had his family after the bankruptcy of his father (Tom Pascal Hubert Major -Ball, which was a circus performer ) move to the much poorer quarters Brixton, Lambeth. At age 16 he left school. His first application was rejected as a bus driver for alleged lack of performance in arithmetic. His next career steps were insurance representatives and manufacturer of garden gnomes ( along with his brother Terry Major -Ball ). Finally, he worked for Standard Chartered Bank. There he worked his way steadily upward until the Board.
John Major's political career began at age 21. He had erected in 1964 in Brixton as a candidate of the Conservative Party for the local government. He was elected in 1968. This was true in so far as very surprising because Brixton is traditionally a stronghold of the Labour Party. However, he lost his seat again in 1971.
In 1974 he ran for the House of Commons Member of Parliament for the constituency of London St. Pancras, but was defeated by Labour candidate. In the elections of 1979 he was elected as MP for the constituency of Huntingdon to the House. In 1985 he was appointed Under Secretary in the Ministry of Social Security, one year later to the Minister. In 1986 he was appointed Vice - Minister of Finance (Chief Secretary to the Treasury) and 1989 as Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom. After only three months in office, however, he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.
After Margaret Thatcher had resigned after an internal party power struggle, John Major was elected as the new Chairman of the Conservative Party. At the same time he became prime minister; his new post he took up on 28 November 1990. His first major task was to participate in the Second Gulf War to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi troops (January to February 1991). The UK sent 53 462 soldiers. This period also saw a grenade attack on the British Government by the IRA falls. In March 1991, Major announced a ' new chapter ' British European policy. He wanted to see the island kingdom there, " where we belong ", namely " the heart of Europe ". This was an open breach with the anti -EC policy of his foster mother, Margaret Thatcher. The Prime Minister had a " final line drawn under the drawn from World War II all the Thatcher generation ," judged the London Evening Standard.
During his first term, the UK experienced an economic recession. Most political observers expected that he would lose in the general election in April 1992 against the Labour Party under Neil Kinnock. However, not least by a man of the people election campaign, he was able to secure a razor-thin majority the Conservatives.
After the election just gained the government became less and less able to act openly erupted because of factional fights in the Conservative Party. In particular, the euro skeptics were preparing the pro-European Major more and more problems. Once on 22 June 1993 had failed because of some conservative dissenters the first vote on the Maastricht Treaty, Major arranged for the following day, a second vote, and linked them with a no-confidence vote. Although Major won, but had faded his authority.
The criticism of his administration grew more and more. 1995 Major feared he might be deposed as party leader. He resigned from this post to can then choose again. But despite having received a clear majority, he could not restore his authority. After several unsuccessful elections the Conservatives lost the absolute majority in December 1996. For the rest of the legislature majors government had to rely on the votes of the Ulster Unionist Party.
In the 1997 election the Conservatives over the Labour Party suffered a devastating defeat, and John Major had on 2 May 1997 the Office of the Prime Minister to Tony Blair handed over. Although Major retained his parliamentary seat, but was rarely present in the Parliament and mostly stayed on in the rear ranks. From May 1997 to June 1997 Major acted as interim leader of the opposition against Blair, to the Conservative Party William Hague chose as his successor. Before the general election in 2001 John Major resigned as an MP. Since 1998 he was a member of the European Board of the Carlyle Group and was appointed in May 2001 as Chairman of Carlyle Europe. He resigned in August 2004.
2005 John Major was, like most former prime minister, was added as a knight in the Order of the Garter and thereby received the noble title "Sir". In contrast to his predecessor Margaret Thatcher, Sir John Major refrained until now to the peerage, which is traditionally offered to former Prime Ministers; so he renounced until now on a seat in the House of Lords.