On that memorable election night in May 1997, what made people rub their eyes in disbelief was not simply the size of Labour’s majority, but where it came from. The drumbeat of Labour gains was a roll-call of the suburban and small-town Home Counties: Braintree, Hastings, Harrow, Hendon, Hemel Hempstead, Hove, Putney, St Albans, Enfield Southgate – Southgate! – Watford. Only Surrey stayed solidly blue. The rest of John Betjeman country turned red.
Famous Labour victories were not always made this way. In 1964, when Harold Wilson ended 13 years of Conservative government, Labour’s share of the British vote (44.8 per cent) was almost identical to that in 1997 (44.3 per cent). But in 1964, the electorate was polarised by class. Labour built its victory on 68 per cent of the working-class vote but a mere 19 per cent of the salariat vote. By 1997, Labour’s share of the working-class vote had fallen slightly to 64 per cent, but its share of the salariat vote – 36 per cent – was almost double. Among all white-collar/blouse workers, Labour won 22 per cent of the vote in 1964, but 39 per cent in 1997.
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