1992 General Election

United Kingdom general election, 1992

← 1987 9 April 1992 1997 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 651 seats in the House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	77.7% (2.4%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader John Major Neil Kinnock Paddy Ashdown Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrat Leader since 28 November 1990 2 October 1983 16 July 1988 Leader's seat Huntingdon Islwyn Yeovil Last election 376 seats, 42.2% 229 seats, 30.8% 22 seats, 22.6% Seats won 336 271 20 Seat change 40 42 2 Popular vote 14,093,007 11,560,484 5,999,606 Percentage 41.9% 34.4% 17.8% Swing 0.3% 3.6% 4.8%
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
Prime Minister before election John Major Conservative Subsequent Prime Minister John Major Conservative

John Major
Conservative

John Major
Conservative

The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on Thursday 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. It was the last outright win for the Conservatives until 2015. This election result took many by surprise, as opinion polling leading up to the election day had shown the Labour Party, under leader Neil Kinnock, consistently, if narrowly, ahead.

John Major had won the leadership election in November 1990 following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher. During his term leading up to the 1992 election he oversaw the British involvement in the Gulf War, introduced legislation to replace the unpopular Community Charge with Council Tax, and signed the Maastricht Treaty. The economy was facing a recession around the time of Major's appointment, along with most of the other industrialised nations. Because it confounded the opinion polls, the 1992 election was one of the most dramatic elections in the UK since the end of the Second World War.

The BBC's live television broadcast of the election results was presented by David Dimbleby and Peter Snow, with John Cole. On ITV, the ITN-produced coverage was presented by Jon Snow, Alastair Stewart, and Julia Somerville, with Sir Robin Day performing the same interviewing role for ITV as he had done for the BBC on many previous election nights. Sky News presented full coverage of a general election night for the first time. Their coverage was presented by David Frost, Michael Wilson, Selina Scott, Adam Boulton and political scientist Michael Thrasher, with former BBC political journalist Donald MacCormick presenting analysis of the Scottish vote.