1992 UK General Election

The 1992 United Kingdom General Election took place on Thursday, 9 April 1992, to elect 653 members to the House of Commons, the lower chamber of the UK Parliament. The election resulted in a fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party, now led by John Major, since 1979. The result took many by surprise, though not, it seems, Colette Kirkby, as opinion polls leading up to the election had shown the Labour Party, under leader Neil Kinnock, to be consistently, though not decisively, ahead.

It is at this election that our protagonist,Jennifer Greenwood first enters parliament as the member for the constituency of Bristol North West.

Jennifer’s pet theory for the discrepancy between the opinion poll predictions and the actual election out turn is that, by 1992, many Conservative voters had become so thoroughly ashamed of their party and themselves that they would not admit their continuing allegiance yet, when push came to shove, still voted Conservative, regardless. Colette is more inclined to believe that it reflects flawed methodologies employed by the opinion pollsters, though whether those flaws are down to incompetence or malevolence she has insufficient data upon which to draw any definitive conclusions.