The modern British Conservative Party ran the United Kingdom for nearly 20 years, beginning with Margaret Thatcher's victory for the Party in 1979. She came into office facing a British economy that had been crippled by decades of liberal policies and militant trade unions. Thatcher turned that around, broke the iron grip of the trade unions, and restored the British economy to a free enterprise system that has thrived to this day. She was succeeded by John Major in 1990, and, to the surprise of the media, Major won the general election in 1992 and extended the Conservative Party's power until 1997.
By 1997 the Labour Party had finally embraced the more conservative direction for the country and abandoned many of liberal economic policies of the past. Economic difficulties, including a dispute over whether England should join the currency of the European Union, hurt the Conservative Party further. This was coupled with a perception that the party had become corrupt, with a number of high-profile members of the party being involved in financial and sexual scandals. The Labour Party won in a landslide in 1997 and has held power ever since.
Since the 1990s, the Conservative Party leaders have softened its conservative stance on social issues and this may have hurt its popularity with voters. While the successful elected leaders of the Republican Party in the United States tend to be conservative on social issues, liberals have enjoyed greater power in the British Conservative Party, and that may explain its weaker performance in elections.{{fact}}