John Major

John Major was the Prime minister of the United Kingdom (1990 to 1997), succeeding Margaret Thatcher and succeeded by Anthony Blair. During his time in office the Conservative party had a very small majority in Parliament and the party was split on the issue of withdrawal from the European Union; consequently few policies were introduced of any note[1].

Major is probably best remembered for his unsuccessful attempt to peg the British Pound to the Deutschmark and subsequent withdrawal from the scheme (the Exchange Rate Mechanism, or ERM), leading to the collapse & devaluation of the British currency in 1992[2], popularly known as 'Black Wednesday'. It is now generally held even by his opponents that Major was not to blame for this, however at the time he was held responsible, damaging the Conservative party's reputation for economic stability and leading to the split of the party into the Referendum Party, UK Independence Party, British National Party and the rump Tory (Conservative) Party and consequently to the socialist wins in all subsequent elections (1997, 2001 & 2005) to date[3].