Download the e-book
Download the e-bookHow the political map was redrawn in the 2019 general election
The Conservative Party won the first majority in landslide territory for any party since 2001, and the largest Conservative majority at a general election since 1987. Since 2001, this is the first occasion on which the UK has given one party a dominating presence in the Commons chamber with a wide lead in the popular vote.
On paper this should provide a secure footing for any government to run the country for an entire parliament. A year later and the Conservatives’ poll lead has ebbed away, and that majority is far from solidly reliable. But it’s worth reminding ourselves how this majority was achieved and the lessons all sides need to learn for the years ahead.
The best time to re-assess 2019
A year is a long time in politics. Twelve months after the Conservative’s general election victory extraordinary events have moved the political agenda on, and now we find ourselves at a crucial turning point.
From the parliamentary gridlock of 2019, through to the extraordinary results as they unfurled, there has never been a better moment to consider how the political map was drastically redrawn, what was crucial to making it happen, and what ultimately proved to be incidental. In so doing, we hope this re-examination of the autumn of 2019 will not only add to our understanding of the last general election, but also help us imagine what the next might look like.
