It has been a remarkable year for the Labour Party, which swept back into power on May 1, after an 18-year absence, with the biggest Parliamentary majority in their history.

Tony Blair, the new Prime Minister and the man who brought Labour back into office, was justly proud of his achievement.

Speaking shortly after the size of Labour's victory became apparent Mr Blair told supporters: "Let me say this to you - the British people have put their trust in us, and it is a moving and humbling experience and the size of our majority now imposes a special sort of responsibility upon us. We have been elected as New Labour and we will govern as New Labour!"

But while Labour's campaign was confident and slick, few people predicted their victory would be so great. After 18 years in power, the ruling Conservatives were being virtually wiped off the electoral map, and even the experts were stunned.

The shape of parliament seemed set to change for good. For the first time in its history Parliament had over a 100 female members and the cabinet had its first openly gay minister.

The Conservatives' resounding defeat left them in shock. Leading Conservative politicians such as the Defence Secretary, Michael Portillo, the Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, and the Scottish Secretary, Michael Forsyth, all suffered humiliating defeats. And while there was no danger of him losing his seat, John Major soon realised that his six and a half years as Prime Minister and party leader were over.

Mr Major resigned on May 2 and by June 19, after three rounds of voting, the Conservatives had elected a new leader.

Clarke was pipped at the post by Hague

Five candidates initially stepped forward in the battle to replace Mr Major. The winner was the youngest, and least experienced of them all - William Hague, the former Welsh Secretary.

Right from the start Mr Hague was keen to work the kind of miracles on the Conservatives that Mr Blair had managed with Labour.

"I say to you: don't take fright, don't be mesmerised by Mr Blair, just because of Labour's majority. There is no magic in what he has done to his party. We can modernise our party. We can bring in new members to help reshape our party. We can reach out to new generations."

Recent by-election results suggest that this has not yet happened. Sleaze continues to dog the party - one by-election ( narrowly won after a previously huge majority) was brought about by a backbench MP resigning after a sexual scandal; a former minister, Jonathan Aitken, saw his career fall to pieces after he was forced to drop a libel action against a newspaper; and another former minister, Neil Hamilton, who lost his seat to the former BBC reporter Martin Bell, continued to protest his innocence on charges of receiving cash for questions, even though an official enquiry found the evidence against him "compelling".

But sleaze has not confined itself to just the one party. Within days of the election Labour's Mohammed Sawar, Britain's first Muslim MP, was suspended following accusations that he had tried to bribe an election rival; and later in the year the government found itself under intense pressure following its decision to exempt Formula One motor racing from a ban on tobacco sponsorship - before the election Labour had accepted a donation of £1m from a key figure in the sport, Bernie Ecclestone. The new leader of the opposition, William Hague, saw an opportunity to strike.

Labour's dealings with Ecclestone signalled the end of the Government's long honeymoon with the voters

"Is it not extraordinary that the government denied receiving money from Mr Ecclestone and then admitted it; denied it was a million pounds and then admitted it; denied the crucial meeting had been (transcribed) and then published the (transcriptions); denied this House (of Commons) a full account of the matter, which instead has been dragged out piece by piece; denied he would accept further donations; and then took advice on accepting them? Hasn't his conduct been a shabby tale of evasion?"

Peter Mandelson, the Minister Without Portfolio, and a master of political spin, tried to limit the damage. "The government behaved out of character. We acted against our own principles. Our principle is that honesty is the first principle of good communications."

But Labour's reputation had suffered a blow and things were only going to get worse for the its leadership. The first backbench rebellion of Mr Blair's administration took place towards the end of the year when the Government proved determined to press ahead with controversial benefit cuts for lone parents, a measure inherited from the previous Conservative administration.

For Mr Blair the cuts were a test of Labour's commitment to its election pledge not to break the spending limits set by the Conservatives. But for many Labour MPs the cuts represented a betrayal of traditional Labour policy and as the Government continues to float the idea of cutting the disability living allowance the tension between the Labour leadership and the Party's old instincts look set to continue well into 1998.
 

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