List of MPs elected in the 1997 United Kingdom general election
This is a list of members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 general election, held on 1 May.
| 1997–2001 Parliament of the United Kingdom | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
 Palace of Westminster in 2000 | |||||
| Overview | |||||
| Legislative body | Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||||
| Term | 1 May 1997 – 14 May 2001 | ||||
| Election | 1997 United Kingdom general election | ||||
| Government | First Blair ministry | ||||
| House of Commons | |||||
| Members | 659 | ||||
| Speaker | Betty Boothroyd Michael Martin | ||||
| Leader | Ann Taylor Margaret Beckett | ||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||
| Leader of the Opposition | John Major William Hague | ||||
| Third-party leader | Paddy Ashdown Charles Kennedy | ||||
| House of Lords | |||||
| Lord Chancellor | Baron Irvine of Lairg | ||||
The list is arranged by constituency. New MPs elected since the general election are noted at the bottom of the page.
During the 1997–2001 Parliament, Betty Boothroyd and Michael Martin served as Speaker, Tony Blair served as Prime Minister, and John Major and William Hague served as Leader of the Opposition. Dissolution of Parliament was on 14 May 2001.[1]
Sub-lists
Composition
These representative diagrams show the composition of the parties in the 1997 general election.
Note: The Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru sit together as a party group, while Sinn Féin has not taken its seats. This is not the official seating plan of the House of Commons, which has five rows of benches on each side, with the government party to the right of the speaker and opposition parties to the left, but with room for only around two-thirds of MPs to sit at any one time.
| Affiliation | Members | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | 418 | |
| Conservative Party | 165 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 46 | |
| Ulster Unionist Party | 10 | |
| Scottish National Party | 6 | |
| Plaid Cymru | 4 | |
| Social Democratic and Labour Party | 3 | |
| Democratic Unionist Party | 2 | |
| Sinn Féin | 2 | |
| Independent | 1 | |
| UK Unionist Party | 1 | |
| The Speaker | 1 | |
| Total | 659 | |
| Notional government majority | 179 | |
| Effective government majority | 180 | |
The effective majority is slightly higher as Sinn Féin members choose not to take up their seats, and the speaker doesn't usually vote. Speaker Betty Boothroyd was included in a Labour notional majority for statistical purposes.
Note:
- The election of Mark Oaten was declared void by the election court on 6 October 1997.
By-elections
See the list of United Kingdom by-elections.
References
- "Parliament closed by man in wig". BBC News. 14 May 2001.