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First Major ministry
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
1990–1992
Major in 1993
Date formed	28 November 1990 (1990-11-28)
Date dissolved	10 April 1992 (1992-04-10)
People and organisations
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	John Major
Prime Minister's history	Premiership of John Major
Total no. of members	108 appointments
Member party	Conservative Party
Status in legislature	Majority 376 / 650 (58%)
Opposition cabinet	Kinnock Shadow Cabinet
Opposition party	Labour Party
Opposition leader	Neil Kinnock
History
Outgoing election	1992 general election
Legislature terms	50th UK Parliament
Budgets	1991 budget 1992 budget
Predecessor	Third Thatcher ministry
Successor	Second Major ministry

This article is part of a series aboutJohn Major
Electoral history MP for Huntingdon 1990 budget Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership First ministry and term (November 1990 – April 1992) 1990 leadership election Ministry Citizen's Charter Charter Mark Cones Hotline Early 1990s recession Gulf War 1992 general election Second ministry and term (April 1992 – May 1997) Ministry Black Wednesday National Lottery Further and Higher Education Act 1992 Grant-maintained schools Maastricht Treaty rebels Northern Ireland peace process Downing Street mortar attack Downing Street Declaration 1993 reviews of the British honours system Council Tax Child Support Agency 1993 vote of confidence Back to Basics Privatisation of British Rail Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 1995 Conservative Party leadership election The Cullen Reports Cash for Questions Committee on Standards in Public Life Arms-to-Iraq affair Scott Report United Kingdom BSE outbreak Wirral South by-election Resignation Honours Bibliography The Autobiography More Than a Game My Old Man
v t e

John Major formed the first Major ministry upon the resignation of Margaret Thatcher in November 1990, after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new government. Major inherited a majority government.

Formation

The resignation of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister came on 22 November 1990, more than 11 years after she had first been elected. Former Cabinet minister Michael Heseltine had challenged her leadership earlier in November and although she fared better than him in the leadership contest, she was unable to gain an outright win and handed in her resignation, paving the way for a new Conservative leader more likely to win the next general election which was due within 18 months.

The announcement of the Community Charge (often referred to as the Poll Tax) during 1989 and the onset of a recession shortly before Thatcher's resignation had seen Tory support plunge in the opinion polls, most of which were showing a double-digit Labour lead and making it seem likely that Neil Kinnock would be the next prime minister.

Conservative MPs elected Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Major as their new leader on 27 November 1990, and he was invited by the Queen to form a majority government the following day.

Fate

The change of leader from Margaret Thatcher to John Major saw a revival in Tory support, with the double-digit lead in the opinion polls for the Labour Party being replaced by a narrow Conservative one by the turn of 1991. Although a general election did not have to be held until June 1992, Labour leader Neil Kinnock kept pressurising Major to hold an election during 1991, but Major resisted the calls and there was no election that year.

The recession which began in the autumn of 1990 deepened during 1991, with unemployment standing at nearly 2.5 million by December 1991, compared to 1.6 million just 18 months earlier. Despite this, Tory support in the opinion polls remained relatively strong, with any Labour lead now being by the narrowest of margins, although Labour still made some gains at the expense of the Tories in local elections, and seized the Monmouth seat from the Tories in a by-election.

Major finally called an election for 9 April 1992 which ended the first Major ministry. In a surprise to most pollsters, Major won the election, which led to the formation of the Second Major ministry and a fourth consecutive Conservative term in office.

Cabinet

November 1990 – April 1992

List of ministers

Members of the Cabinet are in bold face.

Notes

1. Also Minister of Overseas Development; created Baroness Chalker of Wallasey 24 April 1992.
2. Also Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; created Baroness Chalker of Wallasey 24 April 1992.
3. Functions transferred on 11 April 1992 to Department of National Heritage.
4. Reorganised as Office of Education 10 April 1992.
5. Under-Secretary of State, Sport.
6. Office abolished 11 April 1992.
7. Also Paymaster General.
8. Also Minister of State, Northern Ireland.
9. Not an MP.

Footnotes

1. "Holders of Ministerial Office in the Conservative Governments 1979–1997" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved 26 June 2017.

References

• D. Butler and G. Butler, ed. (2016). Twentieth Century British Political Facts 1900–2000. Springer. ISBN 9781349627332.
• Hennessy, Peter (2001). "The Solo-Coalitionist: John Major, 1990–97". The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders since 1945. Penguin Group. ISBN 978-0-14-028393-8.
• Sherrin, Ned (25 September 2008). Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-923716-6.

External links

• British Cabinet and Government Membership, archived from the original on 16 January 2009, retrieved 20 April 2012
• British Government 1979–2005, archived from the original on 7 February 2012, retrieved 20 November 2007

v t e John Major
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1990–1997) Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1987–1989) Foreign Secretary (1989) Chancellor of the Exchequer (1989–1990)
Politics	Premiership Major ministry First, 1990–1992 Second, 1992–1997 Shadow Cabinet One-nation conservatism Huntingdonshire Huntingdon
National	Budgets 1991 budget 1992 budget March 1993 budget November 1993 budget 1994 budget 1995 budget 1996 budget Citizen's Charter Charter Mark Cones Hotline Early 1990s recession Black Wednesday National Lottery Further and Higher Education Act 1992 Grant-maintained schools Maastricht Rebels 1993 Newbury by-election Northern Ireland peace process Downing Street mortar attack Downing Street Declaration 1993 reviews of the British honours system Council Tax Child Support Agency 1993 vote of confidence Back to Basics Privatisation of British Rail Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1995 Conservative Party leadership election Cullen Report (Dunblane massacre) Cash for Questions Committee on Standards in Public Life Arms-to-Iraq affair Scott Report United Kingdom BSE outbreak Wirral South by-election Resignation Honours
International	Gulf War Iraqi no-fly zones Sanctions against Iraq Harare Declaration Maastricht Treaty Bosnian War Operation Gabriel
General elections	1992 1997
European Parliament Election	1994
Party elections	1990 1995
Books	John Major: The Autobiography (1999) More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years (2007) My Old Man: A Personal History of Music Hall (2012)
Family	Norma Major (wife) Terry Major-Ball (brother) Tom Major-Ball (father)
Cultural depictions	Thatcher: The Final Days (TV, 1991) Independence Day UK (Radio, 1996) Margaret (TV, 2009) The Iron Lady (Film, 2011) The Audience (Play, 2013) The Crown season 5 (TV, 2022)
← Margaret Thatcher Tony Blair → Category

v t e Major Cabinet
Cabinet Members	Jonathan Aitken Kenneth Baker Virginia Bottomley Peter Brooke Kenneth Clarke Viscount Cranborne Stephen Dorrell Michael Forsyth Roger Freeman John Gummer William Hague Jeremy Hanley Michael Heseltine Douglas Hogg Michael Howard David Hunt Douglas Hurd Tom King Norman Lamont Ian Lang Peter Lilley John MacGregor Lord Mackay John Major Brian Mawhinney Patrick Mayhew David Mellor Tony Newton Chris Patten John Patten Michael Portillo John Redwood Malcolm Rifkind Gillian Shephard Lord Waddington Lord Wakeham William Waldegrave George Young
Also attended meetings	Norman Fowler Alastair Goodlad Richard Ryder

v t e British governments
Great Britain (1707–1801)	Godolphin–Marlborough Harley Townshend Stanhope–Sunderland I Stanhope–Sunderland II Walpole–Townshend Walpole Carteret Broad Bottom I and II Short-lived Newcastle I Pitt–Devonshire 1757 Caretaker Pitt–Newcastle (Newcastle II) Bute Grenville Rockingham I Chatham Grafton North Rockingham II Shelburne Fox–North (Portland I) Pitt I
UK (GB and Ire) (1801–1922)	Addington Pitt II All the Talents Portland II Perceval Liverpool Canning Goderich Wellington–Peel Grey Melbourne I Wellington Caretaker Peel I Melbourne II Peel II Russell I Who? Who? (Derby–Disraeli I) Aberdeen Palmerston I Derby–Disraeli II Palmerston II Russell II Derby–Disraeli III (Disraeli I) Gladstone I Disraeli II Gladstone II Salisbury I Gladstone III Salisbury II Gladstone IV Rosebery Salisbury III and IV Balfour Campbell-Bannerman Asquith I–III Asquith Coalition Lloyd George I and II
UK (GB and NI) (1922–present)	Law Baldwin I MacDonald I Baldwin II MacDonald II National Government I National Government II National Government III National Government IV Chamberlain War Churchill War Churchill Caretaker Attlee I and II Churchill III Eden Macmillan I and II Douglas-Home Wilson I and II Heath Wilson III and IV Callaghan Thatcher I Thatcher II Thatcher III Major I Major II Blair I Blair II Blair III Brown Cameron–Clegg (Cameron I) Cameron II May I May II Johnson I Johnson II Truss Sunak Starmer
Current ministry

• British ministries
• History of the Conservative Party (UK)
• 1990s in the United Kingdom
• 1990 establishments in the United Kingdom
• 1992 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
• Premiership of John Major
• Ministries of Elizabeth II
• Cabinets established in 1990
• Cabinets disestablished in 1992