Editing John Major (section)

== Early post-school career (1959&ndash;1979) ==
Major's first job was as a clerk in the London-based insurance brokerage firm [[Alexander Forbes Group Holdings|Price Forbes]] in 1959, though finding the job dull and offering no prospects he quit.{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=26-27}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=16}} Major began working with his brother Terry at the garden ornaments business; this had been sold in 1959, enabling the family to move to a larger residence at 80 Burton Road, Brixton.{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=27-28}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=18}} Major's father died on 27 March 1962.{{sfn|Major|2000|p=29}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=18}} John left the ornaments business the following year to care for his ill mother, though when she got better he was unable to find a new job and was unemployed for much of the latter half of 1962, a situation he says was "degrading".{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=18}}

After Major became prime minister, it was misreported that his failure to get a job as a bus conductor resulted from his failing to pass a maths test; he had in fact passed all of the necessary tests but had been passed over owing to his height.{{sfn|Major|2000|p=30}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=18}} In the meantime he studied for a qualification in banking via [[correspondence course]].<ref>{{cite web|title=LSBF Great Minds Series :Sir John Major on Vocational Education| date=23 June 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9lOE3nBe6I| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/k9lOE3nBe6I| archive-date=11 December 2021 | url-status=live|via=YouTube|access-date=9 March 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=21}} Eventually in December 1962 he found a job working at the [[London Electricity Board]] (LEB) in [[Elephant and Castle]].{{sfn|Major|2000|p=30}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=18}}

In 1959, Major had joined the [[Young Conservatives (UK)|Young Conservatives]] in Brixton. He soon became a highly active member; this helped increase his confidence following the failure of his school days.{{sfn|Major|2000|p=28}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=19}} Encouraged by fellow Conservative Derek Stone, he started giving speeches on a [[soap-box]] in [[Brixton Market]].{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=28-29}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=18}} According to his biographer [[Anthony Seldon]], Major brought "youthful exuberance" to the Tories in Brixton, but was sometimes in trouble with the professional agent Marion Standing.{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=19}} Major stood as a Councillor in the [[1964 Lambeth London Borough Council election]] for [[Larkhall (Lambeth ward)|Larkhall]] ward at the age of 21 in 1964, losing to Labour.{{sfn|Major|2000|p=31}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=21}} He also assisted local Conservative candidates Kenneth Payne in the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]] and [[Piers Dixon]] in the [[1966 United Kingdom general election|1966 general election]].{{sfn|Major|2000|p=31}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|pp=21-22}} Another formative influence on Major in this period was Jean Kierans, a divorcée 13 years his elder with two children who lived opposite the family on Burton Road, who became his mentor and lover. Seldon writes "She&nbsp;... made Major smarten his appearance, groomed him politically, and made him more ambitious and worldly."{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=21}} Major later moved in with Kierans when his family left Burton Road in 1965;{{sfn|Major|2000|p=33}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|pp=21-22}} their relationship lasted from 1963 to sometime after 1968.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-young-john-major-and-the-older-woman-1571704.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220613/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-young-john-major-and-the-older-woman-1571704.html |archive-date=13 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The young John Major and the older woman|date=6 February 1995|website=The Independent|access-date=6 February 2019}}</ref>

[[File:St Matthew's church, Brixton - geograph.org.uk - 1396586.jpg|thumb|right|St Matthew's Church, Brixton where John and Norma Major married in 1970]]
Major left the LEB and took up a post at [[District Bank]] in May 1965,{{sfn|Major|2000|p=32}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=21}} though he soon left this to join [[Standard Bank (historic)|Standard Bank]] the following year, largely because the latter offered the chance to work abroad.{{sfn|Major|2000|p=33}} In December 1966 he was sent for a long secondment in [[Jos, Nigeria]], which he enjoyed immensely, though he was put off by the casual racism of some of the ex-pat workers there.{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=23}} In May 1967 he was involved in a serious car crash in which he broke a leg and had to be flown home.{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=35-37}}<ref>{{cite web|title=John Major car crash in Nigeria |url=http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/articles/nigeria-reporters-blog |website=Channel 4 News |access-date=1 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100406135514/http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/articles/nigeria-reporters-blog |archive-date=6 April 2010 }}</ref> Leaving hospital, he split his time between Jean Kierans' house and a small rented flat in [[Mayfair]], working at Standard Bank's London office and resuming his banking diploma and activities with the Young Conservatives in his spare time.{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=37-38}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=25}}

Major stood again as Councillor in the [[1968 Lambeth London Borough Council election]], this time for [[Ferndale (Lambeth ward)|Ferndale ward]]. Though a Labour stronghold, the Conservatives received a huge boost following [[Enoch Powell]]'s anti-immigration '[[Rivers of Blood speech]]' in April 1968 and Major won, despite strongly disapproving of Powell's views.{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=38-40}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|pp=27-28}} Major took a major interest in housing matters, with Lambeth notorious for overcrowding and poor-quality rented accommodation. In February 1970 Major became Chairman of the Housing Committee, being responsible for overseeing the building of several large [[council estates]].{{sfn|Major|2000|p=45}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=29}}{{refn|group=nb|Major was later to express regret for his support for large-scale tower block estates. In April 1992 Labour-run Lambeth Council rebuffed plans for a plaque commemorating Major in the borough, stating that there was already "sufficient monument to John Major in the form of the Stockwell Park and Moorlands Estates".<ref>{{harvnb|Seldon|1998|p=32}}.</ref>}} He also promoted more openness at the council, initiating a series of public meetings with local residents.{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=47-49}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|pp=32-33}} Major also undertook fact-finding trips to the Netherlands, Finland and the [[Soviet Union]].{{sfn|Major|2000|p=44}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=31}} Despite the Lambeth housing team being well-regarded nationally, Major lost his seat in the [[1971 Lambeth London Borough Council election]].{{sfn|Seldon|1998|pp=34-35}}

Major met [[Norma Major|Norma Johnson]] at a Conservative party event in Brixton in April 1970, and the two became engaged shortly thereafter, marrying at [[St Matthew's Church, Brixton|St Matthew's Church]] in Brixton on 3&nbsp;October 1970.{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=50-51}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=37}} John's mother died shortly before in September at the age of 65.<ref>GRO Register of Births: JUN 1905 7a 741 Gainsborough&nbsp;– Gwendoline Minnie Coates, mmn = unknown.</ref><ref>GRO Register of Deaths: Sep 1970 5a 1807 Croydon&nbsp;– Gwendoline Minnie Major, DoB about 1905.</ref>{{sfn|Major|2000|p=50}} John and Norma moved into a flat at Primrose Court, [[Streatham]], which John had bought in 1969,{{sfn|Major|2000|p=43}} and had their first child, Elizabeth, in November 1971.{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=52-53}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=38}} In 1974 the couple moved to a larger residence at West Oak, [[Beckenham]], and had a second child, James, in January 1975.{{sfn|Major|2000|p=56}} Meanwhile, Major continued to work at Standard Bank (renamed [[Standard Chartered]] from 1975), having completed his banking diploma in 1972.{{sfn|Major|2000|p=52}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=40}} Major was promoted to head of the PR department in August 1976, and his duties necessitated the occasional foreign trip to East Asia.{{sfn|Seldon|1998|pp=39-40, 47}}

Despite his setback at the 1971 Lambeth Council election, Major continued to nurse political ambitions, and with help from friends in the Conservative Party managed to get onto the Conservative Central Office's list of potential MP candidates.{{sfn|Major|2000|p=52}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|pp=41-42}} Major was selected as the Conservative candidate for the Labour-dominated [[St Pancras North (UK Parliament constituency)|St Pancras North]] constituency, fighting both the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February]] and [[October 1974 United Kingdom general election|October 1974]] general elections, losing heavily both times to Labour's [[Albert Stallard]].{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=54-55}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|pp=44-45}} Major then attempted to get selected as a candidate for a more promising seat, and despite numerous attempts was unsuccessful until December 1976.{{sfn|Major|2000|pp=56-57}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|pp=46-47}} Growing increasingly frustrated, Major resolved to make one last attempt, applying for selection to the safe Conservative seat of [[Huntingdonshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Huntingdonshire]] and finally he succeeded.{{sfn|Major|2000|p=60}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=47}} Major was in some ways an odd choice, being a born-and-bred Londoner in a largely rural constituency still home to many landed families; however, he was seen as being the most likely to win-over the increasingly large numbers of upwardly mobile London over-spill families living in the area, and he was helped to familiarise himself with the area by local MP [[David Renton]].{{sfn|Major|2000|p=61}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|pp=48-49}}

In 1977 the Major family purchased a house at De Vere Close in the village of [[Hemingford Grey]].{{sfn|Major|2000|p=60}}{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=50}} Major took on a less demanding job at Standard Chartered, and started working part-time in 1978 so that he could devote more time to his constituency duties.{{sfn|Seldon|1998|p=50}}