Editing Neil Kinnock (section)

===1992 general election===
[[File:Neil Kinnock, Glenys Kinnock and Bryan Gould in 1992.jpg|thumb|Kinnock conceding the 1992 general election]]
In the three years leading up to the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]], Labour had consistently topped the opinion polls, with 1991 seeing the Conservatives (rejuvenated by the arrival of a new leader with [[John Major]] the previous November) snatch the lead from Labour more than once before Labour regained it. The rise in Conservative support came in spite of the economic recession and sharp rise in unemployment which affected Britain in 1991.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/historical-polls/voting-intention-1987-1992 |title=UK Polling Report |publisher=UK Polling Report |access-date=25 September 2013 |archive-date=28 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928014025/http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/historical-polls/voting-intention-1987-1992 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Since Major's election as [[Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)|Leader of the Conservative Party]] (and becoming Prime Minister), Kinnock had spent the end of 1990<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/kinnock-challenges-tories-to-call-election-1.548889 |access-date=23 October 2011 |title=Ballet star shows off charity portraits |date=13 December 2000 }} {{dead link|date=January 2021}}</ref> and most of 1991 putting pressure on Major to call a general election that year, but Major had held out and by the autumn he had insisted that there would be no general election in 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anthony |first=Seldon |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1107679067 |title=Major : a political life |date=2001 |publisher=Royal National Institute for the Blind |oclc=1107679067 |access-date=4 August 2022 |archive-date=14 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414123218/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1107679067 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Labour had gained four seats from the Conservatives in by-elections since the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]], having initially suffered disappointing results in some by-elections, namely a loss of the [[Govan]] constituency in [[Glasgow]] to the [[Scottish National Party]] in November 1988. However, by the end of 1991, the Conservative majority still stood at 88 seats and Labour needed to win more than ninety new seats to gain an overall majority, although there was still the hope of forming a minority or [[coalition government]] if Labour failed to win a majority. In the run-up to the election, held on 9 April 1992, most opinion polls had suggested that the election would result in either a [[hung parliament]] or a small Labour majority.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393317.stm | work=BBC News | title=1992: Tories win again against odds | date=5 April 2005 | access-date=12 April 2011 | archive-date=22 April 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422045259/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393317.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>

At the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]], Labour made progress – reducing the Conservatives' majority to just 21 seats. It came as a shock to some{{Who|date=March 2025}} when the Conservatives won a majority, but the 'triumphalism' perceived by some observers of a Labour Party [[rally in Sheffield]] (together with Kinnock's performance on the podium) may have helped put floating voters off.<ref name="BBC97">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/92keyiss.shtml "Key Issues in the 1992 Campaign"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811121014/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/92keyiss.shtml |date=11 August 2018 }}, BBC News, Politics '97</ref> Although internal polls<ref name="BBC97"/> suggested no impact, while public polls suggested a decline in support had already occurred,<ref>{{cite news |first=Jim |last=Parish |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/199901010027 |title=It was tax what lost it for Labour |work=[[New Statesman]] |date=1 January 1999 |access-date=12 April 2013 |archive-date=6 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606022117/http://www.newstatesman.com/199901010027 |url-status=live }}</ref> most of those directly involved in the campaign believe that the rally only came to widespread attention after the electoral defeat itself,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/sheffield/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8170000/8170344.stm | work=BBC News | first=Stephanie | last=Barnard | title=Kinnock came and didn't conquer | date=27 July 2009 | access-date=12 April 2011 | archive-date=28 September 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928084007/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/sheffield/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8170000/8170344.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> with Kinnock himself changing his mind to a rejection of its negative impact over time.<ref>{{cite news |last=Leapman |first=Michael |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rush-of-blood-was-kinnocks-downfall-1583723.html |title='Rush of blood' was Kinnock's downfall |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=26 November 1995 |access-date=9 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728140751/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rush-of-blood-was-kinnocks-downfall-1583723.html |archive-date=28 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=McDonald |first=Alyssa |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/05/labour-party-interview-win |title=The NS Interview: Neil Kinnock |newspaper=[[New Statesman]] |date=29 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501171554/http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/05/labour-party-interview-win |archive-date=1 May 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In an essay exploring why Kinnock never became Prime Minister, [[Steve Richards]] notes that the impact of the rally on the 1992 election "acquired a mythological status as fatal event" after Labour's defeat. He further argues that this explanation is "a red herring" and that the same result would have happened without the rally.<ref name="SRichardspp157-158">{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Steve |title=The Prime Ministers We Never Had; Success and Failure from Butler to Corbyn |date=2021 |publisher=Atlantic Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-83895-241-9 |pages=157–158}}</ref>

On the day of the general election, ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' newspaper ran a front page featuring Kinnock with the headline 'If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights.'<ref name=leveson>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/apr/25/rupert-murdoch-sun-wot-won-it-tasteless?newsfeed=true|title=Rupert Murdoch: 'Sun wot won it' headline was tasteless and wrong|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Ben|last=Dowell|date=25 April 2012|access-date=27 April 2012|archive-date=23 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023104009/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/apr/25/rupert-murdoch-sun-wot-won-it-tasteless?newsfeed=true|url-status=live}}</ref> In his [[resignation speech]], Kinnock blamed ''The Sun'' for Labour losing the election, along with other [[right-wing]] media sections who had backed the Conservatives in the run-up to the election.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/13/newsid_2830000/2830895.stm|title=1992: Labour's Neil Kinnock resigns|work=On This Day|publisher=BBC News|access-date=29 September 2010|date=13 April 1992|archive-date=7 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307130725/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/13/newsid_2830000/2830895.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> The following day's headline in ''The Sun'' was '[[It's The Sun Wot Won It]]', which [[Rupert Murdoch]] – years later, at his April 2012 appearance before the [[Leveson Inquiry]] – stated was both 'tasteless and wrong' and led to the editor [[Kelvin MacKenzie]] receiving a reprimand.<ref name=leveson/>

The Labour-supporting ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' had backed Kinnock for the 1987 general election<ref>{{cite web|title=Mirror Style Guide: Front page headline of the Mirror, 1987|url=http://www.scoopnest.com/user/TheMirrorStyle/595996020036784128|website=@TheMirrorStyle on [[Twitter]], via Snoopnest|access-date=11 November 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101091434/http://www.scoopnest.com/user/TheMirrorStyle/595996020036784128|archive-date=1 January 2016}}</ref> and did so again in 1992.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2010/04/20/general-election-2010-a-century-of-daily-mirror-front-pages-115875-22198683/ |title=General Election 2010 – A century of Daily Mirror front pages – Mirror Online |publisher=Mirror.co.uk |date=20 April 2010 |access-date=6 April 2012 |archive-date=14 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110214215802/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2010/04/20/general-election-2010-a-century-of-daily-mirror-front-pages-115875-22198683/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Less expected was the ''[[Financial Times]]'' backing Kinnock at the 1992 general election.<ref>{{Cite news|date=31 December 2010|title=Knighthood for editor who transformed FT|work=Financial Times|url=https://www.ft.com/content/8eb74e68-144e-11e0-a21b-00144feabdc0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/8eb74e68-144e-11e0-a21b-00144feabdc0 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=30 November 2021}}</ref>

Kinnock himself later claimed to have half-expected his defeat at the 1992 general election and proceeded to turn himself into a media personality, hosting a chat show on [[BBC Wales]] and twice appearing on the topical panel show ''[[Have I Got News for You]]'' within a year of the defeat. A number of years later, he returned to appear as a guest host of the programme.