Shadow Cabinet of John Major

Major Shadow Cabinet
Major Shadow Cabinet
; Shadow cabinet of the United Kingdom
May – June 1997
Date formed	2 May 1997
Date dissolved	19 June 1997
People and organisations
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Leader of the Opposition	John Major
Deputy Leader of the Opposition	Michael Heseltine
Member party	Conservative Party;
Status in legislature	Official Opposition 165 / 659 (25%)
History
Election	1997 general election
Outgoing election	1997 Conservative Party leadership election
Legislature terms	52nd UK Parliament
Predecessor	Shadow Cabinet of Tony Blair
Successor	Shadow Cabinet of William Hague

John Major was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2 May 1997, following his defeat at the 1997 general election, until 19 June 1997, when William Hague was elected to succeed him. Following the defeat, Major announced his resignation as leader. But, for logistical reasons, a new leader could not be elected for several weeks. In the intervening period, Major appointed an interim Shadow Cabinet.

The Shadow Cabinet was based on Major's final Cabinet. However, as seven Cabinet Ministers had lost their seats in the general election and another had not contested his seat, there were several vacancies. These were largely filled by either Major himself or by a relevant minister in the outgoing Cabinet. The position of Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland was not filled as the Conservatives had lost all their Scottish MPs in the election. Michael Howard and William Hague were given joint responsibility for constitutional matters, including the brief to handle the Scottish and Welsh devolution^[1] legislation.

Shadow Cabinet list

Portfolio	Shadow Minister
Leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition Leader of the Conservative Party Shadow Foreign Secretary Shadow Secretary of State for Defence	John Major
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry	Michael Heseltine
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer	Kenneth Clarke
Shadow Home Secretary Shadow Minister with special interest in constitutional matters	Michael Howard
Shadow Secretary of State for Health	Stephen Dorrell
Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment	Gillian Shephard
Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security	Peter Lilley
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport	Sir George Young
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Shadow Minister with special interest in constitutional matters	William Hague
Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	Douglas Hogg
Shadow Lord Chancellor	James Mackay, Lord Mackay of Clashfern
Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment	John Gummer
Shadow Secretary of State for National Heritage	Virginia Bottomley
Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords	Viscount Cranborne
Chairman of the Conservative Party	Brian Mawhinney
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Opposition Chief Whip	Alastair Goodlad