Labour has scored an historic landslide victory in the 1997 general election. The scale
of the Tory defeat is unparalleled in modern history. In the words of former Tory cabinet
minister, Douglas Hurd, "this is a meltdown." In fact meltdown is probably a
vast underestimation of the hole the Tories now find themselves in. Only the Duke of
Wellington has presided over a worse defeat for the Tories – and that was in 1832!