By 1997 the Labour Party had finally embraced the more conservative direction for the country and abandoned many of liberal economic policies of the past. It also benefit from a much-publicized slaughter in Scotland of 16 children and a teacher in 1996 by Thomas Hamilton, who used four handguns and several hundred rounds of ammunition. Gun control was enacted afterwards and the entire United Kingdom, horrified by the massacre, moved to the left politically. Economic difficulties, including a dispute over whether England should join the currency of the European Union, hurt the Conservative Party further. The Labour Party won in a landslide in 1997 and has held power ever since. | By 1997 the Labour Party had finally embraced the more conservative direction for the country and abandoned many of liberal economic policies of the past. It also benefit from a much-publicized slaughter in Scotland of 16 children and a teacher in 1996 by Thomas Hamilton, who used four handguns and several hundred rounds of ammunition. Gun control was enacted afterwards and the entire United Kingdom, horrified by the massacre, moved to the left politically. Economic difficulties, including a dispute over whether England should join the currency of the European Union, hurt the Conservative Party further. The Labour Party won in a landslide in 1997 and has held power ever since. |