Back to Basics was an ill-fated attempt to relaunch the government of British Prime Minister John Major

John Major

Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...

 in 1993; a year after winning the general election

United Kingdom general election, 1992

The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...

 the party's reputation was declining, not least due to the Black Wednesday

Black Wednesday

In politics and economics, Black Wednesday refers to the events of 16 September 1992 when the British Conservative government was forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism after they were unable to keep it above its agreed lower limit...

 economic debacle of September 1992. Announced at the Party Conference of that year, the initiative was intended to focus on issues of law and order, education and public probity (especially single mothers) after the debacle of Black Wednesday

Black Wednesday

In politics and economics, Black Wednesday refers to the events of 16 September 1992 when the British Conservative government was forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism after they were unable to keep it above its agreed lower limit...

 had damaged the Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

's perceived ability to safeguard public finance. Back to Basics was widely interpreted as a moral campaign, and hence was ridiculed by political opponents. The campaign also gave the tabloid media the opportunity to expose perceived immoral activities within the Conservatives themselves with a series of articles as perceived hypocritical Tory

Tory

Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...

 "sleaze" came to light.

Scandals

• Tim Yeo
  Tim Yeo
  Timothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo is an English Conservative politician, Member of Parliament for South Suffolk and the current Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee.-Early life:...
  
  's extramarital affair resulting in him fathering a "love-child" in 1993
• The Earl of Caithness
  Malcolm Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness
  Malcolm Ian Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness, PC is a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords as one of the remaining hereditary peers. He is also chief of Clan Sinclair...
  
   resigned after his wife committed suicide due to his extra marital affair.
• Patrick Nicholls
  Patrick Nicholls
  Patrick Charles Martyn Nicholls is a politician in the United Kingdom. He served as Conservative Party member of Parliament for Teignbridge from 1983 until 2001. By 1989 he was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Employment...
  
   resigned shortly after referring to Germans as "warmongers"
• Stephen Milligan
  Stephen Milligan
  Stephen David Wyatt Milligan was a British Conservative politician and journalist. He held a number of senior journalistic posts until his election to serve as Member of Parliament for Eastleigh in 1992...
  
  's accidental death by auto-erotic asphyxiation on February 7, 1994
• Michael Brown's
  Michael Brown (UK politician)
  Michael Russell Brown is a British former Conservative Party politician and is now a newspaper and broadcast political journalist. He was a Member of Parliament from 1979 to 1997.-Biography:...
  
   involvement with a then-underage man in 1994, and his subsequent implication in the Cash-for-questions affair
  Cash-for-questions affair
  The "Cash-for-questions affair" was one of the biggest political scandals of the 1990s in the United Kingdom.It began in October 1994 when The Guardian newspaper alleged that London's most successful parliamentary lobbyist, Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates, had bribed two Conservative Members of...
  
  .
• Neil Hamilton
  Neil Hamilton (politician)
  Mostyn Neil Hamilton is a former British barrister, teacher and Conservative MP. Since losing his seat in 1997 and leaving politics, Hamilton and his wife Christine have become media celebrities...
  
  's alleged acceptance of 'cash for Parliamentary questions
  Cash-for-questions affair
  The "Cash-for-questions affair" was one of the biggest political scandals of the 1990s in the United Kingdom.It began in October 1994 when The Guardian newspaper alleged that London's most successful parliamentary lobbyist, Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates, had bribed two Conservative Members of...
  
  ' from Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed
  Mohamed Al-Fayed
  Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed is an Egyptian businessman and billionaire. Amongst his business interests are ownership of the English Premiership football team Fulham Football Club, Hôtel Ritz Paris and formerly Harrods Department Store, Knightsbridge...
  
   in 1994. Tim Smith
  Tim Smith (UK politician)
  Timothy John Smith, known as Tim Smith, is a former British Conservative politician.-Politics:...
  
   also admitted taking cash for questions from Al-Fayed.
• David Ashby
  David Ashby
  David Glynn Ashby was the Conservative Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire from 1983 until he stood down in 1997.He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe and the University of Bristol...
  
   discovered to have shared a bed with a man on a trip paid by expenses. Ashby was married at the time.
• Jonathan Aitken
  Jonathan Aitken
  Jonathan William Patrick Aitken is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and British government minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-month prison sentence, of which he served seven months...
  
  's alleged procurement of prostitutes for Arab businessmen, their payment of his Paris Ritz
  Hôtel Ritz Paris
  The Hôtel Ritz is a grand palatial hotel in the heart of Paris, the 1st arrondissement. It overlooks the octagonal border of the Place Vendôme at number 15...
  
   hotel bill, and his subsequent conviction and prison sentence for perjury
  Perjury
  Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
  
   after the resulting libel trial in which he unsuccessfully attempted to sue The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  over the story.
• Graham Riddick
  Graham Riddick
  Graham Edward Galloway Riddick was the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Colne Valley in West Yorkshire, England from 1987 to 1997.-Family and early life:...
  
  's entrapment for, and acceptance of, cash for questions in 1994 by The Sunday Times
  The Sunday Times
  The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
  
  .
• Allan Stewart
  Allan Stewart (politician)
  Allan Stewart , is a former Scottish Conservative politician.Educated at Bell Baxter High School, St. Andrews University and Harvard University, where he obtained a first class degree, he was a lecturer in Political Economy at St. Andrews before unsuccessfully standing for the Dundee East...
  
   resigned after waving an axe at an anti-motorway protester.
• Hartley Booth
  Hartley Booth
  Vernon Edward Hartley Booth, known as Hartley Booth is a British politician.-Political career:Booth succeeded Margaret Thatcher as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Finchley from the 1992 general election until the constituency was abolished in the 1997 general election...
  
  's amorous, unreciprocated pursuit of his secretary in 1995.
• David Willetts
  David Willetts
  David Linsay Willetts is a British Conservative Party politician and the Minister of State for Universities and Science. He is the Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Havant in Hampshire.-Education:...
  
  's disciplining by the parliamentary ombudsman over his intervention in a parliamentary enquiry in 1996
• Piers Merchant
  Piers Merchant
  Piers Rolf Garfield Merchant was a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne Central from 1983 to 1987, and then MP for Beckenham from 1992 until he resigned in October 1997 following a scandal.- Education :He was educated at Nottingham High...
  
  's affairs with a night club hostess, and his researcher in 1997

The phrase has since become used by UK political commentators to describe any failed attempt by a political party leader to relaunch themselves following a scandal or controversy.

The phrase was satirized in the Viz strip Baxter Basics.