Fans of the Glastonbury Festival will remember in 2017 when organiser Michael Eavis invited Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on stage with him.

It was the year when chants of "oh, Jeremy Corbyn" could regularly be heard, after his party unexpectedly deprived then-prime minister Theresa May of a parliamentary majority in the Brexit-themed snap general election.

But this was by no means Eavis' first brush with left-wing politics.

Twenty years earlier, he actually stood for parliament to represent the people of the local Wells Constituency – and ended up doing pretty well in the vote.

Here's your guide to the seemingly distant past of 1997 and the time when everyone had the chance to vote for Eavis.

The national background

In 1997, the Conservatives had been in power for 18 years – first under Margaret Thatcher, and then John Major.

Despite winning the 1992 election (albeit with a reduced majority), Major's party had been trailing Labour in the opinion polls for years.

The Conservatives' reputation for economic competence had taken a hit after Black Wednesday, when the UK crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992.

A number of scandals involving high-profile ministers (collectively dubbed "sleaze" in the British press) didn't help matters either.

A series of by-election losses also meant that by December 1996 the Conservatives were ruling as a minority government – just as May would have to govern after her 2017 loss.

Having left it as late as possible, Major finally called a general election for May 1, 1997, squaring off against Labour leader Tony Blair during six weeks of campaigning.

The local picture

The village of Pilton (where Glastonbury Festival is held at Worthy Farm) has been part of the Wells Constituency since at least 1918.

The seat had always returned a Conservative MP since that time – with a brief exception in 1923 with the election of Arthur Hobhouse, a Liberal now best known for his role in creating England's national parks.

Michael Eavis announced his candidacy having recently recovered from stomach cancer, and would be going up against David Heathcoat-Amory, who had held the seat since the Conservative landslide of 1983.

Heathcoat-Amory – who had briefly served as minister for Europe under Major – had seen his majority reduced in 1992 but was confident of retaining his seat.

The other challengers in the seat were Peter Gold of the Liberal Democrats, Patricia Phelps of the Referendum Party (which called for a vote on leaving the EU) and Lynn Royse of the Natural Law Party (which promotes transcendental meditation).

Eavis met Blair once during the campaign – and the Labour leader reportedly advised him to "never have your picture taken holding a glass of wine".

What happened on election night

Labour won the 1997 general election by a landslide, winning 418 seats to the Conservatives' 165 – giving them a majority of 179, its largest to date.

However, Wells was one of the few areas in which the Tories withstood a challenge – though it came mainly from Paddy Ashdown's Lib Dems, rather than Labour.

Ashdown had seen success elsewhere in Somerset, hanging onto his own seat in Yeovil as well as winning both Taunton and the Somerton and Frome seats from the Conservatives.

But in Wells, Heathcoat-Amory managed to cling onto his seat, with his majority being reduced to just 528 votes after a close fight with Peter Gold.

Eavis finished a strong third, polling 10,204 votes or just over 18 per cent of the total – a 7.5 per cent rise in Labour's share compared to 1992.

What happened next

Heathcoat-Amory would remain MP for Wells until 2010, when he was unseated by Lib Dem Tessa Munt.

She in turn was replaced by Conservative MP James Heappey in 2015, who holds the seat to this day.

Eavis continued to support Labour in the 2001 election, but switched his allegiance to the Green Party in 2004 following the Iraq War.

It would not be until 2010 that he would revert back to Labour, where he has remained ever since.

When Eavis welcomed Corbyn to Glastonbury in 2017 he hailed his influence as "refreshing" and said the fact he was attending the festival to speak was "bloody brilliant".

He also disowned the legacy of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the two Labour Prime Ministers between 1997 and 2010.

He endorsed Labour's candidate, Kama McKenzie, for the Wells seat when she ran unsuccessfully at the last election in 2019.

It's not yet publicly known what Eavis makes of Corbyn's successor as Labour leader, Keir Starmer.

Starmer has walked a line between the leftist version of Labour Eavis seems to prefer, and a more centrist vision of the party focused on winning power.

Only time will tell if he will also get the red carpet treatment at a future Glastonbury Festival.