AT last the waiting is finally over, said one woman waiting outside Downing Street. "Now though we'll have to watch those politicians on television every night for the next six weeks."
If there was a sigh of relief front around Britain yesterday as Mr Major finally ended months of speculation and announced the election date, it was felt nowhere more strongly than among the hundred or so reporters door stepping the leader.
Mobile phones were ringing every few seconds as they were kept up to date on the movements of Mr Major and his Cabinet colleagues.
"Gummer's arrived."
"Shephard is on her way."
Finally the great and the good of the Conservative Party arrived to be told formally what everyone had expected for so long.
Emerging nearly an hour later, Mr Major made his way to Buckingham Palace to seek the permission of Queen Elizabeth to dissolve Parliament.
Meanwhile, various members of the Cabinet came out on to Downing Street where they were met with shouts from the assembled press. "What's the date?" was one of the more polite questions. Others gave words to the collective feeling of "put us out of our misery".
"Of course we're going to win," was the response from the Environment Secretary, Mr John Gummer, while his colleague, Ms Gillian Shephard, responded equally robustly, saying: "Definitely. No problem at all."
A short time later Mr Major came back from Buckingham Palace and announced the beginning of the longest general election campaign this century. The general election would be on May 1st, some seven weeks away.
There was a sense of relief in Westminster that the waiting was finally over, that the "phoney" campaign of the last few months was at an end and the battle could now begin in earnest.
Now that we have a date for the election, Mr Major said: "I am looking forward to it. Not only do I think it's winnable but I think the Conservative Party will win it."
He spoke without notes and appeared in an upbeat mood as he set out his election strategy which would concentrate on "detailed and careful debate" rather than "soundbites".
"A general election is not some far away spectator sport or a TV talk show. It will affect life behind every front door in the land. After May 1st there will either be a Conservative government or a Labour government. There is no other option. Weave seven more weeks to take the truth to every corner of the nation," he said.
Every corner of the nation began yesterday in the marginal Conservative seat of Luton south, when Mr Major visited the town later in the afternoon. And in Luton the voters were given their first taste of Mr Major's favourite election tool, the soap box which made its first appearance during the campaign of 1992.
He spoke through a megaphone above the heckles of protesters, shouting: "Five more weeks" - instead of five more years - and telling them he was "the eternal warrior against complacency".
He promised a new government which would bring with it "different values and different priorities to lead a national renewal".
But, while the battle for the voters officially begins after the dissolution of Parliament on April 8th (the party manifestues will not be published till after Easter), the labour leader Mr Tony Blair, could not resist a spot of electioneering himself. Within hours of the official announcement he was visiting the Tory marginal seat of Gloucester.
In a somewhat low key appearance, Mr Blair, said he too wanted to "get out and talk to people" and to avoid a glitzy presidential style election campaign.
Mr Blair didn't have a soap box, but he did have a ready answer for Mr Major: "My attitude is keep what's working and change what isn't".