Glasgow Queen's Park by-election, 1982

The Glasgow Queen's Park by-election, 1982 was a parliamentary by-election held on 2 December 1982 for the British House of Commons constituency of Glasgow Queen's Park.

Previous MP

The seat fell vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Francis Patrick "Frank" McElhone (5 April 1929 – 22 September 1982) died.

McElhone was elected Member of Parliament for Glasgow Gorbals at a 1969 by-election, serving until the constituency was abolished in boundary changes for the February 1974 general election.

He was then elected as MP for Glasgow Queen's Park, and held that seat until he died in office in 1982 at the age of 53. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1975 to 1979.

Candidates

Seven candidates were nominated. The list below is set out in descending order of the number of votes received at the by-election.

1. Representing the Labour Party was Helen McElhone, born Helen Margaret Brown in 1933.

Following the death of her husband Frank McElhone MP in 1982, Helen McElhone was elected as his successor in the resulting by-election. However, she served for only six months as the seat was abolished by boundary changes before the 1983 general election.

After her brief term as MP, she was a Strathclyde Regional Councillor for a number of years until 1995 for the Scottish Labour Party, on whose Selection Panel she served to approve candidates for the 1999 Scottish Parliament elections.

2. The Scottish National Party candidate was Peter Mallan, born 1934. He worked as a teacher and broadcaster. He also contested Glasgow Central in the 1983 general election.

3. The Conservative nominee was D.J. Carlaw.

4. The Liberal Party candidate, representing the SDP-Liberal Alliance, was Graham Watson. He had, as an Independent Liberal candidate, stood in the Glasgow Central constituency, in a by-election on 29 June 1980.

He subsequently became a prominent figure in the politics of the European Union.

5. John R. Kay, a draughtsman who had become the full-time Glasgow secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, was born in June 1926. He was the Communist nominee in the last two elections in the Glasgow Gorbals constituency (a 1969 by-election and the 1970 general election) and all the contests in Glasgow Queen's Park (the two 1974 and the 1979 general elections, as well as the 1982 by-election).

6. John Connell was an Independent, using the ballot paper label "Peace and Socialist". He later contested the Penrith and The Border by-election, 1983, the Chesterfield by-election, 1984, and the Tyne Bridge by-election, 1985.

7. A.H. Tennent represented the Scottish Republican Socialist Party.

Votes

Election box begin
title=General Election 1979: Glasgow Queen's ParkElection box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Frank McElhone
votes = 15,120
percentage = 64.4
change = +8.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Julius Collins
votes = 5,642
percentage = 24.0
change = +7.0Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish National Party
candidate = Philip Greene
votes = 2,276
percentage = 9.7
change = -12.1Election box candidate with party link
party = Communist Party of Great Britain
candidate = John Kay
votes = 263
percentage = 1.1
change = -0.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Workers Revolutionary Party (UK)
candidate = Jean Kerrigan
votes = 99
percentage = 0.4
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Socialist Unity (UK)
candidate = W. MacLellan
votes = 92
percentage = 0.4
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 9,478
percentage = 40.4
change = +6.1Election box turnout
votes = 23,492
percentage = 68.4
change = +1.4Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing = "N/A"Election box Registered electors
reg. electors = 34,332

* "Death of Frank McElhone"

Election box begin
title=By-Election 2 December 1982: Glasgow Queen's ParkElection box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Helen McElhone
votes = 8,851
percentage = 56.0
change = -8.4Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish National Party
candidate = Peter Mallan
votes = 3,157
percentage = 20.0
change = +10.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = D.J. Carlaw
votes = 1,888
percentage = 12.0
change = -12.0Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = G. Watson
votes = 1,487
percentage = 9.4
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Communist Party of Great Britain
candidate = John Kay
votes = 339
percentage = 2.1
change = +1.0Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = John Connell
votes = 40
percentage = 0.3
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Scottish Republican Socialist Party
candidate = A.H. Tennent
votes = 39
percentage = 0.2
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 5,694
percentage = 36.0
change = -4.4Election box turnout
votes = 15,701
percentage = 47.0
change = -21.4Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing = "N/A"Election box Registered electors
reg. electors = 33,641

ee also

* Glasgow Queen's Park constituency
* List of United Kingdom by-elections
* United Kingdom by-election records

References

* "British Parliamentary Election Results 1974-1983", compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984).
* "Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1979 and 1983 editions"