United Kingdom general election, 1983

United Kingdom general election, 1983

1979 ← members 9 June 1983 Members elected → 1987 members

All 650 seats in the House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Margaret Thatcher Michael Foot David Steel (Liberal, above) Roy Jenkins (SDP) Party Conservative Labour SDP–Liberal Alliance Leader since 11 February 1975 4 November 1980 7 July 1976 (Steel) 2 July 1982 (Jenkins) Leader's seat Finchley Blaenau Gwent Tweeddale (Steel) Glas' Hillhd (Jenkins) Last election 339 seats, 43.9% 269 seats, 36.9% 11 seats, 13.8% (as Liberal party only) Seats won 397 209 23 (6 SDP, 17 Liberal) Seat change 58 60 12 Popular vote 13,012,316 8,456,934 7,780,949 Percentage 42.4% 27.6% 25.4% Swing 1.5% 9.3% 11.6%

PM before election Margaret Thatcher Conservative Subsequent PM Margaret Thatcher Conservative

The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945. It was also the first instance of any prime minister or government being re-elected after a full term in office since Clement Attlee's Labour in 1950.

The opposition vote split almost evenly between the SDP/Liberal Alliance and Labour. With its worst performance since 1918, the Labour vote fell by over 3 million from 1979 and this accounted for both a national swing of almost 4% towards the Conservatives and their larger parliamentary majority of 144, even though the Conservatives' total vote fell by almost 700,000.

Mrs Thatcher's first four years as prime minister had not been an easy time. Unemployment had rocketed in the first three years of her term as she battled to control inflation that had ravaged Britain for most of the 1970s. By the start of 1982, unemployment had passed the 3,000,000 mark - for the first time since before the Second World War - and the economy had been in recession for nearly two years. However, British victory in the Falklands War later that year sparked a dramatic rise in Tory popularity, and as Mrs Thatcher's new found popularity continued in 1983 the Tories were most people's firm favourites to win the election.^[1]

The SDP-Liberal Alliance polled only a few hundred thousand votes behind the Labour Party but received considerably fewer seats. The Alliance gained over 25% of the popular vote, the largest such percentage for any third party since the 1923 general election. The Liberals argued that a proportional electoral system would have given them a more representative number of MPs. Changing the electoral system had been a long-running Liberal Party campaign plank and would later be adopted by the Liberal Democrats.

Labour leader Michael Foot, who had been at the helm since the resignation of James Callaghan (prime minister from 1976 to 1979) in late 1980, resigned soon after the election and was succeeded by Neil Kinnock. Although the election was one of the party's worst, the new crop of MPs included two future Labour Prime Ministers, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

The election night was broadcast live on the BBC, and was presented by Peter Snow, David Dimbleby and Robin Day.^[2]

Background and campaign

Michael Foot was elected leader of the Labour party in 1980, replacing James Callaghan. The election of Foot signalled that the core of the party was swinging to the left and the move exacerbated divisions within the party. In 1981 a group of senior figures including Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams left Labour to found the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The SDP agreed to a pact with the Liberals for the 1983 elections and stood as The Alliance.

The campaign displayed the huge divisions between the two major parties. Thatcher had been extremely unpopular during her first two years in office until the swift and decisive victory in the Falklands War, coupled with an improving economy, considerably raised her standings in the polls. The Conservatives' key issues included employment, economic growth, and defence. Labour's campaign manifesto involved leaving the European Economic Community, abolishing the House of Lords, abandoning the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent by cancelling Trident and removing cruise missiles — a policy programme dubbed by Labour MP Gerald Kaufman as "the longest suicide note in history". "Although, at barely 37 pages, it only seemed interminable", noted Roy Hattersley. Pro-Labour political journalist Michael White, writing in The Guardian, commented, "There was something magnificently brave about Michael Foot's campaign — but it was like the Battle of the Somme."^[3]

National election, 1979

Following boundary changes in 1983, the BBC and ITN (Independent Television News) co-produced a calculation of how the 1979 general election would have gone if fought on the new 1983 boundaries. The following table shows the effects of the boundary changes on the House of Commons:

UK General Election 1979
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/-
	Conservative	359			+20	55	44.91	13,703,429
	Labour	261			-8	40	37.73	11,512,877
	Liberal	9			-2	1	14.17	4,324,936
	SNP	2			0	0	1.63	497,128
	Plaid Cymru	2			0	0	0.44	135,241
	Others	17			+5	3	3.40	1,063,263

Timeline

October 1974 election • MPs

1979 election • MPs

1983 election • MPs

1987 election • MPs

1992 election • MPs

The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited Buckingham Palace on the afternoon of 9 May and asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament on 13 May, announcing that the election would be held on 9 June. The key dates were as follows:

Friday 13 May	Dissolution of the 48th parliament and campaigning officially begins
Monday 23 May	Last day to file nomination papers; 2,579 candidates enter
Wednesday 8 June	Campaigning officially ends
Thursday 9 June	Polling day
Friday 10 June	The Conservative Party wins with a majority of 144 to retain power
Wednesday 15 June	49th parliament assembles
Wednesday 22 June	State Opening of Parliament

Results

The election saw a landslide victory for the Conservatives, achieving their best results since 1959. Although there was a slight drop in their share of the vote, they made significant gains at the expense of Labour. The night was a disaster for the Labour party, their share of the vote fell by over 9%, which meant they were only 700,000 votes ahead of the newly formed 3rd party the SDP-Liberal Alliance. The massive increase of support for the Alliance at the expense of Labour meant that, in many seats, the collapse in the Labour vote allowed the Conservatives to win. Despite winning over 25% of the national vote, however, the Alliance got less than 4% of seats - 186 fewer than Labour.

The most notable loss of the night was Tony Benn, who lost his seat in Bristol East. SDP President Shirley Williams, a prominent leader of the Social Democratic party, lost her Crosby seat which she had won in a by-election in 1981. Bill Rodgers, another leader of the Alliance (One of the "Gang of Four") also failed to win his old seat that had held as a Labour MP.

United Kingdom General Election 1983
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	633	397	47	10	+ 37	61.1	42.4	13,012,316	- 1.5
	Labour	633	209	4	55	- 51	32.2	27.6	8,456,934	- 9.3
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	633	23	14	0	+ 14	3.5	25.4	7,780,949	+ 11.6
	SNP	72	2	0	0	0	0.3	1.1	331,975	- 0.5
	Ulster Unionist	16	11	3	1	+ 2	1.7	0.8	259,952	0.0
	Democratic Unionist	14	3	2	1	+ 1	0.5	0.5	152,749	+ 0.3
	SDLP	17	1	0	1	- 1	0.2	0.4	137,012	0.0
	Plaid Cymru	38	2	0	0	0	0.3	0.4	125,309	0.0
	Sinn Féin	14	1	1	1	0	0.2	0.3	102,701	N/A
	Alliance	12	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	61,275	- 0.1
	Ecology	109	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	54,299	+ 0.1
	Independent		0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	30,422	N/A
	National Front	60	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	27,065	- 0.5
	Ulster Popular Unionist	1	1	1	0	+ 1	0.2	0.1	22,861	N/A
	Independent Labour		0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	16,447	0.0
	Workers' Party	14	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	14,650	- 0.1
	BNP	54	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	14,621	N/A
	Independent Liberal	3[4]	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	13,743	0.0
	Communist	35	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	11,606	- 0.1
	Independent Socialist	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	10,326	N/A
	Independent Conservative		0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	9,442	0.0
	Independent Communist		0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	4,760	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	21	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	3,798	- 0.1
	Monster Raving Loony	11	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	3,015	N/A
	Wessex Regionalist	10	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,750	0.0
	Mebyon Kernow	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,151	N/A
	Independent DUP	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,134	N/A
	Licensees	4	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	934	N/A
	Nationalist Party	5	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	874	N/A
	Labour and Trade Union	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	584	N/A
	Revolutionary Communist	4	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	581	N/A
	Freedom Party	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	508	N/A

All parties with more than 500 votes shown.

Government's new majority	144
Total votes cast	30,661,309
Turnout	72.7%

N.B. The SDP-Liberal Alliance vote is compared with the Liberal Party vote in the 1979 election.

The Independent Unionist elected in the 1979 election defended and held his seat for the Ulster Popular Unionist Party. The United Ulster Unionist Party dissolved and its sole MP did not re-stand.

The Independent Republican elected in the 1979 election died in 1981. In the ensuring by-election the seat was won by Bobby Sands, an Anti-H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner who then died and was succeeded by an Anti-H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner candidate Owen Carron. He defended and lost his seat standing for Sinn Féin who contested seats in Northern Ireland for the first time since 1959.

This election was fought under revised boundaries. The changes reflect those comparing to the notional results on the new boundaries. One significant change was the increase in the number of seats allocated to Northern Ireland from 12 to 17.

Votes summary

Seats won in the election (outer ring) against number of votes (inner ring).

Popular vote
Conservative			42.44%
Labour			27.58%
SDP/Liberal			25.38%
Scottish National			1.08%
Ulster Unionist			0.85%
Independent			0.28%
Others			2.39%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Conservative			61.08%
Labour			32.15%
SDP/Liberal			3.54%
Ulster Unionist			1.69%
Others			1.54%

Data from Guardian daily polls published in The Guardian between May and June 1983
Colour Key: BLUE Conservative, RED Labour, ORANGE Alliance, BLACK Others

The disproportionality of the house of parliament in the 1983 election was 20.69 according to the Gallagher Index, mainly between the Conservatives and SDP-Liberal Alliance.

Incumbents defeated

Labour

• Tony Benn (Bristol South East) - Former Secretary of State for Energy (1975-1979)
• Albert Booth (Barrow and Furness) - Former Secretary of State for Employment (1976-1979)
• Arthur Davidson (Accrington) - Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales
• Neil Carmichael (Glasgow Kelvingrove)
• Joseph Dean (Leeds West) - Former Government Whip (1978-1979)
• David Ennals (Norwich North) - Former Secretary of State for Social Services (1976-1979)
• John Garrett (Norwich South)
• Edward Graham (Edmonton) - Former Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (1976-1979)
• William Homewood (Kettering)
• Frank Hooley (Sheffield Heeley)
• Russell Kerr (Feltham and Heston)
• Joan Lester (Eton and Slough)
• Alex Lyon (York)
• Jim Marshall (Leicester South)
• Roland Moyle (Lewisham East) - Former Minister of State for Health
• Stan Newens (Harlow)
• Ossie O'Brien (Darlington)
• Christopher Price (Lewisham West)
• Gwilym Roberts (Cannock)
• John Sever (Birmingham Ladywood)
• John Spellar (Birmingham Northfield)
• David Stoddart ( Swindon)
• Ann Taylor (Bolton West) - Former Assistant Government Whip (1977-1979)
• John Tilley (Lambeth Central)
• Frank White (Bury and Radcliffe)
• Phillip Whitehead (Derby North)
• William Whitlock (Nottingham North)
• Kenneth Woolmer (Batley and Morley)

Social Democratic Party

• Tom Bradley (Leicester East)
• Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler (North West Norfolk) - Only Conservative MP to join SDP
• Ronald Brown (Hackney South and Shoreditch)
• George Cunningham (Islington South and Finsbury)
• Tom Ellis (Wrexham)
• David Ginsburg (Dewsbury)
• John Grant (Islington Central)
• Ednyfed Hudson Davies (Caerphilly)
• Edward Lyons (Bradford West)
• Dickson Mabon (Greenock and Port Glasgow) - Former Minister for Energy (1976-1979)
• Tom McNally (Stockport South)
• Bryan Magee (Leyton)
• Eric Ogden (Liverpool West Derby)
• William Rodgers (Stockton-on-Tees) - Former Secretary of State for Transport (1976-1979)
• John Roper (Farnworth)
• Neville Sandelson (Hayes and Harlington)
• Jeffrey Thomas (Abertillery)
• Michael Thomas (Newcastle-upon-Tyne East)
• James Wellbeloved (Erith and Crayford)
• Shirley Williams (Crosby) - Former Secretary of State for Education and Science (1976-1979)

Independent Labour

• Ben Ford (Bradford North) - Formerly Labour, stood as independent after being de-selected.
• Arthur Lewis (Newham North West) - Formerly Labour, stood as independent after being de-selected.
• Michael O'Halloran (Islington North) - Formerly Labour and SDP but stood as an independent when not selected for seat.

Sinn Fein

• Owen Carron (Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Social Democratic and Labour Party

• Gerry Fitt (Belfast West)

Liberal Party

• Bill Pitt (Croydon North West)

Conservative

• David Myles (Banffshire)
• Iain Sproat (Aberdeen South) - Moved to contest Roxburgh and Berwickshire believing that this was a "safer" seat. However, Aberdeen South was held by the Conservatives,^[5] while Roxburgh and Berwickshire fell to the Liberal candidate Archy Kirkwood.
• Delwyn Williams (Montgomeryshire)

Target tables

Conservative targets

Rank	Constituency	1983 winner
1	Isle of Wight	SDP-Liberal Alliance
2	Oxford East	Con
3	Cunninghame North	Con
4	Corby	Con
5	Nottingham East	Con
6	Hertfordshire West	Con
7	Mitcham and Morden	Con
8	Derbyshire South	Con
9	Leicestershire North West	Con
10	Southampton Itchen	Con
11	Halifax	Con
12	Stockton South	SDP Liberal Alliance
13	Lewisham West	Con
14	Edmonton	Con
15	Stevenage	Con
16	York	Con
17	Darlington	Con
18	Ceredigion and Pembroke North	SDP-Liberal Alliance
19	Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber	SDP-Liberal Alliance
20	Bridgend	Con

Labour targets

In order to regain an overall majority, Labour needed to make at least 65 gains.

Rank	Constituency	1983 winner
1	Birmingham Northfield	Con
2	Bury South	Con
3	Dulwich	Con
4	Liverpool Broadgreen	Labour
5	Nottingham South	Con
6	Aberdeen South	Con
7	Stirling	Con
8	Hornchurch	Con
9	Luton South	Con
10	Calder Valley	Con
11	Pendle	Con
12	Bolton North East	Con
13	Cardiff Central	Con
14	Croydon North West	Con
15	Fulham	Con
16	Cambridge	Con
17	Birmingham Erdington	Labour
18	Dudley West	Con
19	Welwyn Hatfield	Con
20	Glasgow Cathcart	Labour

SDP-Liberal Alliance targets

Rank	Constituency	1983 winner
1	Roxburgh and Berwickshire	SDP-Liberal Alliance
2	Richmond and Barnes	Con
3	Montgomeryshire	SDP-Liberal Alliance
4	Chelmsford	Con
5	Wiltshire North	Con
6	Cornwall North	Con
7	Hereford	Con
8	Colne Valley	SDP-Liberal Alliance
9	Gordon	SDP-Liberal Alliance
10	Southport	Con
11	Salisbury	Con
12	Devon North	Con
13	Gainsborough and Horncastle	Con
14	Cornwall South East	Con
15	Clwyd South West	Con
16	Liverpool Broadgreen	Labour
17	Newbury	Con
18	Yeovil	SDP-Liberal Alliance
19	Pudsey	Con
20	Ross, Cromarty and Skye	SDP-Liberal Alliance

See also

• MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1983.

References

1. ^ 1983: Thatcher triumphs again - BBC News, 5 April 2005
2. ^ BBC election 83
3. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/apr/11/mondaymediasection.politicsandthemedia
4. ^ In addition, rebel Liberal associations fielded candidates against official SDP/Alliance nominees in three constituencies: Liverpool Broadgreen, Hackney South and Shoreditch, and Hammersmith.
5. ^ "UK General Election results 1983, part 1". Richard Kimber's political science resources. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge83/i01.htm. Retrieved 8 January 2010. 

• F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987

Manifestos

• The Challenge of Our Times - 1983 Conservative manifesto.
• The New Hope for Britain - 1983 Labour Party manifesto.
• Working Together for Britain - SDP-Liberal Alliance manifesto.