Portsmouth South by-election, 1984

The Portsmouth South by-election was held on 14 June 1984, following the death of Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South Bonner Pink.

Portsmouth South was considered a safe seat for the Conservatives. Pink had held the constituency since the 1966 UK general election, while the seat had been Tory-held since its creation in 1918. At the 1983 general election, Pink had taken just over half the votes cast. [http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge83/i16.htm UK General Election results: June 1983] ]

Candidates

The Conservatives stood Patrick Rock. [http://www.geocities.com/by_elections/portsmouth84.html Portsmouth South 1984] , British Parliamentary ByElections]

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) had narrowly taken second place in the constituency in 1983, with just over one quarter of the vote. They stood Mike Hancock, an engineer and member of Hampshire County Council, who had been their unsuccessful candidate in 1983.

The Labour Party had been pushed into third place in 1983, taking 22% of the vote. They also re-stood their candidate from the previous year, Sally Thomas, a supporter of unilateral nuclear disarmament. As Portsmouth South was the headquarters of the Royal Navy, this was a significant issue in the campaign. [Chris Cook and John Ramsden, "By-Elections in British Politics"]

Three other candidates had stood in the general election, and two of these stood in the by-election: Gordon Knight of the far right National Front, and Alan Evens who stood as "Liberal for Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament", while four new candidate completed the field. Terry Mitchell stood for the Ecology Party, Thomas Layton stood as "Spare the Earth - Ecology", Anthony Andrews stood as an independent with the slogan "Vote Education: Save Schools & Colleges", and Pete Smith stood for the New National Party.

Result

The SDP unexpectedly gained the seat. The Conservative vote fell sharply, while Labour saw only a small increase. None of the other candidates were able to take 1% of the votes cast. [ [http://www.election.demon.co.uk/by1983.html By-elections in the 1983-87 Parliament] ]

Hancock lost the seat at the 1987 general election, but was able to retake it in 1997.

Election box candidate with party link
party = Social Democratic Party (UK)
candidate = Mike Hancock
votes = 15,358
percentage = 37.6
change = +12.1Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Patrick Rock
votes = 14,017
percentage = 34.3
change = -15.7Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Sally Thomas
votes = 10,846
percentage = 26.5
change = +4.0Election box candidate with party link
party = National Front (UK)
candidate = Gordon Knight
votes = 226
percentage = 0.5
change = 0.0Election box candidate with party link
party = Ecology Party
candidate = Terry Mitchell
votes = 190
percentage = 0.5
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent Liberal
candidate = Alan Evens
votes = 113
percentage = 0.3
change = -0.8Election box candidate
party = Independent Ecology
candidate = Thomas Layton
votes = 50
percentage = 0.1
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Anthony Andrews
votes = 42
percentage = 0.1
change = "N/A"Election box candidate
party = New National Party
candidate = Peter Smith
votes = 41
percentage = 0.1
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 1,341
percentage = 3.3
change = -21.3Election box turnout
votes =
percentage = 54.5
change = -12.8Election box gain with party link
winner = Social Democratic Party (UK)
loser = Conservative Party (UK)
swing =

References