1979 United Kingdom general election

The 1979 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the House of Commons.

1979 United Kingdom general election

← Oct 1974 3 May 1979 1983 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 635 seats in the House of Commons 318 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	76.0%, 3.2%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Margaret Thatcher James Callaghan David Steel Party Conservative Labour Liberal Last election 277 seats, 35.8% 319 seats, 39.2% 13 seats, 18.3% Seats won 339 269^[a] 11 Seat change 62 50 2 Popular vote 13,697,923 11,532,218 4,313,804 Percentage 43.9% 36.9% 13.8% Swing 8.1% 2.3% 4.5%
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election James Callaghan Labour Prime Minister after election Margaret Thatcher Conservative

The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 44 seats. The election was the first of four consecutive election victories for the Conservative Party, and Thatcher became the United Kingdom's and Europe's first elected female head of government, marking the beginning of 18 years in government for the Conservatives and 18 years in opposition for Labour. Unusually, the date chosen coincided with the 1979 local elections. The local government results provided some source of comfort to the Labour Party, who recovered some lost ground from local election reversals in previous years, despite losing the general election. The parish council elections were pushed back a few weeks.

The previous parliamentary term had begun in October 1974, when Harold Wilson led Labour to a majority of three seats, seven months after forming a minority government following a hung parliament and the failure of Edward Heath's Conservative government to form a coalition with the Liberals. Wilson had previously led the party in government from October 1964 to June 1970, and had served as party leader since February 1963.

However, after just two years back in Downing Street he had resigned as Prime Minister, and was succeeded by James Callaghan, and within a year the government's narrow parliamentary majority had gone. Callaghan made agreements with the Liberals and later the Ulster Unionists, as well as the Scottish and Welsh nationalists, in order to remain in power. This pact lasted until July 1978.

However, on 28 March 1979, following the defeat of the Scottish devolution referendum, Thatcher tabled a motion of no confidence in Callaghan's Labour government, which was passed by just one vote (311 to 310), triggering a general election five months before the end of the government's term.

The Labour campaign was hampered by a series of industrial disputes and strikes during the winter of 1978–79, known as the Winter of Discontent, and the party focused its campaign on support for the National Health Service and full employment. After intense media speculation that a general election would be held before the end of 1978, Callaghan had announced early in the autumn of that year that a general election would not take place that year, having received private polling data which suggested a parliamentary majority was unlikely.^[1]

The Conservative campaign employed the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and pledged to control inflation as well as curbing the power of the trade unions. The Conservatives also ran their campaign on the theme that "Labour Isn't Working" (unemployment reached a 40-year high of 1.5 million during 1978). The Liberal Party was damaged by allegations that its former leader Jeremy Thorpe had been involved in a homosexual affair, and had conspired to murder his former lover. The Liberals were now being led by David Steel, meaning that all three major parties entered the election with a new leader.

The election saw a 5.2% swing from Labour to the Conservatives, the largest swing since the 1945 election, which Clement Attlee won for Labour. Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, and Callaghan was replaced as Labour leader by Michael Foot in 1980. Results for the election were broadcast live on the BBC, and presented by David Dimbleby and Robin Day, with Robert McKenzie on the "Swingometer", and further analysis provided by David Butler.^[2] It was the first general election to feature Rick Wakeman's song "Arthur" during the BBC's coverage.

Because of the anaemic economic and social backdrop in this election, it presaged the 1980 United States presidential election which occurred in 18 months later in which under similar circumstances, incumbent US President Jimmy Carter, like James Callaghan, was also defeated by Republican challenger Ronald Reagan.

Future Prime Minister John Major, who went on to succeed Thatcher in November 1990, entered Parliament at this election, retaining the Huntingdonshire seat in Cambridgeshire for the Conservatives. Jeremy Thorpe, Shirley Williams and Barbara Castle were all among the members of parliament who resigned or lost their seats.

Timeline

After suffering a vote of no confidence on 28 March 1979, Prime Minister James Callaghan was forced to announce that he would request a dissolution of Parliament to bring about a general election. The key dates were as follows:

Saturday 7 April	Dissolution of the 47th Parliament and campaigning officially begins; 2,576 candidates enter to contest 635 seats
Wednesday 2 May	Campaigning officially ends
Thursday 3 May	Polling day
Friday 4 May	The Conservative Party wins power with a majority of 43
Wednesday 9 May	The 48th Parliament assembles
Tuesday 15 May	State Opening of Parliament

Background

Britain's economy during the 1970s was so weak that Labour minister James Callaghan warned his fellow Cabinet members in 1974 of the possibility of "a breakdown of democracy", telling them: "If I were a young man, I would emigrate."^[3] Callaghan succeeded Harold Wilson as the Labour prime minister after the latter's surprise resignation in April 1976. By March 1977, Labour had become a minority government after two by-election defeats cost them the three-seat majority they had won in October 1974, and from March 1977 to August 1978 Callaghan governed by an agreement with the Liberal Party through the Lib–Lab pact. Callaghan had considered calling an election in the autumn of 1978,^[4] but ultimately decided that imminent tax cuts, and a possible economic upturn in 1979, could favour his party at the polls and delayed the election until the following year. Although published opinion polls suggested that he might win,^[5] private polls commissioned by the Labour Party from MORI had suggested the two main parties had much the same level of support.^[1]

However, events would soon overtake the Labour government and prove Callaghan's decision to delay an election to be a costly mistake. A series of industrial disputes in the winter of 1978–79, dubbed the "Winter of Discontent", led to widespread strikes across the country and seriously hurt Labour's standings in the polls while boosting support for the Conservative opposition. When the Scottish National Party (SNP) withdrew support for the Scotland Act 1978, a vote of no confidence was held and passed by one vote on 28 March 1979, forcing Callaghan to call a general election. As the previous election had been held in October 1974, Labour could have held on until the autumn of 1979 if it had not been for the lost confidence vote.

Margaret Thatcher had won her party's 1975 leadership election over former leader Edward Heath, taking over the leadership of the party in February 1975, four months after the party's failure to win the October 1974 election. Heath had led the party for a decade but lost three of the four elections he contested.

David Steel had replaced Jeremy Thorpe as leader of the Liberal Party in 1976, after allegations of homosexuality and conspiracy to murder his former lover forced Thorpe to resign. The Thorpe affair led to a fall in the Liberal vote, after what had been thought to be a breakthrough in the February 1974 election.

Campaign

This was the first election since 1959 to feature three new leaders for the main political parties. The three main parties all advocated cutting income tax. Labour and the Conservatives did not specify the exact thresholds of income tax they would implement but the Liberals did, claiming they would have income tax starting at 20% with a top rate of 50%.^[6]

Without explicitly mentioning Thatcher's sex, Callaghan was (as Christian Caryl later wrote) "a master at sardonically implying that whatever the leader of the opposition said was made even sillier by the fact that it was said by a woman". Thatcher used the tactics that had defeated her other male opponents: constantly studying, sleeping only a few hours a night, and exploiting her femininity to appear as someone who understood housewives' household budgets.^[7]

A proposal for the two main party leaders to participate in two televised debates was put forward by former Labour MP turned broadcaster Brian Walden. These would have been produced by LWT and were planned to be shown on ITV on 22 & 29 April 1979. While James Callaghan immediately accepted Walden's proposal, Margaret Thatcher decided to "wait a few days before replying" to the invitation. According to The Glasgow Herald, Some of Mrs Thatcher's advisers were concerned that she had more to lose from such debates, fearing that it would lead to a "presidential-style 'Her or me' campaign" which would see policy issues become of less importance. However it was also reported that the danger of declining was that Mrs Thatcher would be charged by Labour as being "scared" to face the Prime Minister.^[8] At the insistence of the Liberals, their leader David Steel was also invited by LWT to take part, and accepted the offer. However, Mrs Thatcher declined the offer to take part, saying that the election was for a government, not a president, which meant that the debates did not go ahead.^[9]

Labour

The Labour campaign reiterated their support for the National Health Service and full employment and focused on the damage they believed the Conservatives would do to the country. In an early campaign broadcast, Callaghan asked: "The question you will have to consider is whether we risk tearing everything up by the roots." Towards the end of Labour's campaign, Callaghan claimed a Conservative government "would sit back and just allow firms to go bankrupt and jobs to be lost in the middle of a world recession" and that the Conservatives were "too big a gamble to take".^[10]

The Labour Party manifesto, The Labour way is the better way, was issued on 6 April. Callaghan presented four priorities:

1. "We must keep a curb on inflation and prices";
2. "we will carry forward the task of putting into practice the new framework to improve industrial relations that we have hammered out with the TUC";
3. "we give [sic] a high priority to working for a return to full employment";
4. "we are deeply concerned to enlarge people's freedom"; and "we will use Britain's influence to strengthen world peace and defeat world poverty".

Conservatives

The Conservatives campaigned on economic issues, pledging to control inflation and to reduce the increasing power of the trade unions who supported mass strikes. They also employed the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi who had created the "Labour Isn't Working" poster.

The Conservative campaign was focused on gaining support from traditional Labour voters who had never voted Conservative before, first-time voters, and people who had voted Liberal in 1974.^[11] Thatcher's advisers, Gordon Reece and Timothy Bell, co-ordinated their presentation with the editor of The Sun, Larry Lamb. The Sun printed a series of articles by disillusioned former Labour ministers (Reg Prentice, Richard Marsh, Lord George-Brown, Alfred Robens and Lord Chalfont) detailing why they had switched their support to Thatcher. She explicitly asked Labour voters for their support when she launched her campaign in Cardiff, claiming that Labour was now extreme.^[12] Choosing to start her campaign in the strongly Labour-supporting city was part of Thatcher's strategy of appealing to skilled manual workers (NRS social group C2), whom both parties had previously seen as certain Labour voters; she thought that many of these would support her promises to reduce unions' power and enact the Right to Buy their homes.^[7] On 29 April the Conservatives held a massive rally in London for Conservative trade unionists. The Glasgow Herald called it an "astonishing rally" which it likened to "the razza-matazz of an American presidential-stye jamboree" and stated "Nothing quite like it has been seen before in a General Election in Britain." Several celebrities including Lulu, Molly Weir and Nigel Davenport appeared to support Thatcher and the Conservatives, while others like Eric Sykes and Les Dawson sent messages of support. It was also announced former Labour MP Eddie Griffiths was backing the Conservatives against his former party.^[13]

An analysis of the election result showed that the Conservatives gained an 11% swing among the skilled working class (the C2s) and a 9% swing amongst the unskilled working class (the DEs).^[14]

Thatcher's stance on immigration in the late 1970s (following the vast immigration from Asian and African-Caribbean nations during the 1950s and 1960s) was perceived as part of a rising racist public discourse,^[15] As Leader of the Opposition, Thatcher believed that the National Front (NF) was winning over large numbers of Conservative voters with warnings against floods of immigrants. Her strategy was to undermine the NF narrative by acknowledging that many of its voters had serious concerns in need of addressing. The National Front had a relatively small following and did not win any seats in parliament.

Thatcher criticised Labour immigration policy in January 1978, with the goal of attracting voters away from the NF and to the Conservatives.^[16] Her rhetoric was followed by an increase in Conservative support at the expense of the NF. Critics on the left reacted by accusing her of pandering to racism.^[17] Sociologists Mark Mitchell and Dave Russell responded that Thatcher had been badly misinterpreted, arguing that race was never an important focus of Thatcherism.^[18] Throughout her premiership both major parties took similar positions on immigration policy,^[19] having in 1981 passed the British Nationality Act with bipartisan support.^[20] No policies aimed at restricting immigration were passed or proposed by her government, and the subject of race was never highlighted by Thatcher in any of her major speeches as Prime Minister.^[21] Although Thatcher had pledged to address concerns felt by NF voters including matters related to immigration and presided over a period of disaffected race relations early in her premiership, the Conservative Party under her leadership actively began reaching out to ethnic minority voters ahead of the 1983 general election.^[22]

The Conservative manifesto, drafted by Chris Patten and Adam Ridley and edited by Angus Maude, reflected Thatcher's views and was issued on 11 April.^[23] It promised five major policies:

1. "to restore the health of our economic and social life, by controlling inflation and striking a fair balance between the rights and duties of the trade union movement";
2. "to restore incentives so that hard work pays, success is rewarded and genuine new jobs are created in an expanding economy";
3. "to uphold Parliament and the rule of law";
4. "to support family life, by helping people to become home-owners, raising the standards of their children's education and concentrating welfare services on the effective support of the old, the sick, the disabled and those who are in real need"; and
5. "to strengthen Britain's defences and work with our allies to protect our interests in an increasingly threatening world".^[24]

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the 1979 United Kingdom general election

 

  Conservatives

  Labour

  Liberals

Results

In the end, the overall swing of 5.2% was the largest since 1945, and gave the Conservatives a workable majority of 44 for the country's first female Prime Minister. The Conservative victory in 1979 also marked a change in government which would continue for 18 years, including the entire 1980s, until the Labour victory of 1997. It marked a period of political stability in the United Kingdom following four changes of government in the space of 15 years. Although the Conservatives would go on to win more seats under Thatcher in 1983 and 1987, and again under Boris Johnson in 2019, the Tories have never since matched the 43.9% of the popular vote they recorded in 1979.

The SNP saw a massive collapse in support, losing 9 of its 11 MPs. The Liberal Party had a disappointing election; its scandal-hit former leader Jeremy Thorpe lost his seat in North Devon to the Conservatives.

↓ 

339	269	11	16
Conservative	Labour	Lib	O

 

UK General Election 1979

All parties shown.^[b][c]

			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher	622	339	63	1	+62	53.4	43.9	13,697,923	+8.1
	Labour	James Callaghan	623	269^[a]	4	54	−50	42.4	36.9	11,532,218	−2.3
	Liberal	David Steel	577	11	1	3	−2	1.7	13.8	4,313,804	−4.5
	SNP	William Wolfe	71	2	0	9	−9	0.31	1.6	504,259	−1.3
	Ulster Unionist	Harry West	11	5	1	2	−1	0.79	0.8	254,578	−0.1
	National Front	John Tyndall	303	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.6	191,719	+0.2
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	36	2	0	1	−1	0.31	0.4	132,544	−0.2
	SDLP	Gerry Fitt	9	1	0	0	0	0.16	0.4	126,325	−0.2
	Alliance	Oliver Napier	12	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.3	82,892	+0.1
	DUP	Ian Paisley	5	3	2	0	+2	0.47	0.2	70,795	−0.1
	Ecology	Jonathan Tyler	53	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.1	39,918	+0.1
	UUUP	Ernest Baird	2	1	1	0	+1	0.16	0.1	39,856	N/A
	Ulster Popular Unionist	James Kilfedder	1	1	1	0	+1	0.16	0.1	36,989	+0.1
	Independent Labour	N/A	11	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.1	26,058	−0.1
	Irish Independence	Fergus McAteer and Frank McManus	4	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.1	23,086	N/A
	Independent Republican	N/A	1	1	0	0	0	N/A	0.1	22,398	−0.1
	Independent	N/A	62	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.1	19,531	+0.1
	Communist	Gordon McLennan	38	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.1	16,858	0.0
	SLP	Jim Sillars	3	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.1	13,737	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	Michael Banda	60	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.1	12,631	+0.1
	Workers' Party	Tomás Mac Giolla	7	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.1	12,098	0.0
	Independent SDLP	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	10,785	N/A
	Unionist Party NI	Anne Dickson	3	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	8,021	−0.1
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	7	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	4,841	0.0
	NI Labour	Alan Carr	3	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	4,441	0.0
	Mebyon Kernow	Richard Jenkin	3	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	4,164	0.0
	Democratic Labour	Dick Taverne	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	3,785	−0.1
	Wessex Regionalist	Viscount Weymouth	7	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	3,090	N/A
	Socialist Unity	N/A	10	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	2,834	N/A
	United Labour	Paddy Devlin	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	1,895	N/A
	Independent Democratic	N/A	5	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	1,087	N/A
	United Country	Edmund Iremonger	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	1,033	N/A
	Independent Liberal	N/A	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	1,023	0.0
	Independent Socialist	N/A	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	770	0.0
	Workers (Leninist)	Royston Bull	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	767	0.0
	New Britain	Dennis Delderfield	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	717	0.0
	Fellowship	Ronald Mallone	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	531	0.0
	More Prosperous Britain	Tom Keen	6	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	518	0.0
	United English National	John Kynaston	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	238	0.0
	Cornish Nationalist	James Whetter	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	227	N/A
	Social Democrat	Donald Kean	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	144	0.0
	English National	Frank Hansford-Miller	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	142	0.0
	The Dog Lovers' Party	Auberon Waugh	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	79	0.0
	Socialist (GB)	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	0.0	78	0.0

Government's new majority	43
Total votes cast	31,221,362
Turnout	76%

Votes summary

Popular vote Conservative   43.87% Labour   36.94% Liberal   13.82% Scottish National   1.62% Others   3.76%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Conservative   53.39% Labour   42.36% Liberal   1.73% Others   2.20%

 

The disproportionality of the House of Commons in the 1979 election was "11.57" according to the Gallagher index, mainly between the Conservatives and the Liberal Party.

Incumbents defeated

Party		Name	Constituency	Office held whilst in Parliament	Year elected	Defeated by	Party
	Labour	Geoff Edge	Aldridge-Brownhills		1974	Richard Shepherd		Conservative
		Eric Moonman	Basildon		1974	Harvey Proctor		Conservative
		Alfred Bates	Bebington and Ellesmere Port		1974	Barry Porter		Conservative
		Roderick MacFarquhar	Belper		1974	Sheila Faith		Conservative
		Raymond Carter	Birmingham Northfield	Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Northern Ireland Office (1977-1979)	1970	Jocelyn Cadbury		Conservative
		Tom Litterick	Birmingham Selly Oak		1974	Anthony Beaumont-Dark		Conservative
		Syd Tierney	Birmingham Yardley	President of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers	1974	David Bevan		Conservative
		Caerwyn Roderick	Brecon and Radnorshire		1970	Tom Hooson		Conservative
		John Ellis	Brigg and Scunthorpe		1974	Michael Brown		Conservative
		Ronald Thomas	Bristol North West		1974	Michael Colvin		Conservative
		George Rodgers	Chorley		1974	Den Dover		Conservative
		Audrey Wise	Coventry South West		1974	John Butcher		Conservative
		Sydney Irving	Dartford		1974	Bob Dunn		Conservative
		William Molloy	Ealing North		1964	Harry Greenway		Conservative
		Bryan Davies	Enfield North		1974	Tim Eggar		Conservative
		John Watkinson	Gloucestershire West		1974	Paul Marland		Conservative
		John Ovenden	Gravesend		1974	Tim Brinton		Conservative
		Robin Corbett	Hemel Hempstead		1974	Nicholas Lyell		Conservative
		Alan Lee Williams	Hornchurch		1974	Robin Squire		Conservative
		Shirley Williams	Hertford and Stevenage	Secretary of State for Education and Science (1976–1979)	1964	Bowen Wells		Conservative
		Arnold Shaw	Ilford South		1974	Neil Thorne		Conservative
		Terence Walker	Kingswood		1974	Jack Aspinwall		Conservative
		Bruce Grocott	Lichfield and Tamworth		1974	John Heddle		Conservative
		Margaret Beckett	Lincoln	Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education and Science (1976-1979)	1974	Kenneth Carlisle		Conservative
		Edward Loyden	Liverpool Garston		1974	Malcolm Thornton		Conservative
		Ivor Clemitson	Luton East		1974	Graham Bright		Conservative
		Brian Sedgemore	Luton West		1974	John Carlisle		Conservative
		John Desmond Cronin	Loughborough		1955	Stephen Dorrell		Conservative
		John Tomlinson	Meriden	Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1976-1979)	1974	Iain Mills		Conservative
		Doug Hoyle	Nelson and Colne		1974	John Lee		Conservative
		Edward Bishop	Newark	Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1974–1979)	1964	Richard Alexander		Conservative
		Maureen Colquhoun	Northampton North		1974	Antony Marlow		Conservative
		Evan Luard	Oxford	Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1976-1979)	1974	John Patten		Conservative
		Arthur Latham	Paddington		1969	John Wheeler		Conservative
		Michael Ward	Peterborough		1974	Brian Mawhinney		Conservative
		Frank Judd	Portsmouth North	Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1977–1979)	1966	Peter Griffiths		Conservative
		Ronald Atkins	Preston North		1974	Robert Atkins		Conservative
		Hugh Jenkins	Putney	Minister of State for the Arts (1974–1979)	1964	David Mellor		Conservative
		Robert Bean	Rochester and Chatham		1974	Peggy Fenner		Conservative
		Michael Noble	Rossendale		1974	David Trippier		Conservative
		William Price	Rugby		1966	Jim Pawsey		Conservative
		Bryan Gould	Southampton Test		1974	James Hill		Conservative
		Max Madden	Sowerby		1974	Donald Thompson		Conservative
		Helene Hayman	Welwyn and Hatfield		1974	Christopher Murphy		Conservative
		Gerald Fowler	The Wrekin	Minister of State for the Privy Council Office (1974–1976)	1974	Warren Hawksley		Conservative
	SNP	Douglas Henderson	East Aberdeenshire	SNP Spokesman for Employment and Industry	1974	Albert McQuarrie		Conservative
		Andrew Welsh	South Angus	SNP Spokesperson for Housing	1974	Peter Fraser		Conservative
		Iain MacCormick	Argyllshire		1974	John Mackay		Conservative
		Hamish Watt	Banffshire		1974	David Myles		Conservative
		Margaret Ewing	East Dunbartonshire		1974	Norman Hogg		Labour
		George Thompson	Galloway		1974	Ian Lang		Conservative
		Winnie Ewing	Moray and Nairn	SNP Spokesperson for External Affairs and EEC	1974	Alex Pollock		Conservative
		Douglas Crawford	Perth and East Perthshire		1974	Bill Walker		Conservative
		George Reid	Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire		1974	Martin O'Neill		Labour
	Conservative	Teddy Taylor	Glasgow Cathcart	Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland (1976-1979)	1964	John Maxton		Labour
		Andrew MacKay	Birmingham Stechford		1977	Terry Davis		Labour
		Richard Page	Workington		1976	Dale Campbell-Savours		Labour
		Tim Smith	Ashfield		1977	Frank Haynes		Labour
		Robin Hodgson	Walsall North		1976	David Winnick		Labour
	Liberal	Jeremy Thorpe	North Devon	Leader of the Liberal Party (1967–1976)	1959	Tony Speller		Conservative
		Emlyn Hooson	Montgomeryshire		1962	Delwyn Williams		Conservative
		John Pardoe	North Cornwall	Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party (1976–1979)	1966	Gerry Neale		Conservative
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynfor Evans	Carmarthen	President of Plaid Cymru (1945–1981)	1974	Roger Thomas		Labour
	SLP	Jim Sillars^[25]	South Ayrshire	Leader of the Scottish Labour Party (1976–1979)	1970	George Foulkes		Labour
	Ulster Unionist	William Craig	Belfast East		1974	Peter Robinson		DUP

See also

• List of MPs elected in the 1979 United Kingdom general election
• 1979 United Kingdom local elections
• 1979 United Kingdom general election in England
• 1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• 1979 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

Notes

1. The seat and vote count figures for Labour given here include the Speaker of the House of Commons
2. The Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party had folded in 1978. Of its three MPs, two joined the Ulster Unionist Party (one held his seat, the other lost to the Democratic Unionist Party) and the third defended and held his seat for the United Ulster Unionist Party.
3. James Kilfedder had been previously elected as an Ulster Unionist MP, but left the party, defending and holding his seat as an Independent Ulster Unionist. He subsequently founded the Ulster Popular Unionist Party but did not use that label in this election.

References

1. Beckett 2009, p. 460.
2. BBC 1979 Election coverage on YouTube
3. Beckett 2009, p. 175.
4. "1979: Thatcher wins Tory landslide", BBC News, 5 April 2005, retrieved 4 May 2012
5. Hickson & Seldon 2004, p. 293.
6. , psr.Keele.ac.UK, 25 February 1998, archived from the original on 25 May 1998, retrieved 13 May 2010
7. Caryl 2014, pp. 3391–3428.
8. Parkhouse, Geoffrey (3 April 1979). "Thatcher hesitates over TV challenge". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
9. Parkhouse, Geoffrey (4 April 1979). "Geoffrey Parkhouse, Political Editor, writes". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
10. Young 1990, p. 131.
11. Campbell 2000, p. 432.
12. Speech to Conservative Rally in Cardiff, Margaret Thatcher Foundation, 16 April 1979, retrieved 13 May 2010
13. Russell, William (30 April 1979). "Ex-Labour MP defects to Tories". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
14. Butler & Kavanagh 1980, p. 343.
15. Witte (2014), p. 54.
16. Witte (2014), pp. 53–54.
17. Friedman (2006), p. 13.
18. Mitchell & Russell (1989).
19. Ward (2004), p. 128; Vinen (2009), pp. 227, 279.
20. Hansen (2000), pp. 207–208.
21. Anwar (2001).
22. "Black Conservatives: Are the Tories the new party of diversity?". 16 October 2020.
23. Butler & Kavanagh 1980, p. 166.
24. Keesing's Record of World Events, vol. 25, June 1979, p. 29633
25. Elected as a Labour MP

Sources

• Anwar, Muhammad (2001). "The participation of ethnic minorities in British politics". Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 27 (3): 533–549. doi:10.1080/136918301200266220. S2CID 144867334.
• Beckett, Andy (2009), When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies, Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-25226-8
• Butler, David; Kavanagh, Dennis (1980), The British General Election of 1979, London: Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-333-77875-3
• Campbell, John (2000), Margaret Thatcher, Volume One: The Grocer's Daughter, London: Jonathan Cape, ISBN 978-0-224-04097-6
• Caryl, Christian (2014), Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century, Basic Books, ISBN 978-0-465-06564-6
• Friedman, Lester D., ed. (2006). Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism. Wallflower Press. ISBN 978-1-904764-71-7.
• Hansen, Randall (2000). Citizenship and Immigration in Post-war Britain. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-158301-8.
• Hickson, Kevin; Seldon, Anthony (2004), New Labour, Old Labour: The Wilson and Callaghan Governments 1974–1979, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-134-38161-6
• Mitchell, Mark; Russell, Dave (1989). "Race, the new right and state policy in Britain". Immigrants & Minorities. 8 (1–2): 175–190. doi:10.1080/02619288.1989.9974714.
• Ward, Paul (2004). "A new way of being British". Britishness Since 1870. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-22016-3.
• Vinen, Richard (2009). Thatcher's Britain: The Politics and Social Upheaval of the Thatcher Era. Simon & Schuster (published 2013). ISBN 978-1-4711-2828-8.
• Witte, Rob (2014), Racist Violence and the State: A Comparative Analysis of Britain, France and the Netherlands, ISBN 978-1-317-88919-9
• Young, Hugo (1990), One of Us: A Biography of Margaret Thatcher, Pan Books, ISBN 978-0-330-31487-9

Further reading

• Butler, David E.; et al. (1980), The British General Election of 1979, the standard scholarly study{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Campbell, John (2008), Margaret Thatcher, Volume 1: The Grocer's Daughter
• Craig, F.W.S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0-900178-30-2
• Jenkins, Peter (1989), Mrs. Thatcher's Revolution: The Ending of the Socialist Era
• McAllister, Ian; Mughan, Anthony (1985), "Attitudes, Issues, and Labour Party Decline in England, 1974–1979", Comparative Political Studies, 18 (1): 37–57, doi:10.1177/0010414085018001002, S2CID 153934506
• Penniman, Howard R. (1981), Britain at the Polls, 1979: A Study of the General Election, p. 345
• Särlvik, Bo; Crewe, Ivor (1983), Decade of Dealignment: The Conservative Victory of 1979 & Electoral Trends in the 1970s, p. 393

External links

• United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979 23 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine

Manifestos

• , 1979 Conservative Party manifesto
• , 1979 Labour Party manifesto
• , 1979 Liberal Party manifesto