1983 United Kingdom general election

The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of the Labour Party in 1945, with a majority of 144 seats and the first of two consecutive landslide victories.

1983 United Kingdom general election

9 June 1983
All 650 seats in the House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	72.7% (3.3 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Margaret Thatcher Michael Foot David Steel (Lib.) Roy Jenkins (SDP) Party Conservative Labour Alliance Leader since 11 February 1975 10 November 1980 7 July 1976 (Steel) 7 July 1982 (Jenkins) Leader's seat Finchley Blaenau Gwent Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (Steel) Glasgow Hillhead (Jenkins) Last election 339 seats, 43.9% 269 seats, 36.9% 11 seats, 13.8% Seats before 359 261 9 Seats won 397 209 23 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 pp 9.3 pp 11.6 pp
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election Margaret Thatcher Conservative Prime Minister after election Margaret Thatcher Conservative

Thatcher's first term as Prime Minister had not been an easy time. Unemployment increased during the first three years of her premiership and the economy went through a recession. However, the British victory in the Falklands War led to a recovery of her personal popularity, and economic growth had begun to resume.

By the time Thatcher called the election in May 1983, opinion polls pointed to a Conservative victory, with most national newspapers backing the re-election of the Conservative government. The resulting win earned the Conservatives their biggest parliamentary majority of the post-war era, and their second-biggest majority as a majority government, behind only the 1924 general election (they earned even more seats in the 1931 general election, but were part of the National Government).

The Labour Party had been led by Michael Foot since the resignation of former Prime Minister James Callaghan as Leader of the Labour Party in 1980, and its new policies were considered more left-wing than before. Several moderate Labour MPs had defected from the party to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which then formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance with the existing Liberal Party. Labour was further harmed by its promise to withdraw from the European Economic Community, which alienated Pro-European groups.

The opposition vote split almost evenly between the Alliance and Labour. With its worst electoral performance since 1931, the Labour vote fell by over 3,000,000 votes from 1979, accounting for both a national swing of almost 4% towards the Conservatives and their larger parliamentary majority of 144 seats, even though the Conservatives' total vote fell by almost 700,000. This was the last general election until 2015 in which a governing party increased its number of seats.

The Alliance finished in third place but came within 700,000 votes of out-polling Labour; by gaining 25.4% of the vote it won the largest percentage for any third party since 1923. Despite this, it won only 23 seats, whereas Labour won 209. The Liberals argued that a proportional electoral system would have given them a more representative number of MPs. Changing the electoral system from First-Past-The-Post had been a long-running campaign plank of the Liberal Party and would later be adopted by its successor, the Liberal Democrats.

The election night was broadcast live on the BBC and was presented by David Dimbleby, Sir Robin Day and Peter Snow. It was also broadcast on ITV and presented by Alastair Burnet, Peter Sissons and Martyn Lewis.

Three future leaders of the Labour Party were first elected to Parliament at this election: Tony Blair (1994–2007), Gordon Brown (2007–2010) and Jeremy Corbyn (2015–2020). In addition, two future Leaders of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown and Charles Kennedy, were first elected. Michael Howard, who later served the Conservatives as Home Secretary in government and as party leader from 2003 to 2005, was also first elected to Parliament in 1983.

At the same time, a number of prominent Members of Parliament stepped aside or lost their seats. Former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson stood down from Parliament after 38 years, while the Alliance's Shirley Williams and Bill Pitt lost their seats only a short time after having won them. Joan Lestor and Tony Benn as well as former Liberal leader Jo Grimond and Speaker of the House of Commons and former Labour Cabinet Minister George Thomas also departed from Parliament at this election, although Benn would return after winning a by-election in Chesterfield the following year, and Lestor returned to Parliament after winning a seat at the next general election in 1987.

Background and campaign

Michael Foot was elected leader of the Labour Party at the end of 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. During 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 election and stood as "The Alliance". For a while the Alliance topped the opinion polls and looked capable of achieving their goal of forming a coalition government at the next general election, but the success of the Falklands campaign in 1982 saw the political tide turn in favour of the Conservative government.

The election did not have to be held until 1984. Although political circumstances were clearly favourable for the government and opposition parties anticipated that Mrs Thatcher would go to the country in June, earlier in 1983 the Conservatives were split on the timing of the election. One faction favoured a June election, but another group wanted to wait until October before going to the country, while some within the Party even advocated delaying the contest until 1984. Supporters of waiting to a later time to hold an election included Thatcher's deputy and Home Secretary William Whitelaw and John Biffen who was then serving as Leader of the House of Commons. On 27 April it was reported that all the Conservative party's regional agents had unanimously expressed a preference to Thatcher for a June election, although some members of her cabinet were advising her to wait until October. On 8 May senior Conservatives met at Chequers and agreed to go to the country on 9 June. The election was formally called the next day and Parliament was dissolved on 13 May for a four-week official election campaign.

The campaign displayed the huge divisions between the two major parties. Thatcher had been highly 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 reducing unemployment (which had increased from 1.5 million in 1979 to more than 3 million by 1982), continuing economic growth following the recent recession, 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 programme dubbed by Labour MP Gerald Kaufman "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."

The Alliance had had a setback ahead of the campaign at the Darlington by-election in March. The contest was one that had looked promising ground for the SDP, but despite heavily campaigning in the Labour-held seat, the SDP candidate, who struggled when interviewed for television by Vincent Hanna finished a poor third, which stalled the momentum of the Alliance. During the campaign, on Sunday 29 May, David Steel held a meeting with Jenkins and other Alliance leaders at his Ettrickbridge home. Steel, who polls showed was more popular proposed that Jenkins take a lower profile and that Steel take over as leader of the campaign. Jenkins rejected Steel's view and remained "Prime Minister designate", but Steel did have a heightened role on television for the last 10 days of the election campaign. According to Steve Richards the meeting meant Jenkins' "confidence was undermined and he staggered to the finishing line with less verve than he had displayed in the early days of the SDP" and showed little sign of his earlier "exuberance".

Notional 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	44.9	13,703,429
	Labour	261			−8	40	37.7	11,512,877
	Liberal	9			−2	1	14.2	4,324,936
	SNP	2			0	0	1.6	497,128
	Plaid Cymru	2			0	0	0.4	135,241
	Other parties	17			+5	3	3.4	1,063,263

Timeline

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

Further information: Results of the 1983 United Kingdom general election

The election saw the Conservatives win a landslide victory, improving on their 1979 result and achieving their best results since 1935. Although there was a slight drop in their share of the vote, they made significant gains at the expense of Labour. The Tories have yet to match their 1983 seat total in any subsequent general election, although they recorded a higher share of the popular vote in 2019.

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 third 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 gain. Despite winning over 25% of the national vote, the Alliance got fewer than 4% of seats, 186 fewer than Labour. The most significant Labour loss of the night was Tony Benn, who was defeated in the revived Bristol East seat. SDP President Shirley Williams, then a prominent leader in the Social Democratic Party, lost her Crosby seat which she had won in a by-election in 1981. Bill Rodgers, another leading figure in the Alliance (like Williams, one of the "Gang of Four") also failed to win his old seat that he previously held as a Labour MP.

In Scotland, both Labour and the Conservatives sustained modest losses to the Alliance. Labour remained by far the largest party, with 41 seats to 21 for the Scottish Conservatives. The Scottish Conservatives have been unable to match their 1983 Westminster seat total since, although they did record a slightly larger share of the Scottish vote in 2017, by which time the Scottish National Party had become the dominant party in Scotland with the Conservatives being the largest unionist party, with 13 seats won in 2017; their strongest performance in Scotland in 34 years.

On a nationwide basis, the 1983 UK general election was the worst result in Labour's modern history until the 2019 general election, in terms of seats won. The result in 1983 remains the worst-ever modern performance for Labour in England.

1983 UK general election

All parties with more than 500 votes shown.

			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher	633	397	47	10	+37	61.1	42.4	13,012,316	−1.5
	Labour	Michael Foot	633	209	4	55	−51	32.2	27.6	8,456,934	−9.3
	Alliance	David Steel & Roy Jenkins	636	23	12	0	+12	3.5	25.4	7,794,770	+11.6
	SNP	Gordon Wilson	72	2	0	0	0	0.3	1.1	331,975	−0.5
	UUP	James Molyneaux	16	11	3	1	+2	1.7	0.8	259,952	0.0
	DUP	Ian Paisley	14	3	2	1	+1	0.5	0.5	152,749	+0.3
	SDLP	John Hume	17	1	0	1	−1	0.2	0.4	137,012	0.0
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Wigley	38	2	0	0	0	0.3	0.4	125,309	0.0
	Sinn Féin	Ruairí Ó Brádaigh	14	1	1	1	0	0.2	0.3	102,701	N/A
	Alliance	Oliver Napier	12	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	61,275	−0.1
	Ecology	Jonathon Porritt	109	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	54,299	+0.1
	Independent	N/A	73	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	30,422	N/A
	National Front	Andrew Brons	60	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	27,065	−0.5
	UPUP	James Kilfedder	1	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.1	22,861	N/A
	Independent Labour	N/A	8	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	16,447	0.0
	Workers' Party	Tomás Mac Giolla	14	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	14,650	−0.1
	BNP	John Tyndall	54	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	14,621	N/A
	Communist	Gordon McLennan	35	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	11,606	−0.1
	Independent Socialist	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	10,326	N/A
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	10	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	9,442	0.0
	Independent Communist	N/A	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	4,760	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	Michael Banda	21	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	3,798	−0.1
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	11	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	3,015	N/A
	Wessex Regionalist	N/A	10	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,750	0.0
	Mebyon Kernow	Richard Jenkin	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,151	N/A
	Independent DUP	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,134	N/A
	Licensees	N/A	4	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	934	N/A
	Nationalist Party	N/A	5	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	874	N/A
	Labour and Trade Union	Peter Hadden	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	584	N/A
	Revolutionary Communist	Frank Furedi	4	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	581	N/A
	Freedom Party	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	508	N/A

Government's new majority	144
Total votes cast	30,671,137
Turnout	72.7%

Votes summary

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

Popular vote Conservative   42.43% Labour   27.57% SDP–Liberal   25.37% Others   4.63%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Conservative   61.08% Labour   32.15% SDP–Liberal   3.54% Others   3.23%

Data from Guardian daily polls published in The Guardian between May and June 1983. Colour key:

•   Conservative
•   Labour
•   Alliance
•   Others

The disproportionality of the House of Commons in the 1983 election was "20.62" according to the Gallagher Index, mainly between the Conservatives and the Alliance.

Incumbents defeated

Party		Name	Constituency	Office held whilst in Parliament	Year elected	Defeated by	Party
	Labour	Tony Benn	Bristol South East (contested Bristol East)	Secretary of State for Energy (1975–1979)	1950	Jonathan Sayeed		Conservative
		Albert Booth	Barrow and Furness	Secretary of State for Employment (1976–1979)	1966	Cecil Franks		Conservative
		Arthur Davidson	Accrington (contested Hyndburn)	Shadow Attorney General (1982–1983)	1966	Ken Hargreaves		Conservative
		Neil Carmichael	Glasgow Kelvingrove (contested Glasgow Hillhead)	Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Industry (1975–1976)	1962	Roy Jenkins MP		SDP
		Bob Cryer	Keighley		1974	Gary Waller		Conservative
		Joseph Dean	Leeds West	Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (1978–1979)	1974	Michael Meadowcroft		Liberal
		David Ennals	Norwich North	Secretary of State for Social Services (1976–1979)	1974	Patrick Thompson		Conservative
		John Garrett	Norwich South		1974	John Powley		Conservative
		Ted Graham	Edmonton	Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (1976–1979)	1974	Ian Twinn		Conservative
		William Homewood	Kettering (contested Corby)		1979	William Powell		Conservative
		Frank Hooley	Sheffield Heeley (contested Stratford-on-Avon)		1966	Alan Howarth		Conservative
		Russell Kerr	Feltham and Heston		1966	Patrick Ground		Conservative
		Joan Lestor	Eton and Slough (contested Slough)	Chair of the Labour Party (1977–78)	1966	John Watts		Conservative
		Alex Lyon	York		1966	Conal Gregory		Conservative
		Jim Marshall	Leicester South		1974	Derek Spencer		Conservative
		Roland Moyle	Lewisham East	Minister of State for Health (1976–1979)	1966	Colin Moynihan		Conservative
		Stan Newens	Harlow		1974	Jerry Hayes		Conservative
		Oswald O'Brien	Darlington		1983	Michael Fallon		Conservative
		Christopher Price	Lewisham West		1974	John Maples		Conservative
		Gwilym Roberts	Cannock (contested Cannock and Burntwood)		1974	Gerald Howarth		Conservative
		John Sever	Birmingham Ladywood, contested (Meriden)		1977	Iain Mills		Conservative
		John Spellar	Birmingham Northfield		1982	Roger Douglas King		Conservative
		David Stoddart	Swindon	Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (1975–1978)	1970	Simon Coombs		Conservative
		Shirley Summerskill	Halifax	Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (1976–1979)	1964	Roy Galley		Conservative
		Ann Taylor	Bolton West (contested Bolton North East)		1974	Peter Thurnham		Conservative
		John Tilley	Lambeth Central (contested Southwark and Bermondsey)		1978	Simon Hughes MP		Liberal
		Frank White	Bury and Radcliffe (contested Bury North)		1974	Alistair Burt		Conservative
		Phillip Whitehead	Derby North		1970	Greg Knight		Conservative
		William Whitlock	Nottingham North	Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1968–1969)	1959	Richard Ottaway		Conservative
		Kenneth Woolmer	Batley and Morley (contested Batley and Spen)		1979	Elizabeth Peacock		Conservative
	SDP	Tom Bradley	Leicester East		1962	Peter Bruinvels		Conservative
		Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler	North West Norfolk		1970	Henry Bellingham		Conservative
		Ronald Brown	Hackney South and Shoreditch		1964	Brian Sedgemore		Labour
		Richard Crawshaw	Liverpool Toxteth (contested Liverpool Broadgreen)	Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (1979–1981)	1964	Terry Fields		Labour
		George Cunningham	Islington South and Finsbury		1970	Chris Smith		Labour
		Tom Ellis	Wrexham (contested Clwyd South West)		1970	Robert Harvey		Conservative
		David Ginsburg	Dewsbury		1959	John Whitfield		Conservative
		John Grant	Islington Central (contested Islington North)	Under-Secretary of State for Employment (1976–1979)	1970	Jeremy Corbyn		Labour
		John Horam	Gateshead West (contested Newcastle upon Tyne Central)	Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (1976–1979)	1970	Piers Merchant		Conservative
		Ednyfed Hudson Davies	Caerphilly (contested Basingstoke)		1979	Andrew Hunter		Conservative
		Edward Lyons	Bradford West		1966	Max Madden		Labour
		Dickson Mabon	Greenock and Port Glasgow (contested Inverclyde)	Minister for Energy (1976–1979)	1955	Anna McCurley		Conservative
		Tom McNally	Stockport South (contested Stockport)		1979	Anthony Favell		Conservative
		Bryan Magee	Leyton		1974	Harry Cohen		Labour
		Bob Mitchell	Southampton Itchen		1971	Christopher Chope		Conservative
		Eric Ogden	Liverpool West Derby		1964	Bob Wareing		Labour
		William Rodgers	Stockton-on-Tees (contested Stockton North)	Secretary of State for Transport (1976–1979)	1962	Frank Cook		Labour
		John Roper	Farnworth (contested Worsley)	SDP Chief Whip (1981–83)	1970	Terry Lewis		Labour
		Neville Sandelson	Hayes and Harlington		1971	Terry Dicks		Conservative
		Jeffrey Thomas	Abertillery (contested Cardiff West)		1970	Stefan Terlezki		Conservative
		Michael Thomas	Newcastle upon Tyne East		1974	Nick Brown		Labour
		James Wellbeloved	Erith and Crayford		1965	David Evennett		Conservative
		Shirley Williams	Crosby (elected as SDP)	Secretary of State for Education and Science (1976–1979)	1981	Malcolm Thornton		Conservative
	Conservative	David Myles	Banffshire (contested Orkney and Shetland)		1979	Jim Wallace		Liberal
		Iain Sproat	Aberdeen South (contested Roxburgh and Berwickshire)		1970	Archy Kirkwood		Liberal
		Delwyn Williams	Montgomeryshire		1979	Alex Carlile		Liberal
		Hamish Gray	Ross and Cromarty (contested Ross, Cromarty and Skye)	Minister of State for Energy (1979–1983)	1970	Charles Kennedy		SDP
	Independent	Ben Ford	Bradford North		1964	Geoffrey Lawler		Conservative
		Arthur Lewis	Newham North West		1945	Tony Banks		Labour
		Michael O'Halloran	Islington North		1969	Jeremy Corbyn		Labour
		Gerry Fitt	Belfast West		1966	Gerry Adams		Sinn Féin
	Sinn Féin	Owen Carron	Fermanagh and South Tyrone		1981	Ken Maginnis		UUP
	Liberal	Bill Pitt	Croydon North West		1981	Humfrey Malins		Conservative

Tables of target seats

Conservative targets

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

Labour targets

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

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

SDP–Liberal Alliance targets

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

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the 1983 United Kingdom general election

  Conservative   Labour   SDP–Liberal Alliance

See also

• List of MPs elected in the 1983 United Kingdom general election
• 1983 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• 1983 United Kingdom general election in England
• 1983 United Kingdom general election in Wales
• 1983 United Kingdom local elections

Further reading

• Butler, David E.; et al. (1984), The British General Election of 1983, the standard scholarly study
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302
• Clarke, Harold D.; Mishler, William; Whiteley, Paul (1990), "Recapturing the Falklands: models of Conservative popularity, 1979–83", British Journal of Political Science, 20 (1): 63–81, doi:10.1017/S0007123400005706, S2CID 154466533

Manifestos

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