1981 Warrington by-election

1981 Warrington by-election
Constituency of Warrington
Turnout	67.0% ( 4.3%)
MP before election; Thomas Williams; Labour	Elected MP ; Doug Hoyle; Labour

The 1981 Warrington by-election was held on 16 July 1981.

The by-election was caused by the appointment of Thomas Williams, Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington, as a High Court Judge.

Warrington had been held by the Labour Party since the

Doug Hoyle, the former MP for Nelson and Colne

, who had lost his seat in 1979.

The

an electoral pact with the Liberal Party exactly a month earlier,^[2]

who had come a distant third in Warrington in 1979, with less than 10% of the vote, the two parties agreed to support Jenkins as the SDP's first Parliamentary candidate.

The

trade unionist.^[3]

Curiously, a member of an unconnected Social Democratic Party, founded in Manchester by Donald Kean, had contested the seat in 1979. Lacking any profile, he won only 0.5% of the vote. However, the party determined to stand again, against the better known SDP, which they were hoping to force to change their name.^[4]

Several other candidates stood. The then little-known

CB Radio. Tom Keen stood for the Campaign for a More Prosperous Britain. John Fleming stood on a platform opposing immigration and the Trident nuclear weapon system, while also calling for British troops to withdraw from Northern Ireland. Daniel Hussey stood as the "United Democratic Labour Party" candidate and Harry Wise stood as the "English Democratic Party" candidate. With eleven candidates, this equalled the most for any British by-election, set at the 1978 Lambeth Central by-election.^[5]

Result

Hoyle only narrowly held the seat for the Labour Party. Jenkins came from nowhere to win 42.4% of the vote, taking a close second place. Sorrell dropped to a distant third, losing three-quarters of the Conservative vote. None of the minor candidates were able to make an impact, all winning less than 1% of the vote,[6] and Keen equalled the record low of only ten votes.

According to the next day's edition of The Glasgow Herald Roy Jenkins had "emerged as a triumphant loser", coming close to victory and taking votes from both the Conservatives and Labour.^[7] Reacting to the result Jenkins noted that in his career he had fought 12 election and this was the first that he had lost in 35 years. However he said "But in losing, it is by far the greatest victory in which I have participated" going on to claim that the figures made it possible that an SDP-Liberal government would be returned at the next election with a large majority.^[7] Jenkins returned to Parliament at the 1982 Glasgow Hillhead by-election, subsequently becoming the SDP party leader.

The Warrington seat was split at the 1983 general election. Hoyle won Warrington North, holding the seat until his retirement in 1997, while a Conservative won Warrington South.

Warrington by-election, 1981^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Doug Hoyle	14,280	48.4	–13.3
	SDP	Roy Jenkins	12,521	42.4	+33.3
	Conservative	Stanley Sorrell	2,102	7.1	– 21.7
	Ecology	Neil Chantrell	219	0.8	New
	United Democratic Labour Party	Daniel Hussey	149	0.5	New
	Citizen's Band Radio Party	Iain Leslie	111	0.4	New
	Independent Labour	John Fleming	53	0.2	New
	Social Democratic	Donald Kean	38	0.1	– 0.4
	Democratic Monarchist	Bill Boaks	14	0.1	New
	English Democratic Party	Harry Wise	11	0.0	New
	More Prosperous Britain	Tom Keen	10	0.0	New
Majority			1,759	6.0	– 26.8
Turnout			29,508	67.0	– 4.3
	Labour hold		Swing

References

^ ^a ^b UK General Election Results: May 1979
^ "The University of Liverpool ~ SC&A; ~ Home". Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
^ "Warrington: Conservative". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
^ "Warrington: Social Democratic Party". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
^ "Warrington 1981". Archived from the original on 21 August 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
^ "Byelections in the 1979-83 Parliament". www.election.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000.
^ ^a ^b Parkhouse, Geoffrey (17 July 1981). "Jenkins comes second but poll is triumph for the SDP". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1979-83 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000. Retrieved 19 September 2015.

External links

Campaign literature from the by-election

[1979_election-1] UK General Election Results: May 1979

[2] "The University of Liverpool ~ SC&A; ~ Home". Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2010.

[3] "Warrington: Conservative". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2009.

[4] "Warrington: Social Democratic Party". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2009.

[5] "Warrington 1981". Archived from the original on 21 August 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.

[6] "Byelections in the 1979-83 Parliament". www.election.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000.

[GH17July1981-7] Parkhouse, Geoffrey (17 July 1981). "Jenkins comes second but poll is triumph for the SDP". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 1 July 2021.

[8] Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1979-83 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000. Retrieved 19 September 2015.

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