1984 Chesterfield by-election
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The 1984 Chesterfield by-election was
.The eventual winner, former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn (who had been ousted from parliament at the general election nine months earlier) defeated sixteen other candidates, at the time the largest fielded in a British by-election — surpassing the previous high of twelve, at the 1981 Croydon North West by-election. This record would remain unbroken until the 1993 Newbury by-election.
At the time, there was no requirement for political parties fielding candidates to be registered, resulting in some fringe candidates using slogans or frivolous titles as their party name. Actor
Chesterfield for Chesterfield", Giancarlo Piccaro stood for the 'Official Acne Party', pretending to be dedicated to the eradication of zits worldwide, T. A. Layton stood in the name of the "Spare the Earth Ecology Party", which he had founded, and David Cahill campaigned for The Sun to be treated as a comic.[1]
Chesterfield was Benn's fourth by-election victory. He had first entered
Malcolm St Clair was declared elected. When the law was changed to allow peerages to be renounced, St Clair resigned the seat and Benn won the Bristol South East by-election 1963
.
Result
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Tony Benn | 24,633 | 46.5 | -1.6 | |
| Liberal | Max Payne | 18,369 | 34.7 | +15.1 | |
| Conservative | Nick Bourne | 8,028 | 15.2 | -17.3 | |
Independent Labour
|
Bill Maynard | 1,355 | 2.6 | New | |
| Monster Raving Loony | David Sutch | 178 | 0.3 | New | |
| Four-wheel drive Hatchback Road Safety | David Bentley | 116 | 0.2 | New | |
Independent
|
John Davey | 83 | 0.3 | New | |
| Independent Ecology Party
|
Thomas Layton | 46 | 0.1 | New | |
| Independent - Freight on rails not roads | Helen Anscomb | 34 | 0.1 | New | |
| Yoga and Meditation | Jitendra Bardwaj | 33 | 0.1 | New | |
| Independent - Buy your Chesterfield in Thame Party | Donald Butler | 24 | 0.1 | New | |
| The Welshman | Paul Nicholls-Jones | 22 | 0.0 | New | |
| Elvisly Yours Elvis Presley Party | Sid Shaw | 20 | 0.0 | New | |
| I am not a number | Christopher Hill | 17 | 0.0 | New | |
| Acne Party | Giancarlo Piccaro | 15 | 0.0 | New | |
| Re-classify The Sun newspaper a comic | David Cahill | 12 | 0.0 | New | |
| Peace | John Connell | 7 | 0.0 | New | |
| Majority | 6,264 | 11.8 | −3.8 | ||
| Turnout | 52,992 | 76.9 | +4.3 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
See also
References
- ^ ALDRIDGE-BROWNHILLS to LEEDS, WEST, 1983 to 1997 election results at election.demon.co.uk
- ^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1983-87 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2015.