Everything about United Kingdom General Election 1979 totally explained
The
United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on
3 May 1979 and is regarded as a pivotal point in 20th century British politics. In it, the
Conservatives under
Margaret Thatcher defeated
James Callaghan's incumbent
Labour government in what would prove to be the first of four consecutive general election victories for the Conservative Party.
Background
Callaghan had succeeded
Harold Wilson as Labour Prime Minister after the latter's surprise resignation in April
1976. By March of
1977 Labour's small 1974 majority had become a
minority government after several by-election defeats, and from March
1977 to August
1978 Callaghan governed by an agreement with the
Liberal Party through the
Lib-Lab pact. Callaghan then considered calling an election in the autumn of
1978 but ultimately decided that a possible economic upturn in
1979 could favour his party at the polls.
However, events would soon overtake the Labour government. 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. 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 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 hadn't been for the lost confidence vote.
Margaret Thatcher had won her party's
1975 leadership election over former leader
Edward Heath.
David Steel had replaced
Jeremy Thorpe as leader of the
Liberal Party in
1976, after accusations of
homosexuality and allegations of a conspiracy to commit
murder forced Thorpe to resign (see
Rinkagate). The scandals led to a fall in the Liberal vote after what was thought to be a breakthrough in the
February 1974 election.
Campaign
The three main parties all advocated cutting income tax. Labour and the Conservatives didn't specify the exact thresholds of income tax they'd implement but the Liberals did, claiming they'd have income tax starting at 20% with a top rate of 50%.
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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'll 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".
The Conservatives campaigned on economic issues, pledging to control
inflation and to reduce the increasing power of the
unions who supported the mass strikes. They also employed the advertising agency
Saatchi & Saatchi. 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. Mrs. 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 (
Reginald Prentice,
Richard Marsh,
Lord George-Brown,
Alfred Robens and
Lord Chalfont) detailing why they'd switched their support to Mrs. Thatcher. Mrs. Thatcher explicitly asked Labour voters for her support when she launched her campaign in Cardiff, claiming that Labour was now extreme.
(External Link) An analysis of the election claimed that the Conservatives gained an 11% swing among the skilled working-class (the C2s) and a 9% swing amongst the unskilled working class (the C1s).
Results
In the end, the overall swing of 5.2% was the largest since
1945 and gave the Conservatives a workable
majority of 43 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 until the Labour victory in 1997.
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Total number of votes cast: 31,221,362. All parties shown.
N.B. The Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party had folded in 1978. Of its 3 MPs, 2 joined the Ulster Unionist Party (one held his seat, the other lost to the Democratic Unionist Party) and the 3rd defended and held his seat for the United Ulster Unionist Party.
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 didn't use that label in this election.Further Information
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