Results
The result of the contest was a victory for the Conservative candidate, Peter Bottomley, who held the seat until its abolition for the 1983 general election; he had contested the seat in both 1974 general elections. He then sat for Eltham, the successor seat, and from 1997 to 2024 represented Worthing West, formerly a safe Conservative seat in West Sussex.
The result reduced the Labour majority in the House of Commons from three seats to one seat, the Labour total falling from 319 to 318 in a House of 635 members. However, the position of the Labour Government was made worse by the fact that one of its MPs, John Stonehouse, was absent from the country. [1]
This was the first by-election the Conservatives fought under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who, by personally canvassing in support of Bottomley, abandoned a convention that party leaders did not campaign in by-elections. [1] Writing in The Glasgow Herald , political correspondent John Warden stated that the victory would boost Thatcher by silencing "mutterings about her leadership" for at least a few months. [1]
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27.46%)
