1979 Knutsford by-election

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The Knutsford by-election, 1979 was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Knutsford in Cheshire on 1 March 1979. It was won by the Conservative Party candidate Jock Bruce-Gardyne.

A by-election, also spelled bye-election, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.

United Kingdom constituencies electoral area in the UK (do not use in P31; use subclasses of this instead)

In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons.

Knutsford (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885-1983

Knutsford was a county constituency in Cheshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.

Contents

The by-election took place just over a month before parliament was dissolved (7 April) ahead of the 1979 general election on 3 May.

1979 United Kingdom general election election for members of the British House of Commons

The 1979 United Kingdom general election was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats. The election was the first of four consecutive election victories for the Conservative Party, and Thatcher became the United Kingdom's and Europe's first elected female head of government.

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant when the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), John Davies had resigned due to illness on 6 November 1978. He had held the seat since the 1970 general election and had served as Secretary of State for Industry and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Government of Edward Heath, having previously been Director of the Confederation of British Industry.

Conservative Party (UK) Political party in the United Kingdom

The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom. The governing party since 2010, it is the largest in the House of Commons, with 288 Members of Parliament. It also has 234 members of the House of Lords, 4 members of the European Parliament, 31 Members of the Scottish Parliament, 11 members of the Welsh Assembly, 8 members of the London Assembly and 7,445 local councillors.

John Davies (businessman) British businessman, born 1916

John Emerson Harding Harding-Davies, was a successful British businessman who served as Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry during the 1960s. He later went into politics and served in the Cabinet of Edward Heath as the first Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, a position which he held from October 1970 to 4 November 1972. Davies was President of the Board of Trade and from July to October 1970 was Minister of Technology. He became a Privy Councillor and, in 1972, was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with special responsibilities for the co-ordination of British policy towards the European Communities. In 1979 Davies was to be made a life peer as Baron Harding-Davies, but died before the creation of the peerage passed the Great Seal. Peerage history was made when, by Royal Warrant bearing the date 27 February 1980, Queen Elizabeth II granted his widow Vera Georgina the title of Lady Harding-Davies; his children The Hon. Frank Davies and The Hon. Rosamond Ann Metherell were given the rank of children of a life peer.

1970 United Kingdom general election general election

The 1970 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 18 June 1970. It resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, which defeated the governing Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The Liberal Party, under its new leader Jeremy Thorpe, lost half its seats. The Conservatives, including the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), secured a majority of 31 seats. This general election was the first in which people could vote from the age of 18, after passage of the Representation of the People Act the previous year.

Candidates

The Conservative candidate was 48-year-old Jock Bruce-Gardyne, who had been MP for South Angus from 1964 until his defeat at the October 1974 general election. The Labour Party candidate was Alan Barton, and the Liberals fielded Robert Ingham. Michael Byrne stood as an Independent Conservative.

John Bruce-Gardyne, Baron Bruce-Gardyne, was a British Conservative Party politician.

Angus South was a county constituency in Scotland, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983.

1964 United Kingdom general election general election held on 15 October 1964

The 1964 United Kingdom general election was held on 15 October 1964, five years after the previous election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party, first led by Winston Churchill, had entered power. It resulted in the Conservatives, led by its fourth leader, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, narrowly losing the election to the Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson, with Labour having an overall majority of four seats. It resulted in Labour ending its thirteen years in opposition and led to Wilson to become, at the time, the youngest Prime Minister in more than 150 years.

Result

The result was a clear victory for Bruce-Gardyne in this Conservative safe seat, with a much increased majority of 16,880. Both the Labour and Liberal vote fell by a few per cent.

A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. In such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing hands because of the political leanings of the electorate in the constituency concerned and/or the popularity of the incumbent member. The opposite type of seat is a marginal seat.

Bruce-Gardyne held the seat until its abolition for the 1983 general election, when he was effectively forced out of the Commons due to a reduction of the number of Cheshire seats. He was elevated to the House of Lords in the same year.

1983 United Kingdom general election election for members of the British House of Commons

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.

House of Lords Upper house in the Parliament of the United Kingdom

The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers and domestically usually referred to simply as the Lords, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is granted by appointment or else by heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster. Officially, the full name of the house is the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled.

Votes

Knutsford by-election, 1979 [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Conservative Jock Bruce-Gardyne 22,08667.1+16.1
Liberal Robert Ingham5,20615.8−10.6
Labour Alan Barton5,12415.6−7.0
Ind. Conservative Michael Byrne4861.5N/A
Majority16,88051.3+26.7
Turnout 32,902
Conservative hold Swing +13.4
General election October 1974: Knutsford
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Conservative John Davies 21,63651.0-1.5
Liberal B. Lomax11,21026.4-1.4
Labour D.L. Swain9.56522.6+2.9
Majority10,42624.6
Turnout 42,41176.8
Conservative hold Swing

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "1979 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
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