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, with a majority of 144 seats and the first of two consecutive landslide victories.
The SDP–Liberal Alliance was a centrist and social liberal political and electoral alliance in the United Kingdom.
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, is a retired Scottish politician. Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leader of the Liberal Party, from 1976 to 1988. His tenure spanned the duration of the alliance with the Social Democratic Party, which began in 1981 and concluded with the formation of the Liberal Democrats in 1988.
The Liberal Party is a liberal political party in the United Kingdom that was founded in 1989 as a continuation of the original Liberal Party by members who opposed its merger with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to form the Liberal Democrats. The party holds five local council seats. The party promotes a hybrid of both classical and social liberal tendencies.
William Henry Pitt was a British politician. A Liberal Member of Parliament between 1981 and 1983, he was the first candidate elected to Parliament under the banner of the SDP–Liberal Alliance.
Sir Thomas Galloway Dunlop Galbraith, known as Tam Galbraith, was a Scottish Unionist politician.
The 1987 Greenwich by-election was a by-election to the British House of Commons held on 26 February 1987, shortly before the 1987 general election. The election was caused by the death of Guy Barnett, Labour Party Member of Parliament for Greenwich on 24 December 1986.
Jesse Dickson Mabon, sometimes known as Dick Mabon, was a Scottish politician, physician and business executive. He was the founder of The Manifesto Group of Labour MPs, an alliance of moderate MPs who fought the perceived leftward drift of the Labour Party in the 1970s. He was a Labour Co-operative MP until October 1981, when he defected to the SDP. He lost his seat in 1983, and rejoined the Labour Party in 1991.
The 1980 Glasgow Central by-election was a by-election held on 26 June 1980 for the British House of Commons constituency of Glasgow Central, following the death of its sitting MP, Thomas McMillan.
The 1980 Labour Party leadership election was held following the resignation of James Callaghan, who had been Prime Minister from 1976 to 1979 and had stayed on as leader of the Labour Party for eighteen months in order to oversee an orderly transition to his favoured successor, Denis Healey, over his own deputy Michael Foot. However, during this period the party had become bogged down in internal arguments about its procedures and future direction.
A by-election was held for the British House of Commons constituency of Vale of Glamorgan on 4 May 1989 following the death of Conservative MP Sir Raymond Gower.
Michael Stuart Thomas is a former British politician, identified with the Labour Party until 1981 and thereafter with the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He became well known for his role in both the establishment of the SDP and then in the SDP's subsequent demise. The SDP's leader, Roy Jenkins, referred to Thomas as the "pint-sized Pavarotti", on the basis of his stocky build and beard together with his ebullient manner.
The 1982 Beaconsfield by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 27 May 1982 for the British House of Commons constituency of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire.
Elaine Frances Burton, Baroness Burton of Coventry was a politician in the United Kingdom.
The Mitcham and Morden by-election was held on 3 June 1982. It was a rare example of a governing party gaining a seat in a by-election.
The Birmingham, Northfield by-election of 28 October 1982 was held after the death of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Jocelyn Cadbury on 31 July 1982. The seat was gained by the Labour Party in a defeat for Margaret Thatcher's government, ironically just after opinion polls showed an upswing in Conservative support following the victorious Falklands War campaign months earlier. The Conservatives regained the seat at the 1983 general election.
A Glasgow Hillhead by-election was held on 25 March 1982. The by-election was caused by the death of the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead Tam Galbraith on 2 January 1982.
The 1981 Warrington by-election was held on 16 July 1981.
The 1981 Crosby by-election was a by-election held in England on 26 November 1981 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the House of Commons constituency of Crosby on Merseyside. It followed the death of Crosby's MP Sir Graham Page, of the Conservative Party.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was a centrist to centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. The party supported a mixed economy, electoral reform, European integration and a decentralised state while rejecting the possibility of trade unions being overly influential within the industrial sphere. The SDP officially advocated social democracy, but its actual propensity is evaluated as close to social liberalism.
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