1983 Darlington by-election

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1983 Darlington by-election
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  1979 24 March 1983 June 1983  

Constituency of Darlington
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
Lab
Michael Fallon, MP.jpg
SDP
Candidate Ossie O'Brien Michael Fallon Anthony Cook
Party Labour Conservative SDP
Popular vote20,54418,13212,735
Percentage39.5%34.9%24.5%
SwingDecrease2.svg6.0%Decrease2.svg8.5%Increase2.svg14.3%

MP before election

Edward Fletcher
Labour

Elected MP

Ossie O'Brien
Labour

The 1983 Darlington by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 24 March 1983 for the House of Commons constituency of Darlington in County Durham.

Contents

The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Edward Fletcher had died on 13 February 1983, at age 71. He had held the seat since the 1964 general election.

The result of the contest was a victory for the Labour candidate, Ossie O'Brien, who won with a majority of 2,412 over the Conservative Party candidate Michael Fallon. O'Brien only held the seat for three months, however, as it fell to Fallon at the general election in June 1983.

The by-election campaign is regarded by many former SDP members, including Bill Rodgers, as having been one that destroyed the SDP's momentum. Tony Cook, a local television celebrity, was the candidate and appeared to know very little about public issues and made a poor impression. At one point the SDP had been leading in the polls, but in part due to Cook's poor performance as a candidate, highlighted by the coverage from journalist Vincent Hanna, they finished third.

Votes

Darlington by-election, 1983 [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Ossie O'Brien 20,544 39.5 6.0
Conservative Michael Fallon 18,13234.98.5
SDP Anthony Cook12,73524.5+14.3
Monster Raving Loony David Sutch 3740.7New
Independent Arthur Clark1640.3New
Tactical Voting Annihilates Bennite TatchellitesThomas Keen270.1New
Yoga and MeditationJitendra Bardwaj150.0New
RepublicanPeter Smith100.0New
Majority2,4124.6+2.5
Turnout 52,001
Labour hold Swing +1.25
General election, 1979: Darlington
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Edward Fletcher 22,565 45.52 +0.03
Conservative Timothy Kirkhope 21,51343.39+5.77
Liberal K. Walker5,05410.196.44
National Front H. Outhwaite4440.90New
Majority1,0522.125.81
Turnout 49,57678.40+13.43
Labour hold Swing 2.82

See also

Further reading

References

  1. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1979-83 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000. Retrieved 19 September 2015.