1986 West Derbyshire by-election

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1986 West Derbyshire by-election
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
  1983 8 May 1986 1987  

Constituency of West Derbyshire
Turnout71.9% (Decrease2.svg5.5%)
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Official portrait of Lord McLoughlin, 2022.jpg
Lib
Lab
Candidate Patrick McLoughlin Christopher WalmsleyWilliam Moore
Party Conservative Liberal Labour
Popular vote19,89619,7969,952
Percentage39.5%39.4%19.8%
SwingDecrease2.svg16.3%Increase2.svg12.3%Increase2.svg2.7%

MP before election

Matthew Parris
Conservative

Subsequent MP

Patrick McLoughlin
Conservative

The 1986 West Derbyshire by-election was held on 8 May 1986 when the sitting Conservative Party Member of Parliament, Matthew Parris, took the Chiltern Hundreds and resigned, in order to become the presenter of Weekend World for ITV.

The election was held on the same day as the 1986 local elections and the Ryedale by-election.

During the campaign, the seat's former MP, Matthew Parris, told Vincent Hanna on Newsnight that he thought Labour could gain the seat from the Conservatives. [1]

In his memoirs, he admitted that he deliberately misled both Hanna and the audience to prevent a Liberal victory. [2]

'had I not lied in an interview with the late Vincent Hanna, a BBC pollster carrying out a poll which most improbably suggested that Labour and not the Liberal Democrats[sic] were the challengers in this by-election, [the Liberals] would have won. I knew what I said was false.

Despite a large swing away from him, 28-year-old Patrick McLoughlin of the Conservative Party (who went on to serve in The Cabinet from 2010 to 2018) beat the Liberal Party candidate by 100 votes, and he remained the MP for the seat until his retirement in 2019.

West Derbyshire by-election, 1986 [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Patrick McLoughlin 19,896 39.5 −16.4
Liberal Christopher Walmsley 19,79639.4+12.4
Labour William Moore9,95219.8+2.7
Rainbow Alliance Loony Crocodile Tears Christopher Sidwell3480.7New
Independent Robert Goodall2890.6New
Majority1000.1−28.8
Turnout 50,28171.9−5.5
Conservative hold Swing

See also

References

  1. Chris Rennard, Winning Here, p.84
  2. Matthew Parris, Chance Witness, p.348
  3. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1983-87 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2015.