1979 vote of no confidence against the government of James Callaghan
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Government of James Callaghan
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
which occurred on 28 March 1979. The vote was brought by opposition leader Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
and was lost by the Labour Government by one vote (311 votes to 310), forcing a general election
United Kingdom general election, 1979
The United Kingdom general election of 1979 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...
which was won by Thatcher's party. The last time an election had been forced by the House of Commons was in 1924, when Ramsay MacDonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
, the first Labour Prime Minister, lost a vote of confidence. Labour politician Roy Hattersley was to later remark that the vote marked "the last rites" of 'old Labour'. Labour would not return to government for another 18 years. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
has referred to the vote as "one of the most dramatic nights in Westminster history".
Background
LabourLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
came to power in March 1974. The general election at the end of February resulted in a hung parliament
Hung parliament
In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...
where Labour had slightly more seats but no overall majority. The Conservatives had tried to negotiate a coalition with the Liberal Party, but these negotiations failed and Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
's government resigned. Labour leader Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
then accepted the invitation to form a minority government. Wilson called a second election for October 1974, which gave Labour a wafer-thin majority of three. The Labour Government tackled inflation and unemployment at record post-war levels. Wilson resigned in 1976 on turning 60, and James Callaghan became Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister. By-elections and defections whittled away Labour's majority. By April 1976 Labour had lost its majority in the House of Commons after a by-election defeat, the defection of two Labour MPs to form the Scottish Labour Party
Scottish Labour Party (1976)
The Scottish Labour Party was formed on January 18, 1976, as a breakaway from the UK Labour Party, by members disaffected with the then Labour Government's failure to secure a devolved Scottish Assembly, as well as with its social and economic agenda...
and the defection of backbencher John Stonehouse
John Stonehouse
John Thomson Stonehouse was a British politician and minister under Harold Wilson. Stonehouse is perhaps best remembered for his unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death in 1974...
.
In 1977 the Labour Government and the Liberal Party contracted the Lib-Lab pact
Lib-Lab pact
In British politics, a Lib-Lab pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.There have been four such arrangements, and one alleged proposal, at the national level...
by which the Liberals agreed to support the Government in return for pre-legislative consultation. The pact lasted for a year before lapsing in July 1978; thereafter the Liberal Party declared that they supported a general election as soon as possible and would therefore support any no confidence motions. Callaghan could have called an election in September 1978 but decided against, hoping that the Labour Party would fare better in a year's time once the economy had improved. However the winter saw a prolonged period of industrial unrest known as the Winter of Discontent
Winter of Discontent
The "Winter of Discontent" is an expression, popularised by the British media, referring to the winter of 1978–79 in the United Kingdom, during which there were widespread strikes by local authority trade unions demanding larger pay rises for their members, because the Labour government of...
which severely damaged Labour's popularity. The government survived a motion of no confidence in December 1978 by ten votes after obtaining the support of the Ulster Unionists
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
(legislation had been introduced to give Northern Ireland more Parliamentary seats; it cleared the House of Commons on 17 January 1979).
On 1 March 1979 the referendum on the Scotland Act resulted in a majority of those voting supporting implementing the Act, but a threshold imposed by anti-devolution MPs requiring 40% of the electorate to support was not reached. When the Government refused to implement the Act anyway, the Scottish National Party group put down a motion of no confidence. After consulting with the Liberal Party to confirm that they were still supporting motions of no confidence, Leader of the Opposition Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
put down her own motion which took precedence. The debate was scheduled for Wednesday, 28 March 1979.
Motion and debate
The motion moved by Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
MP was "That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government".
During the debate Callaghan criticised the Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
, committed to independence for Scotland, for voting with the Conservative Party who opposed devolution. The Scottish National Party were to lose all but two of their seats in the election following the no confidence vote:
"We can truly say that once the Leader of the Opposition discovered what the Liberals and the SNP would do, she found the courage of their convictions. So, tonight, the Conservative Party, which wants the Act repealed and opposes even devolution, will march through the Lobby with the SNP, which wants independence for Scotland, and with the Liberals, who want to keep the Act. What a massive display of unsullied principle! The minority parties have walked into a trap. If they win, there will be a general election. I am told that the current joke going around the House is that it is the first time in recorded history that turkeys have been known to vote for an early Christmas."
- James Callaghan during the No confidence debate
Vote
The government lost by one vote. Margaret Thatcher initially believed she had lost the vote after a rough calculation as to the vote's outcome had been made without counting the two Conservative tellers who had counted the votes. Due to the closeness of the vote there is some debate as to whether deals could have been made which would have kept the Government in power. Had the vote been tied, the Speaker would have cast the deciding vote which would have been cast in favour of the Government, as the Speaker of the House of CommonsSpeaker of the British House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...
George Thomas
George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy
Thomas George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy PC was a British Labour Party politician and Speaker of the House of Commons. Born in Port Talbot, Wales, he initially worked as a teacher in both London and Cardiff...
would, by convention, have voted for the status quo. After the vote Conservative backbenchers cheered and Labour left-wingers sang the Red Flag.
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Enoch Powell and Ulster Unionists
Before the vote there were some discussions between Labour, the Ulster Unionists and Enoch PowellEnoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
regarding to deal over a Northern Irish pipeline which would provide cheap energy to Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Callaghan was unwilling to support the proposal due to unhappiness with minority government. There were also discussions about a separate inflation index for Northern Ireland.
Sir Alfred Broughton
One crucial vote was lost by Labour backbencher Sir Alfred BroughtonAlfred Broughton
Sir Alfred Davies Devonsher Broughton was a British Labour Party politician.Broughton was educated at Rossall School, Downing College, Cambridge and the London Hospital and became a doctor, a member of a family who had been Batley doctors for 70 years. During World War II he worked in civil...
who was unable to attend the vote due to ill health. Broughton was mortally ill and died a few days after the vote but was determined to come to Westminster if it meant saving the Government, although his doctor was strongly opposed. Parliamentary procedure would have allowed his vote to be counted even if he remained within an ambulance at Speaker's Court. However, after a debate over what would happen if Broughton died en route, Callaghan finally decided that he would not risk Broughton's health by asking him to travel, a decision which was to bring down the Government. Broughton died on 2 April 1979. According to some sources Callaghan changed his mind on the evening of the debate, but too late for Broughton to be brought down from Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
.
Welsh Nationalists
Plaid CymruPlaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
supported the Labour Government after extracting concessions from them.
Irish Nationalists
Without Broughton Labour needed the support of Irish MPs to tie the vote. Gerry FittGerry Fitt
Gerard Fitt, Baron Fitt was a politician in Northern Ireland. He was a founder and the first leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party , a social democratic and Irish nationalist party.-Early years:...
, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
, was sympathetic to the Labour Party and Frank Maguire
Frank Maguire
Meredith Francis Maguire was an Independent Republican Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.- Early Life :...
, an Independent Republican, had supported the government on previous knife-edge votes but were unhappy with proposals which would increase the number of constituencies in Northern Ireland and therefore increase Unionist representation. Fitt eventually decided to not support Labour but that he would campaign for them to be re-elected if they lost. He urged Frank Maguire
Frank Maguire
Meredith Francis Maguire was an Independent Republican Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.- Early Life :...
to do the same. Although not an abstentionist
Abstentionism
Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in the election itself...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, Maguire rarely attended the House of Commons; he made the long trip to Westminster to attend the no confidence vote, only to abstain from the vote in person. The BBC documentary "A Very British Coup" states that Frank Maguire's wife was (unknown to Fitt) sitting in the public gallery of the House of Commons and urged her husband not to vote after hearing Fitt.
Aftermath
The vote of no confidence prompted Callaghan to call a general election, stating, "We shall take our case to the country." His other option was to resign and accept Mrs Thatcher would be appointed PM. The resulting general election was won by the Conservative Party and led to 18 years of Conservative rule. After losing the election Callaghan remained Labour leader for another year before being succeeded by Michael Foot
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
.