Bermondsey by-election, 1983
Encyclopedia
A by-election was held in the Bermondsey
constituency in South London
, on 24 February 1983, following the resignation of Labour
MP
Robert Mellish
, who had represented the constituency and its predecessors in the House of Commons
since 1946. Mellish was the Labour Chief Whip
from 1969 until 1976, but he had become disenchanted with the left-wing drift of the Labour Party, and had resigned from both the Party and his Parliamentary seat in 1982. He was recruited by the Conservative government to the board of the London Docklands Development Corporation
; as he did not wish to be disqualified, the post was made non-salaried until such time as Mellish chose to accept payment. This meant that Mellish had a paid job to go to as soon as he wanted.
, its Secretary, as prospective Parliamentary candidate. Tatchell was a leading member of the left-wing faction that had taken control of the local party the previous year. He was also a contributor to London Labour Briefing
, a magazine that circulated among the London left, and had written an article suggesting the use of extra-Parliamentary direct action
by the Labour Party. This article came to the attention of James Wellbeloved
, a former London Labour MP who had defected to the Social Democratic Party
; Wellbeloved then referred to it in a Parliamentary Question to Margaret Thatcher
on 3 December.
Labour Party leader Michael Foot
denounced the article and declared "the individual concerned is not an endorsed member of the Labour Party and as far as I'm concerned never will be". (It was suggested by some that Foot had confused Peter Tatchell with Peter Taaffe
, then the leader of the Trotskyist Militant tendency
, and that his denunciation was so strong that he could not later retract it without appearing weak.) Foot later changed "endorsed member" to "endorsed candidate", and at the next meeting of the Labour Party National Executive Committee, Tatchell was narrowly rejected as a candidate. Mellish was not reassured about the future direction of the Labour Party and resigned from it on 2 August 1982, a clear preliminary to resigning his seat, which he did by taking the Chiltern Hundreds
on 1 November that year. The left wing of the Labour Party, defending the right of Bermondsey to select a candidate of its own choosing, managed to obtain agreement that Tatchell would be eligible for selection, and Tatchell was duly selected again in January 1983.
Tabloid newspapers opposed to the Labour left had begun researching his background when Michael Foot denounced him, and in particular Tatchell's activities with the Gay Liberation Front
in the early 1970s. Several stories were published which made it clear by implication that he was gay
.
At the 1981 Greater London Council election
, the Liberal Party
had come second in Bermondsey. They chose their GLC candidate Simon Hughes
, a barrister
who had moved to the constituency earlier that year, to fight the by-election. The Conservatives
chose Robert Hughes
(no relation), who was a Greater London Council
(GLC) Councillor in Croydon
. Among those who applied for the Conservative nomination but were not chosen was Sara Keays
, then having an as yet unrevealed affair with Cecil Parkinson
.
The right-wing former Labour leader of Southwark Borough Council
, John O'Grady, who had been a target for the left-wing faction locally, also decided to stand under the banner 'Real Bermondsey Labour' with Robert Mellish's support and encouragement. His campaign was dominated by personal opposition to Tatchell and defence of his leadership of the Council. Twelve other candidates stood, including Screaming Lord Sutch
and the Dowager Lady Birdwood.
Esmond Bevan intended to stand as an independent Labour candidate, but erroneously entered his occupation in the section on the nomination papers headed 'description', thus appearing on ballot papers as "Systems Designer".
(then practising entryism
in the Labour Party; a group whose five key members were expelled two days before polling day). The leaflets were all pulped and reprinted, but the cost of the first printing still counted against the limit for election spending.
throughout the constituency referred to him in derogatory terms, while some of those putting up posters in his support found their windows attacked. Tatchell received hate mail, including a live cartridge, and was attacked when out in the street.
Some of the other by-election candidates joined in: John O'Grady (Southwark
Council leader, who was promoted as the 'Real Bermondsey' Labour candidacy by the previous MP, Bob Mellish
) was filmed touring the constituency on the back of a horse and cart, singing a song which referred to Tatchell "wearing his trousers back to front". On the last weekend of the campaign, an anonymous leaflet was sent round the constituency headed "Which Queen will you vote for?", contrasting the republican
Tatchell, who was pictured looking very effeminate, with Queen Elizabeth II
. The leaflet gave Tatchell's home address and telephone number.
An alternative analysis of Tatchell's eventual defeat was given by David Sutch
, the Official Monster Raving Loony Party
candidate, in his 1991 autobiography Life As Sutch (ISBN 0-00-637805-6). When being interviewed on TV at the by-election count, Sutch related to Tatchell how horrified he was at the treatment Tatchell had received, but added that "what I did not tell him was that he had been so bad a candidate that he had largely brought it on himself". Sutch criticised Tatchell's preference for press conferences and press releases rather than traditional meeting-and-greeting, which was generally regarded as the best way to win hearts and minds at a by-election. In a later interview, when the subject of Bermondsey came up, Sutch said that Tatchell "seemed to think all he needed to do to become the MP was turn up at the count."
Male Liberal canvassers were seen wearing badges reading "I've been kissed by Peter Tatchell". This was criticised by Roy Hattersley
at a Labour news conference. One Liberal campaigner, John Hein (who subsequently refused to join the successor party, the Liberal Democrats
, and became a member of the Liberal Party
instead), wrote in the usenet
newsgroup uk.politics.electoral on 19 May 1997:
In an interview with Simon Edge of The Independent
published on 17 December 1996, the Liberal agent in the by-election, Andy Ellis, was asked whether he approved of the activity undertaken by the Liberal Gay Action Group, and replied "Nothing went on in Bermondsey that we were unhappy with".
Though Liberal campaigners criticised Tatchell for being 'in the closet', it emerged during campaigning for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats
in January 2006 that Hughes had had homosexual relationships himself. Hughes apologised in the interview for not being honest about his sexuality, having denied that he was gay in an interview a week earlier, admitting that he "gave a reply that wasn't untrue but was clearly misleading" as he is in fact bisexual having "had both homosexual and heterosexual relationships in the past."
Hughes also apologised for the actions of Liberals in the Bermondsey campaign, saying, "I regret that in a campaign, actually run often by agents and organisers, the candidate does not have nearly as much say as perhaps they should have, but I take responsibility". "I have never been comfortable about the whole of that campaign, as Peter knows, and I said that to him in the past.... Where there were things that were inappropriate or wrong, I apologise for that."
The one controversial issue that was linked to Hughes was a leaflet describing the contest as a "straight choice" between Liberal and Labour. The same slogan is regularly used by candidates from all parties in elections, in an attempt to suggest to the electors that the party was the only credible challenger to the incumbent party, as a result of Duverger's Law
and to encourage tactical voting
. However, when challenged on Newsnight about it in 2006, Hughes admitted that it was "an unacceptable form of language", and "those are the sort of things that shouldn't have happened", appearing to acknowledge that the slogan had acted as an inadvertent slur against Tatchell.
When asked for his opinions on the Liberal Democrat leadership candidates in 2006, Tatchell, by then a member of the Green Party
, said that he had forgiven Hughes, saying "Simon benefited from these dirty tricks, but that was 23 years ago - I don't hold a grudge. It's time to forgive and move on." He added that Hughes should be judged on his twenty-three year record as an MP and that "if I were a Lib Dem member, I would vote for Simon Hughes as party leader". In the 2010 General Election campaign, while still a Green Party member, Tatchell encouraged tactical voting for the Liberal Democrats.
, and the last in Britain until the Liverpool Walton by-election, 1991
. All candidates other than Liberal and Labour lost their deposits.
The results for the previous election were:
Bermondsey (UK Parliament constituency)
Bermondsey was a borough constituency centred on the Bermondsey district of South London, England. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
constituency in South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
, on 24 February 1983, following the resignation of 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...
MP
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,...
Robert Mellish
Bob Mellish, Baron Mellish
Robert Joseph Mellish, Baron Mellish, PC was a British politician. He was a long-serving Labour Party MP and served as the Labour Chief Whip from 1969 until 1976 but in his later years he fell out with his local Constituency Labour Party which had become dominated by left-wingers, and eventually...
, who had represented the constituency and its predecessors in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
since 1946. Mellish was the Labour Chief Whip
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
from 1969 until 1976, but he had become disenchanted with the left-wing drift of the Labour Party, and had resigned from both the Party and his Parliamentary seat in 1982. He was recruited by the Conservative government to the board of the London Docklands Development Corporation
London Docklands Development Corporation
The London Docklands Development Corporation was a quango agency set up by the UK Government in 1981 to regenerate the depressed Docklands area of east London. During its eighteen-year existence it was responsible for regenerating an area of in the London Boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets and...
; as he did not wish to be disqualified, the post was made non-salaried until such time as Mellish chose to accept payment. This meant that Mellish had a paid job to go to as soon as he wanted.
Preliminaries
On 7 November 1981, Bermondsey Labour Party selected Peter TatchellPeter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
, its Secretary, as prospective Parliamentary candidate. Tatchell was a leading member of the left-wing faction that had taken control of the local party the previous year. He was also a contributor to London Labour Briefing
London Labour Briefing
Labour Left Briefing is a monthly political magazine produced by members of the British Labour Party.It originated in the 1980s as London Labour Briefing, counting several Labour MPs among its supporters...
, a magazine that circulated among the London left, and had written an article suggesting the use of extra-Parliamentary direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
by the Labour Party. This article came to the attention of James Wellbeloved
James Wellbeloved
Alfred James Wellbeloved is a former British politician.Wellbeloved was educated at South London Technical College and was a commercial and industrial correspondent...
, a former London Labour MP who had defected to the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (UK)
The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
; Wellbeloved then referred to it in a Parliamentary Question to Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
on 3 December.
Labour Party leader 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...
denounced the article and declared "the individual concerned is not an endorsed member of the Labour Party and as far as I'm concerned never will be". (It was suggested by some that Foot had confused Peter Tatchell with Peter Taaffe
Peter Taaffe
Peter Taaffe is the general secretary of the Socialist Party of England and Wales SPEW and member of the International Executive Committee of the Committee for a Workers International , which claims sections in over 35 countries around the world.Taaffe was founding editor of the Marxist Militant...
, then the leader of the Trotskyist Militant tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
, and that his denunciation was so strong that he could not later retract it without appearing weak.) Foot later changed "endorsed member" to "endorsed candidate", and at the next meeting of the Labour Party National Executive Committee, Tatchell was narrowly rejected as a candidate. Mellish was not reassured about the future direction of the Labour Party and resigned from it on 2 August 1982, a clear preliminary to resigning his seat, which he did by taking the Chiltern Hundreds
Chiltern Hundreds
Appointment to the office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham is a sinecure appointment which is used as a device allowing a Member of the United Kingdom Parliament to resign his or her seat...
on 1 November that year. The left wing of the Labour Party, defending the right of Bermondsey to select a candidate of its own choosing, managed to obtain agreement that Tatchell would be eligible for selection, and Tatchell was duly selected again in January 1983.
Tabloid newspapers opposed to the Labour left had begun researching his background when Michael Foot denounced him, and in particular Tatchell's activities with the Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.-The Gay Liberation Front:...
in the early 1970s. Several stories were published which made it clear by implication that he was gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
.
Other candidates
Greater London Council election, 1981
Turnout: 2,250,118 people voted. All parties shown.This was the last election to the GLC. The Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher took the decision to abolish the council in the mid-1980s. For more information on this see the article, Greater London Council. Following the abolition of...
, the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
had come second in Bermondsey. They chose their GLC candidate Simon Hughes
Simon Hughes
Simon Henry Ward Hughes is a British politician and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. He is Member of Parliament for the constituency of Bermondsey and Old Southwark. Until 2008 he was President of the Liberal Democrats...
, a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
who had moved to the constituency earlier that year, to fight the by-election. The Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
chose Robert Hughes
Robert Gurth Hughes
Robert Gurth Hughes was a British Conservative Party politician from 1980-97.In 1980 Hughes was elected to the Greater London Council representing Croydon Central, serving until 1986....
(no relation), who was a Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
(GLC) Councillor in Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
. Among those who applied for the Conservative nomination but were not chosen was Sara Keays
Sara Keays
Sara Keays is the former mistress and personal secretary of British Conservative politician Cecil Parkinson. Keays' public revelation of her pregnancy and of their twelve-year long affair, when she realised that Parkinson would neither marry her nor help her become an MP, led to his resignation as...
, then having an as yet unrevealed affair with Cecil Parkinson
Cecil Parkinson
Cecil Parkinson, Baron Parkinson, PC , is a British Conservative politician and former Cabinet Minister.-Early life:...
.
The right-wing former Labour leader of Southwark Borough Council
London Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark is a London borough in south east London, England. It is directly south of the River Thames and the City of London, and forms part of Inner London.-History:...
, John O'Grady, who had been a target for the left-wing faction locally, also decided to stand under the banner 'Real Bermondsey Labour' with Robert Mellish's support and encouragement. His campaign was dominated by personal opposition to Tatchell and defence of his leadership of the Council. Twelve other candidates stood, including Screaming Lord Sutch
Screaming Lord Sutch
David Edward Sutch , also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Screaming Lord Sutch", was a musician from the United Kingdom...
and the Dowager Lady Birdwood.
Esmond Bevan intended to stand as an independent Labour candidate, but erroneously entered his occupation in the section on the nomination papers headed 'description', thus appearing on ballot papers as "Systems Designer".
Start of the campaign
The Labour campaign started disastrously when it was discovered that the first leaflets had been printed at Cambridge Heath Press, owned by the Militant tendencyMilitant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
(then practising entryism
Entryism
Entryism is a political tactic by which an organisation or state encourages its members or agents to infiltrate another organisation in an attempt to gain recruits, or take over entirely...
in the Labour Party; a group whose five key members were expelled two days before polling day). The leaflets were all pulped and reprinted, but the cost of the first printing still counted against the limit for election spending.
Attacks on Tatchell
There was much controversy over Tatchell's homosexuality. The Labour Party persuaded Tatchell to keep quiet about his sexual orientation, although he had previously declared himself 'out'. Various campaigners for opposition candidates, as well as many within the Labour Party, made homophobic comments about Tatchell. Widespread graffitiGraffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
throughout the constituency referred to him in derogatory terms, while some of those putting up posters in his support found their windows attacked. Tatchell received hate mail, including a live cartridge, and was attacked when out in the street.
Some of the other by-election candidates joined in: John O'Grady (Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
Council leader, who was promoted as the 'Real Bermondsey' Labour candidacy by the previous MP, Bob Mellish
Bob Mellish, Baron Mellish
Robert Joseph Mellish, Baron Mellish, PC was a British politician. He was a long-serving Labour Party MP and served as the Labour Chief Whip from 1969 until 1976 but in his later years he fell out with his local Constituency Labour Party which had become dominated by left-wingers, and eventually...
) was filmed touring the constituency on the back of a horse and cart, singing a song which referred to Tatchell "wearing his trousers back to front". On the last weekend of the campaign, an anonymous leaflet was sent round the constituency headed "Which Queen will you vote for?", contrasting the republican
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
Tatchell, who was pictured looking very effeminate, with Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
. The leaflet gave Tatchell's home address and telephone number.
An alternative analysis of Tatchell's eventual defeat was given by David Sutch
Screaming Lord Sutch
David Edward Sutch , also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Screaming Lord Sutch", was a musician from the United Kingdom...
, the Official Monster Raving Loony Party
Official Monster Raving Loony Party
The Official Monster Raving Loony Party is a registered political party established in the United Kingdom in 1983 by musician and politician David Sutch , better known as Screaming Lord Sutch.-History:...
candidate, in his 1991 autobiography Life As Sutch (ISBN 0-00-637805-6). When being interviewed on TV at the by-election count, Sutch related to Tatchell how horrified he was at the treatment Tatchell had received, but added that "what I did not tell him was that he had been so bad a candidate that he had largely brought it on himself". Sutch criticised Tatchell's preference for press conferences and press releases rather than traditional meeting-and-greeting, which was generally regarded as the best way to win hearts and minds at a by-election. In a later interview, when the subject of Bermondsey came up, Sutch said that Tatchell "seemed to think all he needed to do to become the MP was turn up at the count."
Homophobia and the Liberal campaign
During the by-election, members of the Liberal Party were accused of having joined in homophobic attacks on Tatchell.Male Liberal canvassers were seen wearing badges reading "I've been kissed by Peter Tatchell". This was criticised by Roy Hattersley
Roy Hattersley
Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley is a British Labour politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.-Early life:...
at a Labour news conference. One Liberal campaigner, John Hein (who subsequently refused to join the successor party, the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
, and became a member of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK, 1989)
The Liberal Party is a United Kingdom political party. It was formed in 1989 by a group of individuals within the original Liberal Party who felt that the merger of the party with the Social Democratic Party, to form the Liberal Democrats, had ended the spirit of the Liberal Party, claiming that...
instead), wrote in the usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsgroup uk.politics.electoral on 19 May 1997:
- As a member of the Liberal Gay Action Group which produced and wore the 'I have been kissed by Peter Tatchell' and 'I haven't been kissed by Peter Tatchell' badges, I think I should explain why the badges were produced and worn. (Although I wasn't there on the day that they were worn and had I been, mine would have read 'I wouldn't want to be kissed by Peter Tatchell').
- We were furious at the way in which Peter was attempting to go back into the closet (something which he has since admitted was wrong). This was our protest.
In an interview with Simon Edge of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
published on 17 December 1996, the Liberal agent in the by-election, Andy Ellis, was asked whether he approved of the activity undertaken by the Liberal Gay Action Group, and replied "Nothing went on in Bermondsey that we were unhappy with".
Though Liberal campaigners criticised Tatchell for being 'in the closet', it emerged during campaigning for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats leadership election, 2006
In the 2006 Liberal Democrats leadership election, Sir Menzies Campbell was elected to succeed Charles Kennedy as Leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party in the United Kingdom....
in January 2006 that Hughes had had homosexual relationships himself. Hughes apologised in the interview for not being honest about his sexuality, having denied that he was gay in an interview a week earlier, admitting that he "gave a reply that wasn't untrue but was clearly misleading" as he is in fact bisexual having "had both homosexual and heterosexual relationships in the past."
Hughes also apologised for the actions of Liberals in the Bermondsey campaign, saying, "I regret that in a campaign, actually run often by agents and organisers, the candidate does not have nearly as much say as perhaps they should have, but I take responsibility". "I have never been comfortable about the whole of that campaign, as Peter knows, and I said that to him in the past.... Where there were things that were inappropriate or wrong, I apologise for that."
The one controversial issue that was linked to Hughes was a leaflet describing the contest as a "straight choice" between Liberal and Labour. The same slogan is regularly used by candidates from all parties in elections, in an attempt to suggest to the electors that the party was the only credible challenger to the incumbent party, as a result of Duverger's Law
Duverger's law
In political science, Duverger's law is a principle which asserts that a plurality rule election system tends to favor a two-party system. This is one of two hypotheses proposed by Duverger, the second stating that “the double ballot majority system and proportional representation tend to...
and to encourage tactical voting
Tactical voting
In voting systems, tactical voting occurs, in elections with more than two viable candidates, when a voter supports a candidate other than his or her sincere preference in order to prevent an undesirable outcome.It has been shown by the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem that any voting method which is...
. However, when challenged on Newsnight about it in 2006, Hughes admitted that it was "an unacceptable form of language", and "those are the sort of things that shouldn't have happened", appearing to acknowledge that the slogan had acted as an inadvertent slur against Tatchell.
When asked for his opinions on the Liberal Democrat leadership candidates in 2006, Tatchell, by then a member of the Green Party
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...
, said that he had forgiven Hughes, saying "Simon benefited from these dirty tricks, but that was 23 years ago - I don't hold a grudge. It's time to forgive and move on." He added that Hughes should be judged on his twenty-three year record as an MP and that "if I were a Lib Dem member, I would vote for Simon Hughes as party leader". In the 2010 General Election campaign, while still a Green Party member, Tatchell encouraged tactical voting for the Liberal Democrats.
Opinion polls
Bermondsey was one of the first by-elections to be extensively polled. The polls showed, at first, that the Labour vote was substantially down on the 1979 election figures, but that none of the rival candidates were particularly close. As the campaign went on, the Liberal candidate began to move into a clear second position and the other candidates faded. Later in the campaign, there were rumours which claimed that the right-wing of the Labour Party nationally wished to lose the seat, as it would prove that left-wing Labour candidates were unelectable. By the eve of poll, it was clear that large numbers of previously Labour voters were defecting to other parties, and that non-Labour voters were lining up in support of the Liberal candidate as the one most likely to beat Labour.Results
The Liberals made huge gains and took the seat, with a majority of votes cast. Labour's vote fell from 63.6 per cent in May 1979 to 26.1 per cent as Tatchell came a distant second, while O'Grady took third. The Conservatives managed only fourth place, for the first time since the Newham South by-election, 1974Newham South by-election, 1974
The Newham South by-election was a by-election held on 23 May 1974 for the British House of Commons constituency of Newham South. It was triggered when Elwyn Jones, the constituency's Labour Party Member of Parliament , was appointed as Lord Chancellor and subsequently awarded a life peerage.The...
, and the last in Britain until the Liverpool Walton by-election, 1991
Liverpool Walton by-election, 1991
The Liverpool Walton by-election was held on 4 July 1991, following the death of the Labour Party Member of Parliament Eric Heffer for Liverpool Walton, on 27 May.The constituency had become a safe Labour seat under Heffer, who was known as a left-wing MP...
. All candidates other than Liberal and Labour lost their deposits.
The results for the previous election were: