Glasgow Hillhead by-election, 1982
Encyclopedia
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.
Hillhead had been held by the Conservatives at every election since its creation in 1918
. Galbraith himself had held the seat since the Glasgow Hillhead by-election, 1948. However, his majority had been gradually reduced, and even in the 1979 election
which the Conservatives won, the Labour Party
had continued to gain ground.
(SDP) formed by the "Gang of Four
" prominent figures: David Owen
, Bill Rodgers
, Shirley Williams and Roy Jenkins
. The SDP had several Parliamentary seats held by defectors from Labour, and one by a defector from the Conservatives, while Williams had won the Crosby by-election, 1981
for the party, leaving Jenkins as the final "Gang of Four" member without a seat in the House of Commons. He contested the Warrington by-election, 1981
, coming a close second, and remained keen to fight a winnable seat.
Labour's candidate for the seat in 1979, Richard Mowbray, had defected to the SDP. Coupled with a largely middle class electorate and a third place in 1979 for the Liberal Party
, who had since agreed an electoral pact - termed the 'Alliance'
- with the SDP, the party considered Hillhead to be a target seat. The candidacy of Jenkins was not immediately assured, however: the Hillhead Liberal association had already selected a candidate, and it was only after a "tense and uncomfortable" discussion at Jenkins' house, involving various Liberal and SDP figures, that a resolution was agreed which safeguarded the nomination of Jenkins as the Alliance candidate. Such internal wrangling between the two components of the Alliance, so early in its political life, was to prove an unfortunate omen for the future.
The Conservatives hoped to hold the seat, but were behind in the polls. They stood Gerry Malone
, a local lawyer. Malone called for cuts in welfare and the reintroduction of hanging
.
Labour faced a struggle to win the seat, but hoped their lead in the polls would translate to a by-election victory. They stood David Wiseman, a local councillor and community worker who had previously been known for his research into the Loch Ness Monster
.
The Scottish National Party
(SNP) had contested the seat for many years, and in recent elections had won around 10% of the vote. They stood George Leslie
, a local vet, and campaigned for Scottish independence
, with a particular focus on Jenkins' background in England and Wales.
An organisation named the "Social Democratic Party
", founded by Donald Kean in Manchester in 1979 and unconnected with the organisation Jenkins represented, stood Douglas Parkin. Parkin changed his name by deed poll
to "Roy Harold Jenkins" in an attempt to confuse voters who wished to vote for the better-known candidate, whose full name was "Roy Harris Jenkins".
Jack Glass
, a Protestant pastor and founder of the local Zion Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, stood in opposition to a planned visit to Scotland by the Pope
, whom he described as the "antichrist
". The Ecology Party, then little-known, stood Nicolette Carlaw, while veteran by-election candidate Bill Boaks
stood as "Public Safety Democratic Monarchist White Resident".
Labour sent big name politicians, including Tony Benn
and party leader Michael Foot
, to address large public meetings in the constituency. The party also persuaded Wiseman to remove the earring
he always wore. Jenkins brought the other members of the Gang of Four to campaign, Williams describing the by-election as "the last chance for Britain to find a democratic, moderate but radical alternative to revolution." Jenkins was absent from the final weekend of campaigning, prompting questions about his health.
Malone was supported by John Nott
, Geoffrey Howe
and Ted Heath, and the Conservative government announced a major investment into Glasgow's Queen's Dock. Malone later claimed that Jenkins' supporters used the issue of his Roman Catholic faith to dissuade the mostly Protestant voters from supporting him.
The SDP took "Roy Harold Jenkins" to court, claiming that his attempt to confuse voters constituted a corrupt practice under the Representation of the People Act
. They failed to convince the court. However, the SDP was permitted to draw attention to the position of their candidate on the ballot paper, and did so in a wide variety of ways. Among these was placing volunteers near polling station
s on the day of the election, wearing sandwich board
s reading "The real Roy Jenkins is number 5". One of these volunteers was Charles Kennedy
, who in 1999became leader of the Liberal Democrats
.
in July, winning narrowly. Following a disappointing result for the party in the 1983 general election
he resigned the post, and in 1987
, he lost Hillhead to the Labour candidate, George Galloway
.
Malone won the Aberdeen South
seat in 1983, and later sat for Winchester. Labour largely blamed their poor result on infighting within the party, and in particular its far left
members. Leslie stood again for the SNP in Hillhead in 1983, but saw his vote halve.
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
was caused by the death of the Conservative Party
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...
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,...
for Glasgow Hillhead
Glasgow Hillhead (UK Parliament constituency)
Glasgow Hillhead was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1997...
Tam Galbraith
Tam Galbraith
The Hon. Sir Thomas Galloway Dunlop Galbraith, KBE , was a British Conservative politician....
on 2 January 1982.
Hillhead had been held by the Conservatives at every election since its creation in 1918
United Kingdom general election, 1918
The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...
. Galbraith himself had held the seat since the Glasgow Hillhead by-election, 1948. However, his majority had been gradually reduced, and even in the 1979 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 the Conservatives won, the Labour Party
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...
had continued to gain ground.
Candidates
The Labour Party had suffered a split in 1981, with the Social Democratic PartySocial 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...
(SDP) formed by the "Gang of Four
Limehouse Declaration
The Limehouse Declaration was a statement issued on 25 January 1981 by four senior British Labour politicians, all MPs or former MPs and Cabinet Ministers: Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
" prominent figures: David Owen
David Owen
David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen CH PC FRCP is a British politician.Owen served as British Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979, the youngest person in over forty years to hold the post; he co-authored the failed Vance-Owen and Owen-Stoltenberg peace plans offered during the Bosnian War...
, Bill Rodgers
William Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank
William Thomas Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, PC , usually known as William Rodgers but also often known as Bill Rodgers, was one of the "Gang of Four" of senior British Labour Party politicians who defected to form the Social Democratic Party...
, Shirley Williams and Roy Jenkins
Roy Jenkins
Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead OM, PC was a British politician.The son of a Welsh coal miner who later became a union official and Labour MP, Roy Jenkins served with distinction in World War II. Elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1948, he served in several major posts in...
. The SDP had several Parliamentary seats held by defectors from Labour, and one by a defector from the Conservatives, while Williams had won the Crosby by-election, 1981
Crosby by-election, 1981
The Crosby by-election, 1981 was a by-election held in England on 26 November 1981 to elect a new Member of Parliament for the House of Commons constituency of Crosby on Merseyside...
for the party, leaving Jenkins as the final "Gang of Four" member without a seat in the House of Commons. He contested the Warrington by-election, 1981
Warrington by-election, 1981
The Warrington by-election, 1981 was held on 16 July 1981.The by-election was caused by the appointment of Thomas Williams, Labour Party Member of Parliament for Warrington, as a High Court Judge....
, coming a close second, and remained keen to fight a winnable seat.
Labour's candidate for the seat in 1979, Richard Mowbray, had defected to the SDP. Coupled with a largely middle class electorate and a third place in 1979 for 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...
, who had since agreed an electoral pact - termed the 'Alliance'
SDP-Liberal Alliance
The SDP–Liberal Alliance was an electoral pact formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom which was in existence from 1981 to 1988, when the bulk of the two parties merged to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, later referred to as simply the Liberal...
- with the SDP, the party considered Hillhead to be a target seat. The candidacy of Jenkins was not immediately assured, however: the Hillhead Liberal association had already selected a candidate, and it was only after a "tense and uncomfortable" discussion at Jenkins' house, involving various Liberal and SDP figures, that a resolution was agreed which safeguarded the nomination of Jenkins as the Alliance candidate. Such internal wrangling between the two components of the Alliance, so early in its political life, was to prove an unfortunate omen for the future.
The Conservatives hoped to hold the seat, but were behind in the polls. They stood Gerry Malone
Gerry Malone
Peter Gerald "Gerry" Malone MA, LLB is a British Conservative politician who was an MP from 1983–87 and 1992–97.Born in Glasgow, Malone was educated at St Aloysius' College, Glasgow, and the University of Glasgow...
, a local lawyer. Malone called for cuts in welfare and the reintroduction of hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
.
Labour faced a struggle to win the seat, but hoped their lead in the polls would translate to a by-election victory. They stood David Wiseman, a local councillor and community worker who had previously been known for his research into the Loch Ness Monster
Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next....
.
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....
(SNP) had contested the seat for many years, and in recent elections had won around 10% of the vote. They stood George Leslie
George Leslie (politician)
George Leslie is a Scottish nationalist politician.Leslie studied at Hillhead High School and Glasgow University before becoming a vet. He joined the Scottish National Party in the early 1960s, and was selected to stand for the party at the Glasgow Pollok by-election, 1967...
, a local vet, and campaigned for Scottish independence
Scottish independence
Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, advocacy groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and become an independent sovereign state, separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
, with a particular focus on Jenkins' background in England and Wales.
An organisation named the "Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (UK, 1979)
The Social Democratic Party was a minor centre left political party founded in Manchester in 1979 by Donald Kean. The party stood one candidate in Warrington at the 1979 UK general election, who received only 144 votes and came bottom of the poll....
", founded by Donald Kean in Manchester in 1979 and unconnected with the organisation Jenkins represented, stood Douglas Parkin. Parkin changed his name by deed poll
Deed poll
A deed poll is a legal document binding only to a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an active intention...
to "Roy Harold Jenkins" in an attempt to confuse voters who wished to vote for the better-known candidate, whose full name was "Roy Harris Jenkins".
Jack Glass
Jack Glass
John Thomas Atkinson Glass, often known as Pastor Jack Glass or simply as Jack Glass , was a Scottish Protestant preacher, evangelicalist and political activist. Pastor Glass is most readily associated with his strong views on unionism in Northern Ireland, his anti-Catholic speeches and his...
, a Protestant pastor and founder of the local Zion Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, stood in opposition to a planned visit to Scotland by the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, whom he described as the "antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
". The Ecology Party, then little-known, stood Nicolette Carlaw, while veteran by-election candidate Bill Boaks
Bill Boaks
Lieutenant Commander William George Boaks DSC was a British Royal Navy officer who became an eccentric political campaigner for road safety. He died at the age of 81 as a result of a road traffic accident...
stood as "Public Safety Democratic Monarchist White Resident".
Campaign
The campaign was lively and closely fought. Some newspapers initially thought that Jenkins was not keen to represent a Scottish constituency and would struggle to win the seat. Polls consistently showed Jenkins with a narrow lead of around 1% over Malone, leaving Wiseman in third position.Labour sent big name politicians, including Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
and 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...
, to address large public meetings in the constituency. The party also persuaded Wiseman to remove the earring
Earring
Common locations for piercings, other than the earlobe, include the rook, tragus, and across the helix . The simple term "ear piercing" usually refers to an earlobe piercing, whereas piercings in the upper part of the external ear are often referred to as "cartilage piercings"...
he always wore. Jenkins brought the other members of the Gang of Four to campaign, Williams describing the by-election as "the last chance for Britain to find a democratic, moderate but radical alternative to revolution." Jenkins was absent from the final weekend of campaigning, prompting questions about his health.
Malone was supported by John Nott
John Nott
Sir John William Frederic Nott KCB is a former British Conservative Party politician prominent in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
, Geoffrey Howe
Geoffrey Howe
Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, CH, QC, PC is a former British Conservative politician. He was Margaret Thatcher's longest-serving Cabinet minister, successively holding the posts of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary, and finally Leader of the House of Commons...
and Ted Heath, and the Conservative government announced a major investment into Glasgow's Queen's Dock. Malone later claimed that Jenkins' supporters used the issue of his Roman Catholic faith to dissuade the mostly Protestant voters from supporting him.
The SDP took "Roy Harold Jenkins" to court, claiming that his attempt to confuse voters constituted a corrupt practice under the Representation of the People Act
Representation of the People Act
Representation of the People Act is a short title for legislation of the Parliament of the United Kingdom dealing with the electoral system.-List:*The Representation of the People Act 1832*The Representation of the People Act 1832...
. They failed to convince the court. However, the SDP was permitted to draw attention to the position of their candidate on the ballot paper, and did so in a wide variety of ways. Among these was placing volunteers near polling station
Polling station
A polling place or polling station is where voters cast their ballots in elections.Since elections generally take place over a one- or two-day span on a periodic basis, often annual or longer, polling places are often located in facilities used for other purposes, such as schools, churches, sports...
s on the day of the election, wearing sandwich board
Sandwich board
A sandwich board is a type of advertisement composed of two boards and being either:*Carried by a person, with one board in front and one behind, creating a "sandwich" effect; or...
s reading "The real Roy Jenkins is number 5". One of these volunteers was Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....
, who in 1999became leader of 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...
.
Result
Jenkins won with just over one third of the votes cast. Malone took second place, just ahead of Wiseman, the share of the vote for both parties falling, while Leslie slightly increased the SNP share. The other candidates won less than a thousand votes between them, Roy Harold Jenkins' intervention not influencing the final result. Boaks took only five votes, the lowest total ever recorded for a candidate in a by-election who had not withdrawn. Such was the public attention that turnout was actually up from the general election.Aftermath
As Jenkins had secured a place in Parliament, he felt able to contest the SDP leadership electionSocial Democratic Party (UK) leadership election, 1982
The 1982 Social Democratic Party leadership election was called following the formation of the then Social Democratic Party. The party had been founded by the Gang of Four the previous year and had rapidly built up its membership, but lacked a formal Leadership structure...
in July, winning narrowly. Following a disappointing result for the party in the 1983 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
he resigned the post, and in 1987
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
, he lost Hillhead to the Labour candidate, George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
.
Malone won the Aberdeen South
Aberdeen South (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberdeen South is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and it elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
seat in 1983, and later sat for Winchester. Labour largely blamed their poor result on infighting within the party, and in particular its far left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
members. Leslie stood again for the SNP in Hillhead in 1983, but saw his vote halve.