1982 Glasgow Queen's Park by-election

The Glasgow Queen's Park by-election, 1982 was a parliamentary by-election held on 2 December 1982 for the House of Commons constituency of Glasgow Queen's Park.

Previous MP

The seat fell vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Francis Patrick "Frank" McElhone (5 April 1929 – 22 September 1982) died.

McElhone was elected Member of Parliament for Glasgow Gorbals at a 1969 by-election, serving until the constituency was abolished in boundary changes for the February 1974 general election.

He was then elected as MP for Glasgow Queen's Park, and held that seat until he died in office in 1982 at the age of 53. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1975 to 1979.

Candidates

Seven candidates were nominated. The list below is set out in descending order of the number of votes received at the by-election.

1. Representing the Labour Party was Helen McElhone, born Helen Margaret Brown in 1933.

Following the death of her husband Frank McElhone MP in 1982, Helen McElhone was elected as his successor in the resulting by-election. However, she served for only six months as the seat was abolished by boundary changes before the 1983 general election.

After her brief term as MP, she was a Strathclyde Regional Councillor for a number of years until 1995 for the Scottish Labour Party, on whose Selection Panel she served to approve candidates for the 1999 Scottish Parliament elections.

2. The Scottish National Party candidate was Peter Mallan, 1934–2014. He worked as a teacher and broadcaster. He also contested Glasgow Central in the 1983 general election.

3. The Conservative nominee was 23-year-old Jackson Carlaw. Margaret Thatcher personally helped campaign for Carlaw during the by-election.[1] He later became an MSP and one-time leader of the Scottish Conservative Party.

4. The Liberal Party candidate, representing the SDP-Liberal Alliance, was Graham Watson. He had, as an Independent Liberal candidate, stood in the Glasgow Central constituency, in a by-election on 29 June 1980.

He subsequently became a prominent figure in the politics of the European Union.

5. John R. Kay, a draughtsman who had become the full-time Glasgow secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, was born in June 1926. He was the Communist nominee in the last two elections in the Glasgow Gorbals constituency (a 1969 by-election and the 1970 general election) and all the contests in Glasgow Queen's Park (the two 1974 and the 1979 general elections, as well as the 1982 by-election).

6. John Connell was an Independent, using the ballot paper label "Peace and Socialist". He later contested the 1983 Penrith and The Border by-election, the 1984 Chesterfield by-election, and the 1985 Tyne Bridge by-election.

7. A.H. Tennent represented the Scottish Republican Socialist Party.

Votes
General election 1979: Glasgow Queen's Park
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Frank McElhone 15,120 64.4 +8.3
Conservative Julius Collins 5,642 24.0 +7.0
SNP Philip Greene 2,276 9.7 -12.1
Communist John Kay 263 1.1 -0.3
Workers Revolutionary Jean Kerrigan 99 0.4 New
Socialist Unity W. MacLellan 92 0.4 New
Majority 9,478 40.4 +6.1
Turnout 23,492 68.4 +1.4
Labour hold Swing +0.7
Registered electors 34,332
  • Death of Frank McElhone
By-Election 2 December 1982: Glasgow Queen's Park[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Helen McElhone 8,851 56.0 -8.4
SNP Peter Mallan 3,157 20.0 +10.3
Conservative Jackson Carlaw 1,888 12.0 -12.0
Liberal Graham Watson 1,487 9.4 New
Communist John Kay 339 2.1 +1.0
Independent John Connell 40 0.3 New
Scottish Republican Socialist A.H. Tennent 39 0.2 New
Majority 5,694 36.0 -4.4
Turnout 15,701 47.0 -21.4
Labour hold Swing -9.4
Registered electors 33,641

Aftermath

Writing of the result of the by-election in the next day's edition of The Glasgow Herald, political correspondent called the result "a reasonable one for the Labour Party" adding that Labour's leader Michael Foot would be perfectly pleased with it. On the other hand he argued that it was "a bad result for the Conservatives", but noted that the party "could really have expected little more in an area like Queen's Park." He considered the result a good one for the SNP, which "could not have come at a better time with their internal problems once again in the news." He also speculated that the SNP's performance could "revive thoughts of devolution in the minds of some Labour politicians who have been keeping conspicuously quiet on the subject as of late."[3] another Glasgow newspaper, the Evening Times, reported that Labour's "majority was substantially bigger than party analysts had predicted."[4]

Helen McElhone's election meant that the number of female MP's in Scotland was increased to two, as Judith Hart had been the only woman returned in Scotland at the 1979 general election"[4]

See also

References
  1. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1982/nov/30/glasgow#S6CV0033P0_19821130_HOC_135
  2. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1979–83 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  3. Russell, William (3 December 1982). "William Russell, Political correspondent writes". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  4. Wallace, Alan (3 December 1982). "Helen's in the party spirit". Evening Times (33, 459). p. 3. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  • British Parliamentary Election Results 1974–1983, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984).
  • Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1979 and 1983 editions
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