Electoral history of Margaret Thatcher

This is a summary of the electoral history of Margaret Thatcher, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Finchley from 1959 to 1992.

This article is part of
a series about
Margaret Thatcher
Secretary of State for Education and Science
Leader of the Opposition
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Policies
Appointments
Articles by Ministry and Term:
Post–Prime Minister
Publications
  1. The Downing Street Years (1993)
  2. The Path to Power (1995)
  3. Statecraft (2003)

Parliamentary elections

1950 general election, Dartford
General election 1950: Dartford[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Norman Dodds 38,128 56.38
Conservative Margaret Roberts 24,490 36.21
Liberal Arthur Harry Giles 5,011 7.41
Majority 13,638 20.17
Turnout 85.51
Labour Co-op hold Swing

1951 general election, Dartford
General election 1951: Dartford[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Norman Dodds 40,094 59.09
Conservative Margaret Roberts 27,760 40.91
Majority 12,334 18.18
Turnout 85.22
Labour Co-op hold Swing 3.71

1959 general election, Finchley
General election 1959: Finchley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 29,697 53.19 -1.37
Labour Eric Deakins 13,437 24.07 -7.34
Liberal Henry Ivan Spence 12,701 22.74 +8.71
Majority 16,260 29.12 +5.97
Turnout 55,835 80.78 +2.46
Conservative hold Swing +2.98

1964 general election, Finchley
General election 1964: Finchley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 24,591 46.6 −6.6
Liberal John Pardoe 15,789 29.9 +7.2
Labour Alfred Eric Tomlinson 12,408 23.5 -0.6
Majority 8,802 16.7 −12.7
Turnout 52,788 78.2 −2.6
Conservative hold Swing −6.9

1966 general election, Finchley
General election 1966: Finchley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 23,968 46.5 −0.1
Labour Yvonne Sieve 14,504 28.1 +4.6
Liberal Frank Davis 13,070 25.4 −4.5
Majority 9,464 18.4 +1.7
Turnout 51,542 75.3 −2.9
Conservative hold Swing −2.4

1970 general election, Finchley
General election 1970: Finchley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 25,480 53.8 +7.3
Labour Michael I. Freeman 14,295 30.2 +2.1
Liberal Graham Mitchell 7,614 16.1 −9.3
Majority 11,185 23.6 +5.2
Turnout 47,389 65.6 −9.7
Conservative hold Swing +2.6

February 1974 general election, Finchley
General election February 1974: Finchley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 18,180 43.7 −8.6
Labour Martin John O'Connor 12,202 29.3 −2.3
Liberal Laurence Stephen Brass 11,221 27.0 +10.9
Majority 5,978 14.4
Turnout 41,603 78.0
Conservative hold Swing −3.1

October 1974 general election, Finchley
General election October 1974: Finchley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 16,498 44.0 +0.3
Labour Martin John O'Connor 12,587 33.6 +4.3
Liberal Laurence Stephen Brass 7,384 19.7 −7.3
National Front Janet Godfrey 993 2.7 New
Majority 3,911 10.4 −4.0
Turnout 37,462 69.5 −8.5
Conservative hold Swing −2.0

1979 general election, Finchley
General election 1979: Finchley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 20,918 52.5 +8.5
Labour Richard May 13,040 32.7 −0.9
Liberal Anthony John Paterson 5,254 13.2 −6.5
National Front William Stokes Verity 534 1.3 −1.4
Independent Democrat Elizabeth Lloyd 86 0.2 New
Majority 7,878 19.8 +9.4
Turnout 39,832 72.5 +3.0
Conservative hold Swing +4.7

1983 general election, Finchley
General election 1983: Finchley[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 19,616 51.1 −1.4
Labour Laurence Spigel 10,302 26.8 −5.9
Liberal Margaret Joachim 7,763 20.2 +7.0
Ecology Simone Wilkinson 279 0.7 New
Monster Raving Loony Screaming Lord Sutch 235 0.6 New
Ban Every Licensing Law Society Anthony Noonan 75 0.2 New
Rail Not Motorway Helen Anscomb 42 0.1 New
Law and Order in Gotham City Anthony Whitehead 37 0.1 New
Anti-Censorship David Webb 28 0.1 New
Party of Associates with Licensees Brian Wareham 27 0.1 New
Belgrano Blood-Hunger Benjamin Wedmore 13 0.0 New
Majority 9,314 24.3 +4.5
Turnout 38,417 69.0 −3.5
Conservative hold Swing +2.2

1987 general election, Finchley
General election 1987: Finchley[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 21,603 53.9 +2.8
Labour John Davies 12,690 31.7 +4.9
Liberal David Howarth 5,580 13.9 −7.3
Gremloid Party Lord Buckethead 131 0.3 New
Gold Party Michaelle St Vincent 59 0.2 New
Majority 8,913 22.2 −2.1
Turnout 40,063 69.4 +0.4
Conservative hold Swing −1.0

Conservative Party leadership elections

1975 leadership election
First ballot: 4 February 1975
Candidate Votes %
Margaret Thatcher 130 47.1
Edward Heath 119 43.1
Hugh Fraser 16 5.8
Second ballot required
Second ballot: 11 February 1975
Candidate Votes %
Margaret Thatcher 146 52.9
William Whitelaw 79 28.6
Geoffrey Howe 19 6.9
Jim Prior 19 6.9
John Peyton 11 4
Margaret Thatcher elected

1989 leadership election
Only ballot: 5 December 1989
Candidate Votes %
Margaret Thatcher 314 84.0
Sir Anthony Meyer 33 8.8
Abstentions 3 0.8
Spoilt 24 6.4
Majority 281 75.1
Turnout 374 N/A
Margaret Thatcher re-elected

1990 leadership election
First ballot: 20 November 1990
Candidate Votes[5] %
Margaret Thatcher 204 54.8
Michael Heseltine 152 40.9
Abstentions 16 4.3
Majority 52 14.0
Turnout 372 100
Second ballot required

United Kingdom general elections

1979 general election
UK General Election 1979
Candidates Votes
Party Leader Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
  Conservative Margaret Thatcher 622 339 63 1 +62 53.4 43.9 13,697,923 +8.1
  Labour James Callaghan 623 269 4 54 −50 42.4 36.9 11,532,218 −2.3
  Liberal David Steel 577 11 1 3 −2 1.7 13.8 4,313,804 −4.5
  SNP William Wolfe 71 2 0 9 −9 0.31 1.6 504,259 −1.3
  UUP Harry West 11 5 1 2 −1 0.79 0.8 254,578 −0.1
  National Front John Tyndall 303 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.6 191,719 +0.2
  Plaid Cymru Gwynfor Evans 36 2 0 1 −1 0.31 0.4 132,544 −0.2
  SDLP Gerry Fitt 9 1 0 0 0 0.16 0.4 126,325 −0.2
  Alliance Oliver Napier 12 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.3 82,892 +0.1
  DUP Ian Paisley 5 3 2 0 +2 0.47 0.2 70,795 −0.1
  Ecology Jonathan Tyler 53 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.1 39,918 +0.1
  UUUP Ernest Baird 2 1 1 0 +1 0.16 0.1 39,856 N/A
  Ulster Popular Unionist James Kilfedder 1 1 1 0 +1 0.16 0.1 36,989 +0.1
  Independent Labour N/A 11 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.1 26,058 −0.1
  Irish Independence Fergus McAteer and Frank McManus 4 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.1 23,086 N/A
  Independent Republican N/A 1 1 0 0 0 N/A 0.1 22,398 −0.1
  Independent N/A 62 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.1 19,531 +0.1
  Communist Gordon McLennan 38 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.1 16,858 0.0
  SLP Jim Sillars 3 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.1 13,737 N/A
  Workers Revolutionary Michael Banda 60 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.1 12,631 +0.1
  Workers' Party Tomás Mac Giolla 7 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.1 12,098 0.0
  Independent SDLP N/A 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 10,785 N/A
  Unionist Party NI Anne Dickson 3 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 8,021 −0.1
  Ind. Conservative N/A 7 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 4,841 0.0
  NI Labour Alan Carr 3 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 4,441 0.0
  Mebyon Kernow Richard Jenkin 3 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 4,164 0.0
  Democratic Labour Dick Taverne 2 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 3,785 −0.1
  Wessex Regionalist Viscount Weymouth 7 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 3,090 N/A
  Socialist Unity N/A 10 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 2,834 N/A
  United Labour Paddy Devlin 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 1,895 N/A
  Independent Democratic N/A 5 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 1,087 N/A
  United Country Edmund Iremonger 2 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 1,033 N/A
  Independent Liberal N/A 2 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 1,023 0.0
  Independent Socialist N/A 2 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 770 0.0
  Workers (Leninist) Royston Bull 2 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 767 0.0
  New Britain Dennis Delderfield 2 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 717 0.0
  Fellowship Ronald Mallone 2 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 531 0.0
  More Prosperous Britain Tom Keen 6 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 518 0.0
  United English National John Kynaston 2 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 238 0.0
  Cornish Nationalist James Whetter 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 227 N/A
  Social Democrat Donald Kean 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 144 0.0
  English National Frank Hansford-Miller 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 142 0.0
  The Dog Lovers' Party Auberon Waugh 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 79 0.0
  Socialist (GB) N/A 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 0.0 78 0.0
All parties shown.[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]
Government's new majority 43
Total votes cast 31,221,362
Turnout 76%

1983 general election
See also: Results of the 1983 United Kingdom general election
1983 UK general election
Candidates Votes
Party Leader Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
  Conservative Margaret Thatcher 633 397 47 10 +37 61.1 42.4 13,012,316 −1.5
  Labour Michael Foot 633 209 4 55 −51 32.2 27.6 8,456,934 −9.3
  Alliance David Steel & Roy Jenkins 636[lower-alpha 3] 23 12 0 +12 4.5 25.4 7,794,770 +11.6
  SNP Gordon Wilson 72 2 0 0 0 0.3 1.1 331,975 −0.5
  UUP James Molyneaux 16 11 3 1 +2 1.7 0.8 259,952 0.0
  DUP Ian Paisley 14 3 2 1 +1 0.5 0.5 152,749 +0.3
  SDLP John Hume 17 1 0 1 −1 0.2 0.4 137,012 0.0
  Plaid Cymru Dafydd Wigley 38 2 0 0 0 0.3 0.4 125,309 0.0
  Sinn Féin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh 14 1 1 1 0 0.2 0.3 102,701 N/A
  Alliance Oliver Napier 12 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.2 61,275 −0.1
  Ecology Jonathon Porritt 109 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.2 54,299 +0.1
  Independent N/A 73 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 30,422 N/A
  National Front Andrew Brons 60 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 27,065 −0.5
  UPUP James Kilfedder 1 1 1 0 +1 0.2 0.1 22,861 N/A
  Independent Labour N/A 8 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 16,447 0.0
  Workers' Party Tomás Mac Giolla 14 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 14,650 −0.1
  BNP John Tyndall 54 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 14,621 N/A
  Communist Gordon McLennan 35 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 11,606 −0.1
  Independent Socialist N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 10,326 N/A
  Ind. Conservative N/A 10 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 9,442 0.0
  Independent Communist N/A 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 4,760 N/A
  Workers Revolutionary Michael Banda 21 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 3,798 −0.1
  Monster Raving Loony Screaming Lord Sutch 11 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 3,015 N/A
  Wessex Regionalist N/A 10 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 1,750 0.0
  Mebyon Kernow Richard Jenkin 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 1,151 N/A
  Independent DUP N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 1,134 N/A
  Licensees N/A 4 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 934 N/A
  Nationalist Party N/A 5 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 874 N/A
  Labour and Trade Union Peter Hadden 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 584 N/A
  Revolutionary Communist Frank Furedi 4 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 581 N/A
  Freedom Party N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 508 N/A
All parties with more than 500 votes shown.[lower-alpha 4][lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 6][lower-alpha 7]
Government's new majority 144
Total votes cast 30,671,137
Turnout 72.7%

1987 general election
UK general election 1987
Candidates Votes
Party Leader Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
  Conservative Margaret Thatcher 633 376 9 30 −21 57.85 42.2 13,760,583 −0.2
  Labour Neil Kinnock 633 229 26 6 +20 35.23 30.8 10,029,807 +3.2
  Alliance David Owen & David Steel 633 22 5 6 −1 3.38 22.6 7,341,633 −2.8
  SNP Gordon Wilson 72 3 3 2 +1 0.46 1.3 416,473 +0.2
  UUP James Molyneaux 12 9 0 2 −2 1.38 0.8 276,230 0.0
  SDLP John Hume 13 3 2 0 +2 0.46 0.5 154,067 +0.1
  Plaid Cymru Dafydd Elis-Thomas 38 3 1 0 +1 0.46 0.4 123,599 0.0
  Green N/A 133 0 0 0 0 0.3 89,753 +0.1
  DUP Ian Paisley 4 3 0 0 0 0.46 0.3 85,642 −0.2
  Sinn Féin Gerry Adams 14 1 0 0 0 0.15 0.3 83,389 0.0
  Alliance John Alderdice 16 0 0 0 0 0.2 72,671 0.0
  Workers' Party Tomás Mac Giolla 14 0 0 0 0 0.1 19,294 +0.1
  UPUP James Kilfedder 1 1 0 0 0 0.15 0.1 18,420 0.0
  Real Unionist Robert McCartney 1 0 0 0 0 0.1 14,467 N/A
  Communist Gordon McLennan 19 0 0 0 0 0.0 6,078 0.0
  Protestant Unionist George Seawright 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 5,671 N/A
  Red Front N/A 14 0 0 0 0 0.0 3,177 N/A
  Orkney and Shetland Movement John Goodlad 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 3,095 N/A
  Moderate Labour Brian Marshall 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 2,269 N/A
  Monster Raving Loony Screaming Lord Sutch 5 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,951 0.0
  Workers Revolutionary Sheila Torrance 10 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,721 0.0
  Independent Liberal N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 686 0.0
  BNP John Tyndall 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 553 0.0
  Spare the Earth N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 522 N/A
All parties gaining over 500 votes listed.
Government's new majority 102
Total votes cast 32,529,578
Turnout 75.3%

Notes
  1. The Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party had folded in 1978. Of its three MPs, two joined the Ulster Unionist Party (one held his seat, the other lost to the Democratic Unionist Party) and the third defended and held his seat for the United Ulster Unionist Party.
  2. James Kilfedder had been previously elected as an Ulster Unionist MP, but left the party, defending and holding his seat as an Independent Ulster Unionist. He subsequently founded the Ulster Popular Unionist Party but did not use that label in this election.
  3. Includes official Liberal candidates who were not given national Alliance endorsement in three constituencies: Liverpool Broadgreen, Hackney South and Shoreditch, and Hammersmith.
  4. The SDP–Liberal Alliance vote is compared with the Liberal Party vote in the 1979 election.
  5. The Independent Unionist elected in the 1979 election defended and held his seat for the Ulster Popular Unionist Party. The United Ulster Unionist Party dissolved and its sole MP did not re-stand.
  6. The Independent Republican elected in the 1979 election died in 1981. In the ensuring by-election the seat was won by Bobby Sands, an Anti-H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner who then died and was succeeded by an Anti-H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner candidate Owen Carron. He defended and lost his seat standing for Sinn Féin who contested seats in Northern Ireland for the first time since 1959.
  7. This election was fought under revised boundaries. The changes reflect those comparing to the notional results on the new boundaries. One significant change was the increase in the number of seats allocated to Northern Ireland from 12 to 17.

References
  3. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  4. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  5. "1990: Thatcher fails to win party mandate". On This Day. BBC News. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
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