1981 Warrington by-election

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1981 Warrington by-election

← 1979 16 July 1981 1983 →
Constituency of Warrington
Turnout	67.0% ( 4.3%)
First party Second party Third party   Con Candidate Doug Hoyle Roy Jenkins Stanley Sorrell Party Labour SDP Conservative Popular vote 14,280 12,521 2,102 Percentage 48.4% 42.4% 7.1% Swing 13.3% 33.3% 21.7%
MP before election Thomas Williams Labour Elected MP Doug Hoyle Labour

The 1981 Warrington by-election was held on 16 July 1981.

The by-election was caused by the appointment of Thomas Williams, Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington, as a High Court Judge.

Warrington had been held by the Labour Party since the 1945 general election, and by Williams since the 1961 Warrington by-election. It had long been regarded as a safe seat for the party, and even in 1979, generally a year of poor results for Labour, Williams won with a majority of 32.8%.^[1] Labour expected to hold the seat comfortably, and selected Doug Hoyle, the former MP for Nelson and Colne, who had lost his seat in 1979.

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was formed by prominent figures on the right of the Labour Party in early 1981, known as the "Gang of Four" – Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins, David Owen and Bill Rodgers. Of the four, Williams and Jenkins lacked Parliamentary seats, and were keen to stand in by-elections as candidates under their new party label. Following the agreement of an electoral pact with the Liberal Party exactly a month earlier,^[2] who had come a distant third in Warrington in 1979, with less than 10% of the vote, the two parties agreed to support Jenkins as the SDP's first Parliamentary candidate.

The Conservative Party had taken second place in Warrington in 1979, with 28.8% of the votes cast.^[1] In mid-term government and behind in the polls, they did not expect to advance and stood Stanley Sorrell, a London-based bus driver, and unusually for a Conservative, an active trade unionist.^[3]

Curiously, a member of an unconnected Social Democratic Party, founded in Manchester by Donald Kean, had contested the seat in 1979. Lacking any profile, he won only 0.5% of the vote. However, the party determined to stand again, against the better known SDP, which they were hoping to force to change their name.^[4]

Several other candidates stood. The then little-known Ecology Party stood Neil Chantrell. Perennial by-election candidate Bill Boaks stood as a Democratic Monarchist. Iain Leslie, an administrator for the Inner London Education Authority, stood on a platform of legalised CB Radio. Tom Keen stood for the Campaign for a More Prosperous Britain. John Fleming stood on a platform opposing immigration and the Trident nuclear weapon system, while also calling for British troops to withdraw from Northern Ireland. Daniel Hussey stood as the "United Democratic Labour Party" candidate and Harry Wise stood as the "English Democratic Party" candidate. With eleven candidates, this equalled the most for any British by-election, set at the 1978 Lambeth Central by-election.^[5]