Chesterfield by-election, 1984
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The Chesterfield by-election, 1984 was a by-election held on March 1 1984 for the British House of Commons constituency of Chesterfield in Derbyshire. This followed the resignation of the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Eric Varley.
The eventual victor, former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn fought off sixteen other candidates, at the time the largest field in a British by-election — beating the previous high of twelve, at the Croydon North West by-election, 1981. This record would not be broken until the Newbury by-election, 1993.
At the time, there was no requirement for candidates to register their party identity so some fringe candidates would use slogans or frivolous titles as their party name. Actor Bill Maynard took fourth place, standing as an independent Labour supporter who opposed Benn's candidacy. Other candidates included John Davey, who ran in opposition to increases in the charges for dentistry on the NHS, Helen Anscomb, a by-election veteran who called for freight to be transported by rail to improve road safety, Donald Butler, a furniture shop owner who adopted the slogan 'a Chesterfield for Chesterfield' and David Cahill, who wanted The Sun to be treated as a comic [1].
Chesterfield was Benn's fourth by-election victory. He had first entered Parliament at the Bristol South East by-election, 1950, and held the seat until he wad disqualified from the Commons in 1960, when he inherited his father's peerage, as Viscount Stansgate. At the resulting Bristol South East by-election 1961, he won with an increased majority of the votes, but because he was inelegible to take his seat, the Conservative candidate Malcolm St Clair was declared the winner. When the law was changed to allow peerages to be renounced, St Clair resigned his seat, and Benn won the Bristol South East by-election 1963 with nearly 80% of the votes.
[edit] Votes
| Chesterfield by-election, 1984 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Tony Benn | 24,633 | 46.5 | -1.6 | |
| Liberal | Max Payne | 18,369 | 34.7 | +15.1 | |
| Conservative | Nick Bourne | 8,028 | 15.2 | -17.3 | |
| Independent | Bill Maynard | 1,355 | 2.6 | N/A | |
| Monster Raving Loony | David Sutch | 178 | 0.3 | N/A | |
| Four-wheel drive Hatchback Road Safety | David Bentley | 116 | 0.2 | N/A | |
| Independent | John Davey | 83 | 0.3 | N/A | |
| Independent Ecology Party | Thomas Layton | 46 | 0.1 | N/A | |
| Independent - Freight on rails not roads | Helen Anscomb | 34 | 0.1 | N/A | |
| Yoga and Meditation | Jitendra Bardwaj | 33 | 0.1 | N/A | |
| Independent | Donald Butler | 24 | 0.1 | N/A | |
| The Welshman | Paul Nicholls-Jones | 22 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Elvisly Yours Elvis Presley Party | Sid Shaw | 20 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| I am not a number | Christopher Hill | 17 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Acne Party | Giancarlo Piccaro | 15 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Independent | David Cahill | 12 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Peace | John Connell | 7 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Majority | 6,264 | 11.8 | −3.8 | ||
| Turnout | 52,992 | 76.9 | +4.3 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] References
- [2] Results from David Boothroyd's Site
[edit] See also
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