Richmond (Yorks) by-election, 1989
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A by-election was held in the Richmond (North Yorkshire, England) constituency of the United Kingdom Parliament on 23 February 1989. It followed the resignation of the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Leon Brittan on 31 December 1988, to allow him to take up the position of Vice-President of the European Commission.
The Conservative Party retained the seat, with future party leader William Hague the winner. However, this has been attributed in part to the decision by the remnants of the Social Democratic Party (the part that objected to the merger with the Liberal Party the previous year) to contest the election as well as the newly-formed Social and Liberal Democrats (who subsequently renamed themselves the Liberal Democrats). The SDP candidate, local farmer Mike Potter, finished second (with 16,909 votes, 2,634 behind Hague), while the Social and Liberal Democrats' Barbara Pearce came third with 11,589. Had these votes all been for a single candidate, Hague would have been defeated easily.
The Labour Party achieved only fourth place in the election, their worst position in any English by-election since World War II. They did not come fourth again until the Bromley and Chislehurst by-election, 2006.
[edit] Results
| Richmond by-election, 1989 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | William Hague | 19,543 | 37.2 | -24.0 | |
| Social Democrat | Mike Potter | 16,909 | 32.2 | ||
| Social and Liberal Democrats | Barbara Pearce | 11,589 | 22.1 | -4.9 | |
| Labour | Frank Robson | 2,591 | 4.9 | -6.9 | |
| Green | Dr. Robert Upshall | 1,473 | 2.8 | ||
| Monster Raving Loony | David "Lord" Sutch | 167 | 0.3 | ||
| Keep Theakstons British | Anthony Millns | 113 | 0.2 | ||
| Corrective Party | Lindi St. Claire | 106 | 0.2 | ||
| Liberal | Nicholas Watkins | 70 | 0.1 | ||
| Majority | 2,634 | 5.0 | |||
| Turnout | 52,561 | 64.4 | |||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
