1983 General Election

• Background

  • First win for a female in a General election and as a leader of a party
  • Labour party fragmented into the SDP
  • Recession in the 1980s that lasted until 1983
  • Falklands war in 1982
• Thatcher

  • She was extremely unpopular in her first two years as PM until she won the Falklands
  • This was coupled with the economic increase which she wanted to continue
  • She wanted to reduce unemployment from 1.5 million to 3 million
• Michael Foot

  • He wanted to leave the ECC, abolish the HOL, and abandon the UK's defence system by cancelling trident
  • His manifesto was called the longest suicide note in history which was notorious in his downfall
• Jenkins and Steel SDP

  • Reverse the reduction in public investment
  • Tax reductions not tax cuts
  • Long term jobs for the unemployed
  • Fair deal in pay for public services
• SDP creation

  • Labour party had gone to far left due to Michael Foot and various other MPs
  • Steel and Jenkins had their own struggles, steel wanted Jenkins to keep a low profile because steels polls were high
  • Jenkins refused and remained in the PM designate role
• Votes and seats

  • Conservatives - 397 seats, 70% of the vote and 13 million votes
  • Labour - 209 seats, 28% of the vote and 8.5 million votes
  • Lib Dems - 23 seats, 3% of the vote
  • SDP - had 700,000 votes less than labour but 186 less seats
• Media

  • Portrayed Thatcher as confident and strong after her Falklands victory which boosted the image of the conservative party
  • Labour were weakened by an internal conflict which was highlighted in the media
  • Election was broadcasted on BBC and ITV
• Opinion polls

  • Backed the conservatives the whole way through the election and the newspapers like the sun backed them as well
• Geography

  • West-midlands, east, south and the majority of London were controlled by the conservatives
  • North of England and the south of Scotland's were dominated by the SDP and labour
  • Wales controlled by SDP and labour