1987 United Kingdom general election
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| 1987 election |
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| 1997 election |
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June, 1987 and was the third consecutive victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher. She was the first Prime Minister since the 2nd Earl of Liverpool to lead a party to three successive elections, an accomplishment since matched by Tony Blair.
The Conservative government had survived the industrial disputes with mine workers (1984–85) and print unions (1985–86), and had weathered the 1986 Westland affair even with the resignation of Michael Heseltine and Leon Brittan, and the overall economy was strong. The Labour party at the time was slowly returning to more centrist stance under new leader Neil Kinnock and was expecting to do much better than the 1983 election. The SDP and the Liberals renewed their Alliance but co-leaders David Owen and David Steel could not agree whether to support either major party in the event of a hung parliament.
Campaign and Policies
The Conservatives campaign emphasized taxes, a strong economy, and defence, and also employed rapid-response reactions to take advantage of Labour errors. Tim Bell and Saatchi and Saatchi produced memorable posters for the Conservatives, such as a picture of a British soldier's arms raised in surrender with the caption: "Labour's Policy On Arms"—a reference to Labour's policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament. The first Conservative party political broadcast played on the theme of "Freedom" and ended with a fluttering Union Jack, the hymn I Vow to Thee, My Country and the slogan: "It's Great To Be Great Again".
The Labour campaign was a marked change from previous efforts; professionally directed by Peter Mandelson and Bryan Gould, it concentrated on presenting and improving Neil Kinnock's image to the electorate. Labour's first party political broadcast, dubbed Kinnock: The Movie, was directed by Hugh Hudson of Chariots of Fire fame, and concentrated on portraying Kinnock as a caring, compassionate family man. Kinnock's personal popularity jumped 16% overnight after the initial broadcast.[1]
On 24 May Kinnock was interviewed by David Frost and claimed that Labour's alternative defence strategy in the event of a Soviet attack would be "using the resources you've got to make any occupation totally untenable".[2] In a speech two days later Mrs. Thatcher attacked Labour's defence policy as a programme for "defeat, surrender, occupation, and finally, prolonged guerilla fighting...I do not understand how anyone who aspires to Government can treat the defence of our country so lightly."[3]
Result
The Conservatives were returned with a 102-seat majority, down 42 on 1983 with a swing of about 1% toward Labour. Increasing polarisation marked divisions across the country: the Conservatives dominated southern England and took additional seats from Labour in the south but performed poorly in Northern England, Scotland, and Wales. Yet the overall result of this election proved that the policies of Margaret Thathcer retained significant support, with the Conservatives given a third majority.
Despite initial optimism and the professional campaign run by Neil Kinnock, the election brought only 20 additional seats for Labour from the 1983 landslide.
The result for the Alliance was disappointment, in that they had hoped to overtake Labour as the second party in the UK in terms of vote share. Instead they lost one net seat and saw their vote share drop by almost 3%, with a widening gap of 8% between them and the Labour party (compared to a 2% gap four years before). These results would eventually lead to end of the Alliance and the birth of the Liberal Democrats.
Most of the prominent MPs retained their seats. Notable failures included Enoch Powell and two Alliance members, Liberal Clement Freud and former SDP leader Roy Jenkins.
In Northern Ireland the various unionist parties maintained an electoral pact (with a few dissenters) in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Turnout: 32,530,204 (75.3%)
Results
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 376 | 9 | 30 | - 21 | 42.2 | 13,760,935 | - 0.2 | ||
| Labour | 229 | 26 | 6 | + 20 | 30.8 | 10,029,270 | + 3.2 | ||
| Alliance | 22 (5 + 17) | 5 | 6 | - 1 | 22.6 | 7,341,651 | - 2.8 | ||
| SNP | 3 | 3 | 2 | + 1 | 1.3 | 416,473 | + 0.2 | ||
| UUP | 9 | 0 | 2 | - 2 | 0.8 | 276,230 | 0.0 | ||
| SDLP | 3 | 2 | 0 | + 2 | 0.5 | 154,067 | + 0.1 | ||
| Plaid Cymru | 3 | 1 | 0 | + 1 | 0.4 | 123,599 | 0.0 | ||
| Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 89,753 | + 0.1 | ||
| DUP | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 85,642 | - 0.2 | ||
| Sinn Féin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 83,389 | 0.0 | ||
| Alliance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 72,671 | 0.0 | ||
| Workers' Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 19,294 | + 0.1 | ||
| UPUP | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 18,420 | 0.0 | ||
| Real Unionist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 14,467 | N/A | ||
| Communist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 6,078 | 0.0 | ||
| Protestant Unionist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 5,671 | N/A | ||
| Red Front | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,177 | N/A | ||
| Orkney and Shetland Movement | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,095 | N/A | ||
| Moderate Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,269 | N/A | ||
| Monster Raving Loony | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,951 | 0.0 | ||
| Workers Revolutionary | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,721 | 0.0 | ||
| Independent Liberal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 686 | |||
| BNP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 553 | |||
| Independent Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 522 | |||
All parties gaining over 500 votes listed.
See also
References
- ^ David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1987 (Macmillan, 1988), p. 154.
- ^ TV-AM (24 May, 1987)
- ^ Speech to Conservative Rally in Newport (26 May, 1987)
