The
1987 United Kingdom general election
was held on Thursday 11 June 1987, to elect
650 members
to the
House of Commons
. The election was the third consecutive general election victory for the
Conservative Party
, who won a majority of 102 seats and second
landslide
under the leadership of
Margaret Thatcher
, who became the first Prime Minister since the
Earl of Liverpool
in
1820
to lead a party into three successive electoral victories.
The Conservatives ran a campaign focusing on lower taxes, a strong economy and strong defence. They also emphasised that unemployment had just fallen below the 3 million mark for the first time since 1981, and inflation was standing at 4%, its lowest level since the 1960s. National newspapers also continued to largely back the Conservative government, particularly
The Sun
, which ran anti?
Labour Party
articles with headlines such as "Why I'm backing Kinnock, by
Stalin
".
[1]
Labour, led by
Neil Kinnock
following
Michael Foot
's resignation in the aftermath of the party's landslide defeat at the
1983 general election
, was slowly moving towards a more
centrist
policy platform, following the promulgation of a
left-wing
one under Foot's leadership. The main aim of the Labour Party was to re-establish itself as the main progressive
centre-left
alternative to the Conservatives, after the rise of the
Social Democratic Party
(SDP) forced Labour onto the defensive; and Labour succeeded in doing so at this general election. The
Alliance
between the SDP and the
Liberal Party
was renewed, but co-leaders
David Owen
and
David Steel
could not agree whether to support either major party in the event of a
hung parliament
.
The Conservatives were returned to government, having suffered a net loss of only 21 seats, which left them with 376 MPs and a reduced but still strong majority of 102 seats. Labour succeeded in resisting the challenge by the SDP?Liberal Alliance to maintain its position as HM Official Opposition. Moreover, Labour managed to increase its vote share in Scotland, Wales and the North of England. Yet Labour still returned only 229 MPs to Westminster; and in certain London constituencies which Labour had held before the election, the Conservatives actually made gains.
The election was a disappointment for the Alliance, which saw its vote share fall and suffered a net loss of one seat as well as former SDP leader
Roy Jenkins
losing his seat to Labour. This led to the two Alliance parties merging completely soon afterwards to become the
Liberal Democrats
. In Northern Ireland, the main unionist parties maintained their alliance in opposition to the
Anglo-Irish Agreement
; however, the
Ulster Unionist Party
(UUP) lost two seats to the
Social Democratic and Labour Party
(SDLP). One of the UUP losses was former Cabinet Minister
Enoch Powell
, famous for his stance against immigration, and formerly a Conservative MP.
To date the Conservatives have not matched or surpassed their 1987 seat total in any general election held subsequently, although they recorded a greater share of the popular vote in the
2019 general election
. The 50th Parliament was the last time to date that a Conservative government has lasted a full term with an overall majority of seats in Parliament, until the 2019-2024 parliament.
The election night was covered live on the BBC, presented by
David Dimbleby
,
Peter Snow
and
Robin Day
.
[2]
It was also broadcast on ITV, presented by Sir
Alastair Burnet
,
Peter Sissons
and
Alastair Stewart
.
The 1987 general election saw the election of the first
Black
Members of Parliament:
Diane Abbott
,
Paul Boateng
and
Bernie Grant
, all as representatives for the Labour Party. Other newcomers included future Cabinet members
David Blunkett
and
John Redwood
, future Shadow Cabinet minister
Ann Widdecombe
, and future
SNP Leader
Alex Salmond
. MPs who left the House of Commons as a result of this election include former Labour Prime Minister
James Callaghan
,
Keith Joseph
,
Jim Prior
,
Ian Mikardo
, former SDP leader and Labour Cabinet Minister
Roy Jenkins
, former Health Minister
Enoch Powell
(who had defected to the UUP in Northern Ireland from the Conservatives in 1974) and
Clement Freud
.
Campaign and policies
[
edit
]
The
Conservative
campaign emphasised lower taxes, a strong economy and defence, and also employed rapid-response reactions to take advantage of
Labour
errors.
Norman Tebbit
and
Saatchi & Saatchi
spearheaded the Conservative campaign. However, when on "Wobbly Thursday" it was rumoured a Marplan opinion poll showed a narrow 2% Conservative lead, the "exiles" camp of
David Young
,
Tim Bell
and the advertising firm
Young & Rubicam
advocated a more aggressively anti-Labour message. This was when, according to Young's memoirs, Young grabbed Tebbit by the lapels and shook him, shouting: "Norman, listen to me, we're about to lose this fucking election."
[4]
In his memoirs, Tebbit defends the Conservative campaign: "We finished exactly as planned on the ground where Labour was weak and we were strong—defence, taxation, and the economy."
During the election campaign, however, Tebbit and party leader
Margaret Thatcher
argued.
Bell and Saatchi & 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
(which Thatcher would later quote in her "
Sermon on the Mound
") 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. It was filmed at the Great Orme in Wales and had "
Ode to Joy
" as its music.
[7]
He was particularly critical of the high unemployment that the government's economic policies had resulted in, as well as condemning the wait for treatment that many patients had endured on the
National Health Service
. Kinnock's personal popularity jumped 16 points overnight following the initial broadcast.
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".
[
citation needed
]
In a speech two days later Thatcher attacked Labour's defence policy as a programme for "defeat, surrender, occupation, and finally, prolonged guerrilla fighting ... I do not understand how anyone who aspires to Government can treat the defence of our country so lightly".
[9]
During the 1987 election campaign the Conservative Party issued attack posters which claimed that the Labour Party wanted the book
Young, Gay and Proud
to be read in schools, as well as
Police: Out of School
,
The Playbook for Kids about Sex
,
[b]
[10]
[11]
and
The Milkman's on his Way
,
[c]
which, according to the
Monday Club
's
Jill Knight
MP
? who introduced
Section 28
and later campaigned against
same-sex marriage
[12]
? were being taught to "little children as young as five and six", which contained "brightly coloured pictures of little stick men showed all about homosexuality and how it was done", and "explicitly described homosexual intercourse and, indeed, glorified it, encouraging youngsters to believe that it was better than any other sexual way of life".
[13]
Endorsements
[
edit
]
The following
newspapers
endorsed political parties running in the election in the following ways:
[14]
Opinion polling
[
edit
]
Conservative
Labour
SDP?Liberal Alliance
Timeline
[
edit
]
The Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
visited
Buckingham Palace
on 11 May and asked the Queen to
dissolve Parliament
on 18 May, announcing that the election would be held on 11 June. The key dates were as follows:
[15]
[16]
Monday 18 May
|
Dissolution of the
49th Parliament
and campaigning officially begins
|
Wednesday 10 June
|
Campaigning officially ends
|
Thursday 11 June
|
Polling day
|
Friday 12 June
|
The Conservative Party wins with a majority of 102 to retain power
|
Wednesday 17 June
|
50th Parliament
assembles
|
Thursday 25 June
|
State Opening of Parliament
|
Results
[
edit
]
The Conservatives were returned by a second
landslide victory
after their first in 1983,
[17]
with a comfortable majority, down slightly on 1983 with a swing of 1.5% towards Labour. This marked the first time since the passing of the
Great Reform Act in 1832
that a party leader had won three consecutive elections, although the Conservative Party had won three consecutive contests in the 1950s under different leaders (
Churchill
in
1951
,
Eden
in
1955
and
Macmillan
in 1959) and early in the century, the Liberals also had three successive wins under two leaders (
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
in 1906 and
H. H. Asquith
twice in 1910). The Conservative lead over Labour of 11.4% was the second-greatest for any governing party since the Second World War; only being bettered by the previous 1983 result.
[18]
The BBC announced the result at 02:35. Increasing
polarisation
marked divisions across the country; the Conservatives dominated
Southern England
and took additional seats from Labour in London and the rest of the South, but performed less well in
Northern England
, Scotland and Wales, losing many of the seats they had won there at previous elections. Yet the overall result of this election proved that the policies of
Margaret Thatcher
retained significant support, with the Conservatives given a third convincing majority.
Despite initial optimism and the professional campaign run by
Neil Kinnock
, the election brought only twenty additional seats for Labour from the 1983 Conservative landslide. In many southern areas, the Labour vote actually fell, with the party losing seats in London. However, it represented a decisive victory against the SDP?Liberal Alliance and marked out the Labour Party as the main contender to the Conservative Party. This was in stark contrast to 1983, when the Alliance almost matched Labour in terms of votes; although Labour had almost 10 times as many seats as the Alliance due to the structure of the First-Past-The-Post voting system.
The result for the Alliance was a disappointment, in that they had hoped to overtake Labour as the Official Opposition in the UK in terms of vote share. Instead, they lost
Roy Jenkins
' 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 the end of the Alliance and the birth of the
Liberal Democrats
.
Most of the prominent MPs retained their seats. Notable losses included:
Enoch Powell
(the controversial former Conservative Cabinet Minister who had defected to the
Ulster Unionist Party
),
Gordon Wilson
(leader of the
Scottish National Party
) and two Alliance members: Liberal
Clement Freud
and former SDP leader
Roy Jenkins
(a former Labour Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer).
Neil Kinnock
increased his share of the vote in
Islwyn
by almost 12%.
Margaret Thatcher
increased her share of the vote in her own seat in
Finchley
, but the Labour vote increased in the Prime Minister's constituency; thereby slightly reducing her majority.
In Northern Ireland, the various unionist parties maintained an
electoral pact
(with few dissenters) in opposition to the
Anglo-Irish Agreement
. However, the Ulster Unionists lost two seats to the
Social Democratic and Labour Party
.
The election victory won by the Conservatives could also arguably be attributed to the rise in average
living standards
that had taken place during their time in office. As noted by
Dennis Kavanagh
and
David Butler
in their study on the 1987 general election:
Since 1987 the Conservatives had located a large constituency of "winners", people who have an interest in the return of a Conservative government. It includes much of the affluent South, home-owners, share-owners, and most of those in work, whose standard of living, measured in post-tax incomes, has risen appreciably since 1979.
UK general election 1987
|
Candidates
|
Votes
|
Party
|
Leader
|
Stood
|
Elected
|
Gained
|
Unseated
|
Net
|
% of total
|
%
|
No.
|
Net %
|
|
Conservative
|
Margaret Thatcher
|
633
|
376
[a]
|
9
|
30
|
−21
|
57.85
|
42.2
|
13,760,583
|
−0.2
|
|
Labour
|
Neil Kinnock
|
633
|
229
|
26
|
6
|
+20
|
35.23
|
30.8
|
10,029,807
|
+3.2
|
|
Alliance
|
David Owen
&
David Steel
|
633
|
22
|
5
|
6
|
−1
|
3.38
|
22.6
|
7,341,633
|
−2.8
|
|
SNP
|
Gordon Wilson
|
72
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
+1
|
0.46
|
1.3
|
416,473
|
+0.2
|
|
UUP
|
James Molyneaux
|
12
|
9
|
0
|
2
|
−2
|
1.38
|
0.8
|
276,230
|
0.0
|
|
SDLP
|
John Hume
|
13
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
+2
|
0.46
|
0.5
|
154,067
|
+0.1
|
|
Plaid Cymru
|
Dafydd Elis-Thomas
|
38
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
+1
|
0.46
|
0.4
|
123,599
|
0.0
|
|
Green
|
N/A
|
133
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.3
|
89,753
|
+0.1
|
|
DUP
|
Ian Paisley
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.46
|
0.3
|
85,642
|
−0.2
|
|
Sinn Fein
|
Gerry Adams
|
14
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.15
|
0.3
|
83,389
|
0.0
|
|
Alliance
|
John Alderdice
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.2
|
72,671
|
0.0
|
|
Workers' Party
|
Tomas Mac Giolla
|
14
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.1
|
19,294
|
+0.1
|
|
UPUP
|
James Kilfedder
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.15
|
0.1
|
18,420
|
0.0
|
|
Real Unionist
|
Robert McCartney
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.1
|
14,467
|
N/A
|
|
Communist
|
Gordon McLennan
|
19
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.0
|
6,078
|
0.0
|
|
Protestant Unionist
|
George Seawright
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.0
|
5,671
|
N/A
|
|
Red Front
|
N/A
|
14
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.0
|
3,177
|
N/A
|
|
Orkney and Shetland Movement
|
John Goodlad
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.0
|
3,095
|
N/A
|
|
Moderate Labour
|
Brian Marshall
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.0
|
2,269
|
N/A
|
|
Monster Raving Loony
|
Screaming Lord Sutch
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.0
|
1,951
|
0.0
|
|
Workers Revolutionary
|
Sheila Torrance
|
10
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.0
|
1,721
|
0.0
|
|
Independent Liberal
|
N/A
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.0
|
686
|
0.0
|
|
BNP
|
John Tyndall
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.0
|
553
|
0.0
|
|
Spare the Earth
|
N/A
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
0.0
|
522
|
N/A
|
All parties gaining over 500 votes listed.
Government's new majority
|
102
|
Total votes cast
|
32,529,578
|
Turnout
|
75.3%
|
Votes summary
[
edit
]
Seats won in the election (outer ring) against number of votes (inner ring)
Popular vote
|
|
|
|
Conservative
|
|
42.3%
|
Labour
|
|
30.8%
|
SDP?Liberal
|
|
22.6%
|
Scottish National
|
|
1.3%
|
Ulster Unionist
|
|
0.9%
|
Others
|
|
2.2%
|
|
Seats summary
[
edit
]
Parliamentary seats
|
|
|
|
Conservative
|
|
57.9%
|
Labour
|
|
35.2%
|
SDP?Liberal
|
|
3.4%
|
Ulster Unionist
|
|
1.4%
|
Others
|
|
2.2%
|
|
![The disproportionality of the house of parliament in the 1987 election was "17.82" according to the Gallagher Index, mainly between the Conservatives and the Alliance.](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/1987_UK_General_Election_Gallagher_Index.png/450px-1987_UK_General_Election_Gallagher_Index.png)
The disproportionality of the house of parliament in the 1987 election was "17.82" according to the
Gallagher Index
, mainly between the Conservatives and the Alliance.
Incumbents defeated
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
The seat and vote count figures for the Conservatives given here include the Speaker of the House of Commons
- ^
Authored by
Joani Blank
- ^
Authored by
David Rees
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Thomas, James (7 May 2007).
Popular Newspapers, the Labour Party and British Politics
.
Routledge
. p. 103.
ISBN
978-1-135-77373-1
.
- ^
BBC Election 1987 coverage
on
YouTube
- ^
Oborne, Peter
(19 March 2005).
"Has Gordon Brown delivered his last Budget? The truth is that Blair hasn't yet decided"
.
The Spectator
. Retrieved
2 July
2018
.
- ^
"World in Motion"
,
The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook
, BBC
, retrieved
2 July
2018
- ^
Speech to Conservative Rally in Newport
, Margaret Thatcher Foundation, 26 May 1987
, retrieved
2 July
2018
- ^
Sanders, Sue; Spraggs, Gill (1989).
"Section 28 and Education"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 4 March 2016
. Retrieved
22 May
2015
.
- ^
Booth, Janine (December 1997).
"The story of Section 28"
. Workers' Liberty
. Retrieved
22 May
2015
.
- ^
"Baroness Knight: Parliament can't help blind people see, so can't help "artistic" gays get married"
.
Pink News
. 3 June 2013
. Retrieved
24 May
2015
.
- ^
Quoted in
Hansard
,
"Lords Hansard text for 6 Dec 1999 (191206-10)"
. Archived from
the original
on 30 September 2007
. Retrieved
30 August
2008
.
, 6 December 1999, Column 1102.
- ^
'
Newspaper support in UK general elections
' (2010) on
The Guardian
.
- ^
"Parliamentary Election Timetables"
(PDF)
(3rd ed.).
House of Commons Library
. 25 March 1997
. Retrieved
3 July
2022
.
- ^
"Queen's Speech"
.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
. 25 June 1987
. Retrieved
3 July
2022
.
- ^
"1983: Thatcher wins landslide victory"
.
BBC News
. Retrieved
11 January
2023
.
- ^
David Butler; Robert Waller (1987). "Survey of the voting. Election of haves and have-nots".
The Times Guide to the House of Commons June 1987
. London: Times Books Ltd. p. 253.
ISBN
0-7230-0298-3
.
Biographies
[
edit
]
- Campbell, John
(2003),
Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady
, vol. 2, Pimlico,
ISBN
978-0-7126-6781-4
- Tebbit, Norman
(1988),
Upwardly Mobile
, Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
ISBN
978-0-297-79427-1
- Thatcher, Margaret
(1993),
The Downing Street Years
, HarperCollins,
ISBN
978-0-00-255354-4
Scholarly sources
[
edit
]
- Butler, David E.
;
Kavanagh, Dennis
(1988),
The British General Election of 1987
,
the standard scholarly study.
- Craig, F. W. S.
(1989),
British Electoral Facts: 1832?1987
, Dartmouth: Gower,
ISBN
0900178302
- Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1990),
British General Election Manifestos, 1959?1987
- Crewe, Ivor
; Harrop, Martin (1989),
Political Communications: The General Election Campaign of 1987
, p. 316
- Galbraith, John W.; Rae, Nicol C. (1989), "A Test of the Importance of Tactical Voting: Great Britain, 1987",
British Journal of Political Science
,
19
(1): 126?136,
doi
:
10.1017/S0007123400005366
,
JSTOR
193792
,
S2CID
154797699
- Scott, Len (2012), "Selling or Selling Out Nuclear Disarmament? Labour, the Bomb, and the 1987 General Election",
International History Review
,
34
(1): 115?137,
doi
:
10.1080/07075332.2012.620242
,
S2CID
154319694
- Stewart, Marianne C.; Clarke, Harold D. (1992), "The (un)importance of party leaders: Leader images and party choice in the 1987 British election",
Journal of Politics
,
54
(2): 447?470,
doi
:
10.2307/2132034
,
JSTOR
2132034
,
S2CID
154890477
,
says the well-organised, media-wise Labour campaign helped Kinnock, but he was hurt by Conservative momentum and Thatcher's image as a decisive leader. Leadership images proved more important in voters' choices than did party identification, economic concerns, etc.
Manifestos
[
edit
]
|
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Political career
| | |
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Shadow Cabinet elections
| |
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Party elections
| |
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General elections
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Family
| |
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Related topics
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