Croydon North West by-election, 1981

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Conservative Member of Parliament Robert Taylor died on 18 June 1981. This created a by-election in his constituency of Croydon North West in South London.

The Conservative Party selected John Butterfill, then vice-chairman of Guildford Conservative Association. Labour, the runners-up at the 1979 general election, selected a local councillor, Stanley Boden. The Liberal Party had come a distant third in 1979, but the by-election came shortly after the formation of the Social Democratic Party, with both other major parties suffering in the polls. It was therefore expected that the election would provide a platform for Shirley Williams of the SDP to return to Parliament, having lost her seat in 1979. However, the Na\tional, Tegional and Local Liberal parties insisted on their own candidate and selected the lesser known Bill Pitt who had stood in the seat for the previous three general elections and at the time was the London Regional Party Chair.

Nick Griffin stood in his first election in Croydon North West, representing the National Front.

In total, twelve candidates stood, a record number - one more than in the Lambeth Central by-election, 1979. This record would be broken at the Chesterfield by-election, 1984.

The election took place on 22 October 1981. Pitt duly won the seat on the surge of support for the Alliance and a 24% swing, strengthening the Liberals' hand in negotiations with the SDP.

1 Results
2 General Election result, 1979
3 External links
4 See also

[edit] Results

By-election 1981
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bill Pitt	13,800	40.0	29.5
	Conservative	John Butterfill	10,546	30.5	-18.9
	Labour	Stanley Boden	8,967	26.0	-14.1
	National Front	Nick Griffin	429	1.2
	Independent Pro-Life	Marilyn Gillies-Carr	340	1.0
	Ecology	John Foster	155	0.4
	Constitutional Movement	Suzan McKenzie	111	0.3
	Disabled War Pensioners Association	Lawrence Brooks	81	0.2
	Democratic Monarchist, Public Safety, White Resident	Bill Boaks	51	0.1
	Family Law Reform Party	George Major	31	0.1
	London Federation of Self-Employed	Josef Joseph	20	0.1
	Anti-Common Market - Free Trade	Stephen Done	11	0.0
Majority			3,254	9.5
Turnout			34,542	62.5	-10
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

[edit] General Election result, 1979

General Election 1979: Croydon North West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Taylor	19,928	49.4
	Labour	Stanley Boden	16,159	40.1
	Liberal	Bill Pitt	4,239	10.5
Majority			3,769
Turnout			40,326	72.5
	Conservative hold		Swing