Mid Staffordshire by-election, 1990

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A by-election was held in the Mid Staffordshire constituency of the United Kingdom parliament on 22 March 1990. It followed the death of the sitting Conservative member of Parliament John Heddle.

Heddle had committed suicide on 19 December 1989, and the ensuing by-election was called for 22 March 1990. This was at the time when the public's dissatisfaction with the Conservative government over the issue of the Community Charge (or Poll Tax), which ultimately contributed to the resignation of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister later that year, was at its height. The by-election was regarded by many as a single-issue vote about this issue, and attracted a significant amount of media attention.

With this background, the Labour candidate Sylvia Heal was ultimately victorious, with a considerable swing of 21% from the Conservatives.

Contents 1 Fringe candidates 2 Results 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Fringe candidates

There were 14 candidates, with many probably attracted by the level of media coverage. It should be noted that at the time no law existed for the official registration of the names of political parties, and as a consequence many "Independent" candidates often used outlandish descriptions.

It was the first election contested by Screaming Lord Sutch (of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party) after he changed his name by deed-poll from David Sutch to Lord Sutch. There was also a second "Raving Loony" candidate, Stuart Hughes, who was a member of a breakaway group from the official party who had formed the Raving Loony Green Giant Party, his election agent being Danny Bamford.

This was the first occasion that the Official Monster Raving Loony Party beat the National Front, and such was the humiliation it led to the near collapse of many of the latter's West Midlands branches - the party's major base of operations at the time.

Other candidates included "Miss Whiplash" Lindi St. Claire (who stood as the "National Independent Correct Edification", or NICE candidate), and a Mr Mildwater who was protesting Citroën's decision to cease production of the 2CV car.

In the event, only the three major parties retained their deposits.

[edit] Results

Mid Staffordshire by-election, 1990
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sylvia Heal	27,649	49.1	24.3
	Conservative	Charles Prior	18,200	32.3	-18.3
	Liberal Democrat	Timothy Jones	6,315	11.2	-12.0
	Social Democrat	Ian Wood	1,422	2.5
	Green	Robert Saunders	1,215	2.2
	Anti-Thatcher Conservative	James Bazeley	547	1.0
	Monster Raving Loony	Lord Sutch	336	0.6
	National Front	Christopher Hill	311	0.5
	NHS Supporters Party	Dr Christopher Abell	102	0.2
	Against Immigration Conservative Green	Nicholas Parker-Jervis	71	0.1
	Raving Loony Green Giant Supercalafragalistic Party	Stuart Hughes	59	0.1
	National Independent Correct Edification	Lindi St. Claire	51	0.1
	Independent 'Save the 2CV'	Bernard Mildwater	42	0.1
	Christian Patrotic Alliance - Save Britain Campaign	David Black	39	0.1
Majority			9,449	16.8
Turnout			56,359	77.5	-1.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+21%

[edit] See also

• List of United Kingdom by-elections

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• British Parliamentary By Elections: Campaign literature from the by-election

v • d • e « 49th Parliament «   By-elections to the 50th Parliament of the United Kingdom   » 51st Parliament » 1988 July: Kensington • November: Glasgow Govan • December: Epping Forest 1989 February: Pontypridd • Richmond • May: Vale of Glamorgan • June: Glasgow Central • Vauxhall 1990 March: Mid Staffordshire • May: Bootle • Upper Bann • September: Knowsley South • October: Eastbourne • November: Bootle • Bradford North • Paisley North • Paisley South 1991 March: Ribble Valley • April: Neath • May: Monmouth • July: Liverpool Walton • November: Hemsworth • Kincardine and Deeside • Langbaurgh Lists of UK by-elections: 1885–1900 • 1900–1918 • 1918–1931 • 1931–1950 • 1950–1979 • 1979–present