Glasgow Queen's Park by-election, 1982

The Glasgow Queen's Park by-election, 1982 was a parliamentary by-election held on 2 December 1982 for the British House of Commons constituency of Glasgow Queen's Park.

Previous MP

The seat fell vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Francis Patrick "Frank" McElhone (5 April 1929 – 22 September 1982) died.

McElhone was elected Member of Parliament for Glasgow Gorbals at a 1969 by-election, serving until the constituency was abolished in boundary changes for the February 1974 general election.

He was then elected as MP for Glasgow Queen's Park, and held that seat until he died in office in 1982 at the age of 53. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 1975 to 1979.

Candidates

Seven candidates were nominated. The list below is set out in descending order of the number of votes received at the by-election.

1. Representing the Labour Party was Helen McElhone, born Helen Margaret Brown in 1933.

Following the death of her husband Frank McElhone MP in 1982, Helen McElhone was elected as his successor in the resulting by-election. However, she served for only six months as the seat was abolished by boundary changes before the 1983 general election.

After her brief term as MP, she was a Strathclyde Regional Councillor for a number of years until 1995 for the Scottish Labour Party, on whose Selection Panel she served to approve candidates for the 1999 Scottish Parliament elections.

2. The Scottish National Party candidate was Peter Mallan, 1934-2014 . He worked as a teacher and broadcaster. He also contested Glasgow Central in the 1983 general election.

3. The Conservative nominee was Jackson Carlaw.

4. The Liberal Party candidate, representing the SDP-Liberal Alliance, was Graham Watson. He had, as an Independent Liberal candidate, stood in the Glasgow Central constituency, in a by-election on 29 June 1980.

He subsequently became a prominent figure in the politics of the European Union.

5. John R. Kay, a draughtsman who had become the full-time Glasgow secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, was born in June 1926. He was the Communist nominee in the last two elections in the Glasgow Gorbals constituency (a 1969 by-election and the 1970 general election) and all the contests in Glasgow Queen's Park (the two 1974 and the 1979 general elections, as well as the 1982 by-election).

6. John Connell was an Independent, using the ballot paper label "Peace and Socialist". He later contested the Penrith and The Border by-election, 1983, the Chesterfield by-election, 1984, and the Tyne Bridge by-election, 1985.

7. A.H. Tennent represented the Scottish Republican Socialist Party.

Votes

General Election 1979: Glasgow Queen's Park
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank McElhone	15,120	64.4	+8.3
	Conservative	Julius Collins	5,642	24.0	+7.0
	SNP	Philip Greene	2,276	9.7	-12.1
	Communist	John Kay	263	1.1	-0.3
	Workers Revolutionary	Jean Kerrigan	99	0.4	N/A
	Socialist Unity	W. MacLellan	92	0.4	N/A
Majority			9,478	40.4	+6.1
Turnout			23,492	68.4	+1.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.7%
Registered electors			34,332

Death of Frank McElhone

By-Election 2 December 1982: Glasgow Queen's Park
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen McElhone	8,851	56.0	-8.4
	SNP	Peter Mallan	3,157	20.0	+10.3
	Conservative	Jackson Carlaw	1,888	12.0	-12.0
	Liberal	G. Watson	1,487	9.4	N/A
	Communist	John Kay	339	2.1	+1.0
	Independent	John Connell	40	0.3	N/A
	Scottish Republican Socialist	A.H. Tennent	39	0.2	N/A
Majority			5,694	36.0	-4.4
Turnout			15,701	47.0	-21.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-9.4%
Registered electors			33,641

References

British Parliamentary Election Results 1974-1983, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984).
Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1979 and 1983 editions

External links

Campaign literature from the by-election