1984 Chesterfield by-election

The Chesterfield by-election, 1984 was a by-election held on 1 March 1984 for the British House of Commons constituency of Chesterfield in Derbyshire. This followed the resignation of the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Eric Varley.

The eventual victor, former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn fought off sixteen other candidates, at the time the largest field in a British by-election — beating the previous high of twelve, at the Croydon North West by-election, 1981. This record would not be broken until the Newbury by-election, 1993.

At the time, there was no requirement for candidates to register their party identity so some fringe candidates would use slogans or frivolous titles as their party name. Actor Bill Maynard took fourth place, standing as an independent Labour supporter who opposed Benn's candidacy. Other candidates included John Davey, who ran in opposition to increases in the charges for dentistry on the NHS, Helen Anscomb, a by-election veteran who called for freight to be transported by rail to improve road safety, Donald Butler, a furniture shop owner who adopted the slogan 'a Chesterfield for Chesterfield' and David Cahill, who wanted The Sun to be treated as a comic [1].

Chesterfield was Benn's fourth by-election victory. He had first entered Parliament at the Bristol South East by-election, 1950, and held the seat until he was disqualified from the Commons in 1960, when he inherited his father's peerage, as Viscount Stansgate. At the resulting Bristol South East by-election 1961, he won with an increased majority of the votes, but because he was ineligible to take his seat, the Conservative candidate Malcolm St Clair was declared the winner. When the law was changed to allow peerages to be renounced, St Clair resigned his seat, and Benn won the Bristol South East by-election 1963 with nearly 80% of the votes.

Votes

Chesterfield by-election, 1984

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Benn	24,633	46.5	−1.6
	Liberal	Max Payne	18,369	34.7	+15.1
	Conservative	Nick Bourne	8,028	15.2	−17.3
	Independent	Bill Maynard	1,355	2.6	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	David Sutch	178	0.3	N/A
	Four-wheel drive Hatchback Road Safety	David Bentley	116	0.2	N/A
	Independent	John Davey	83	0.3	N/A
	Independent Ecology Party	Thomas Layton	46	0.1	N/A
	Independent - Freight on rails not roads	Helen Anscomb	34	0.1	N/A
	Yoga and Meditation	Jitendra Bardwaj	33	0.1	N/A
	Independent	Donald Butler	24	0.1	N/A
	The Welshman	Paul Nicholls-Jones	22	0.0	N/A
	Elvisly Yours Elvis Presley Party	Sid Shaw	20	0.0	N/A
	I am not a number	Christopher Hill	17	0.0	N/A
	Acne Party	Giancarlo Piccaro	15	0.0	N/A
	Independent	David Cahill	12	0.0	N/A
	Peace	John Connell	7	0.0	N/A
Majority			6,264	11.8	−3.8
Turnout			52,992	76.9	+4.3
	Labour hold		Swing

References

• [2] Results from David Boothroyd's Site

See also

• List of UK by-elections

External links

• Campaign literature from the by-election