1981 Croydon North West by-election

The Croydon North West by-election took place on 22 October 1981. It was caused by the death of Conservative Member of Parliament Robert Taylor on 18 June 1981.

The Conservative Party selected John Butterfill, then vice-chairman of Guildford Conservative Association. The Labour Party, 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 (SDP), with whom the Liberals had entered into an electoral pact, the SDP-Liberal Alliance. 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 Liberal Party 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.

22-year-old Nick Griffin (who became leader of the British National Party in 1999) stood in his first election in Croydon North West, representing the National Front. In total, a record twelve candidates stood, one more than in the Lambeth Central by-election, 1978. This record would be broken at the Chesterfield by-election, 1984.

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.

Results

Croydon North West 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
	Nationalist Party	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	24.2%

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

External links

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

See also

• List of United Kingdom by-elections