United Kingdom general election, 1979

E89596

United Kingdom general election general election

The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was a pivotal national vote that brought Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party to power, ending years of Labour government and marking the start of a major shift in British economic and political policy.

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All labels observed (4)

Label	Occurrences
1979 United Kingdom general election	8
1979 United Kingdom general election in Wakefield	1
UK general election of 1979	1
United Kingdom general election, 1979 canonical	1

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	United Kingdom general election ⓘ general election ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	United Kingdom general election, 1979 ⓘ surface form: 1979 United Kingdom general election United Kingdom general election, 1979 ⓘ surface form: UK general election of 1979
campaignIssue	economic management ⓘ inflation ⓘ trade union power ⓘ unemployment ⓘ
context	followed the Winter of Discontent in 1978–79 ⓘ
country	United Kingdom ⓘ
electedBody	House of Commons of the United Kingdom ⓘ
electoralSystem	first-past-the-post ⓘ
endDate	1979-05-03 ⓘ
historicalSignificance	ended an unbroken period of Labour government since 1974 ⓘ marked a major shift toward market-oriented economic policies in the UK ⓘ marked the beginning of the Thatcher era ⓘ
leaderOfSecondParty	James Callaghan ⓘ
leaderOfThirdParty	David Steel ⓘ
leaderOfWinningParty	Margaret Thatcher ⓘ
location	United Kingdom ⓘ
majoritySeats	318 ⓘ
monarchAtTime	Elizabeth II ⓘ
nextElection	1983 United Kingdom general election ⓘ surface form: United Kingdom general election, 1983
numberOfSeatsContested	635 ⓘ
outcome	Conservative Party majority government formed ⓘ End of Labour Party government led by James Callaghan ⓘ
parliamentNumber	48th Parliament of the United Kingdom ⓘ
popularVoteConservative	about 13,697,000 ⓘ
popularVoteLabour	about 11,532,000 ⓘ
popularVoteLiberal	about 4,313,000 ⓘ
previousElection	February 1974 United Kingdom general election ⓘ surface form: United Kingdom general election, February 1974
primeMinisterAfterElection	Margaret Thatcher ⓘ
primeMinisterAfterParty	Conservative Party (UK) ⓘ surface form: Conservative Party
primeMinisterBeforeElection	James Callaghan ⓘ
primeMinisterBeforeParty	Labour Party (UK) ⓘ surface form: Labour Party
seatsWonConservative	339 ⓘ
seatsWonLabour	269 ⓘ
seatsWonLiberal	11 ⓘ
secondParty	Labour Party (UK) ⓘ surface form: Labour Party
startDate	1979-05-03 ⓘ
thirdParty	Liberal Party (UK) ⓘ surface form: Liberal Party
triggeredBy	1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan government ⓘ loss of confidence vote in the Labour government ⓘ
voterTurnout	76.0% ⓘ approximately 76 percent ⓘ
voteShareConservative	43.9% ⓘ
voteShareLabour	36.9% ⓘ
voteShareLiberal	13.8% ⓘ
winningParty	Conservative Party (UK) ⓘ surface form: Conservative Party