Eastbourne by-election, 1990

The Eastbourne by-election, 1990 was a by-election held on 18 October 1990 for the British House of Commons constituency of Eastbourne in East Sussex.

The by-election was caused by the death of the town's Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) Ian Gow, who was killed on 30 July 1990 by a bomb placed under his car by the Provisional IRA.

The result was a victory for the Liberal Democrat candidate David Bellotti, who defeated the former Conservative MP Richard Hickmet by a majority of 4,550 votes.

The by-election was referenced in Lady Thatcher's last speech as Conservative Party Leader and Prime Minister to a Conservative Conference in 1990, when she said:

Now, that brings me to the Liberal Party. I gather that during the last few days there have been some ill-natured jokes about their new symbol, a bird of some kind, adopted by the Liberal Democrats at Blackpool. Politics is a serious business, and one should not lower the tone unduly. So I will say only this of the Liberal Democrat symbol and of the party it symbolises.

This is an ex-parrot. It is not merely stunned. It has ceased to be, expired and gone to meet its maker. It is a parrot no more. It has rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is a late parrot. And now for something completely different

Votes

Election box begin
title=By-election 1990: EastbourneElection box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = David Bellotti
votes = 23,415
percentage = 50.8
change = +21.1Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Richard Hickmet
votes = 18,865
percentage = 41.0
change = −18.9Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Charlotte Atkins
votes = 2,308
percentage = 5.0
change = −3.8Election box candidate with party link
party = Green Party of England and Wales
candidate = David Aherne
votes = 553
percentage = 1.2
change = −0.4Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK, 1989)
candidate = Theresia Williamson
votes = 526
percentage = 1.1
change = N/AElection box candidate
party = Corrective Party
candidate = Lady Whiplash
votes = 216
percentage = 0.5
change = N/AElection box candidate with party link
party = National Front (UK)
candidate = John McAuley
votes = 154
percentage = 0.3
change = Election box candidate
party = Ironside Party
candidate = Eric Page
votes = 35
percentage = 0.1
change = Election box majority
votes = 4,550
percentage = 9.8
change = Election box turnout
votes = 46,072
percentage = 60.7
change = −14.9Election box gain with party link
winner = Liberal Democrats (UK)
loser = Conservative Party (UK)
swing = 20.0

References

* [http://www.geocities.com/by_elections/eastbourne90.html British Parliamentary by-elections:Eastbourne 1990]
* [http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge87/i08.htm UK General Election results June 1987: Eastbourne]

See also

* List of United Kingdom by-elections
* Eastbourne constituency
* Eastbourne by-election, 1925
* Eastbourne by-election, 1932
* Eastbourne by-election, 1935