Darlington by-election, 1983

The Darlington by-election, 1983 was a parliamentary by-election held on 24 March 1983 for the British House of Commons constituency of Darlington in County Durham.

The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Edward Fletcher had died on 13 February 1983, a few days before his 72nd birthday. He had held the seat since the 1964 general election.

The result of the contest was a victory for the Labour candidate, Oswald O'Brien, who won with a majority of 2,412 over the Conservative Party candidate Michael Fallon. O'Brien only held the seat for three months, however, as it fell to Fallon at the general election in June 1983.

Votes

Darlington by-election, 1983
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Oswald O'Brien	20,544	39.5	−6.0
	Conservative	Michael Fallon	18,132	34.9	−8.5
	Social Democrat	Anthony Cook	12,735	24.5	+14.3
	Monster Raving Loony	David Sutch	374	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Arthur Clark	164	0.3	N/A
	Tactical Voting Annihilates Bennite Tatchellites	Thomas Keen	27	0.1	N/A
	Yoga and Meditation	Jitendra Bardwaj	15	0.0	N/A
	Republican	Peter Smith	10	0.0	N/A
Majority			2,412	4.6	+2.5
Turnout			52,001
	Labour hold		Swing

General election, 1979: Darlington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Fletcher	22,565	45.52	+0.03
	Conservative	Timothy Kirkhope	21,513	43.39	+5.77
	Liberal	K. Walker	5,054	10.19	−6.44
	National Front	H. Outhwaite	444	0.90	N/A
Majority			1,052	2.12	−5.81
Turnout			49,576	78.4	+13.43
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.82

See also

• Darlington (UK Parliament constituency)
• Darlington
• Darlington by-election, 1923
• Darlington by-election, 1926
• List of United Kingdom by-elections

References

• British Parliamentary by-elections: Darlington 1983
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 1)