The 1986 Derbyshire West by-election was held on 8 May 1986 when the sitting

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Member of Parliament,

Matthew Parris Matthew Francis Parris (born 7 August 1949) is a British political writer and broadcaster, formerly a Conservative Member of Parliament. He was born in South Africa to British parents. Early life and family Parris is the eldest of six children ...

, took the

Chiltern Hundreds The Chiltern Hundreds is an ancient administrative area in Buckinghamshire, England, composed of three " hundreds" and lying partially within the Chiltern Hills. "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" refers to one of the legal fictions used to effect r ...

and resigned, in order to become the presenter of ''

Weekend World ''Weekend World'' is a British television political series, made by London Weekend Television (LWT) and broadcast from 1972 to 1988. Created by John Birt, not long after he had joined LWT, the series was broadcast on the ITV network at midday ...

'' for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

. The election was held on the same day as the 1986 local elections and the Ryedale by-election. During the campaign, the seat's former MP, Matthew Parris, told

Vincent Hanna :''This is also the name of a character played by Al Pacino in the 1995 film, Heat.'' Vincent Leo Martin Hanna (9 August 1939 – 22 July 1997) was a Northern Irish television journalist famed for his coverage of United Kingdom by-elections. Ea ...

on Newsnight that he thought Labour could gain the seat from the Conservatives. In his memoirs, he admitted that he deliberately misled both Hanna and the audience to prevent a Liberal victory.Matthew Parris, Chance Witness, p.348

'had I not lied in an interview with the late Vincent Hanna, a BBC pollster carrying out a poll which most improbably suggested that Labour and not the Liberal Democrats icwere the challengers in this by-election,
he Liberals He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
would have won. I knew what I said was false.

Despite a large swing away from him, 28-year-old

Patrick McLoughlin Patrick Allen McLoughlin, Baron McLoughlin, (born 30 November 1957) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he first became the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Derbyshire following the 1986 by-election. The constituen ...

of the

(who went on to serve in The Cabinet from 2010 to 2018) beat the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidate by 100 votes, and he remained the MP for the seat until his retirement in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Derbyshire West by-election, 1986 1986 elections in the United Kingdom 1986 in England May 1986 events in the United Kingdom By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Derbyshire constituencies 1980s in Derbyshire

See also

References