The 1987 Greenwich by-election was a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to the British

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

held on 26 February 1987, shortly before the 1987 general election. The election was caused by the death of Guy Barnett, Labour Party

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

on 24 December 1986.

Background

Labour had held Greenwich since the 1945 general election, although their majority had declined in recent years, and in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, Barnett had achieved a majority of only 1,211 votes over the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

candidate. The then newly formed

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SDP) had also stood, winning 25% of the vote. As a result, all three parties considered that they had a chance of taking the seat, but an early

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

suggested Labour would win, with the SDP/Alliance in a very poor third place.

Candidates

The Labour Party selected Deirdre Wood as their candidate, regarded as a

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

er. This laid open the possibility of splitting the vote, as the Labour leadership were moving towards expelling far left MPs and activists identified with the

Militant tendency , native_name_lang = cy , logo = , colorcode = , leader = collective leadership(''Militant'' editorial board) , leader1_name = Ted Grant , leader1_title = Political Secretary , leader2_name = Pet ...

. Although Wood was not a Militant supporter, as a former GLC and sitting ILEA councillor she was close to the London left and she was heavily attacked in the press for her views. In addition, stories about her family background were printed (to her considerable distress); many Labour activists compared her treatment with that of

Peter Tatchell Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is a British human rights campaigner, originally from Australia, best known for his work with LGBT social movements. Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey ...

at the Bermondsey byelection of four years previously. Despite being the party in power, and on the back of their strong performance in 1983, the Conservatives appeared to have the least chance of taking the seat, but were hopeful of a strong performance in the run-up to the general election and selected John Antcliffe as their candidate. The SDP had formed an alliance with 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 ...

and could rely on their activists in the constituency canvassing for them. Despite winning 25.4% of the vote in the 1983 election, the Alliance had taken only 23 seats nationwide, and the SDP had not won a by-election since Portsmouth South in 1984. Due to this lacklustre performance, the party had decided to focus on holding neighbouring

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

in the forthcoming general election, rather than attempting to win Greenwich. Their original candidate for the seat in the general election withdrew in December 1986, objecting to being a "paper candidate", and the party instead selected

Rosie Barnes Rosie may refer to: Geography * Rosie, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Rosie River, Northern Territory, Australia People and characters * Rosie (given name) * Rosie the Rocketeer (aka "Rosie"), a Boeing spaceflight test dummy * Rosie ...

, who they ran in the by-election. She had links in the constituency; her husband was a local

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

, who also acted as her

election agent An election agent in elections in the United Kingdom, as well as some other similar political systems such as elections in India, is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is ...

. The Liberal Party regarded the constituency as a possible gain for the SDP, and in support of this, flooded the constituency with activists. The

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

, National Front and Revolutionary Communist Party also stood candidates. Comedian

Malcolm Hardee Malcolm Hardee (5 January 1950 – 31 January 2005) was an English comedian and comedy club proprietor. His high reputation among his peers rests on his outrageous publicity stunts and on the help and advice he gave to successful British alter ...

also stood, for the Rainbow Alliance "

Beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

, Fags and Skittles Party".

Campaign

An opinion poll in the last week of campaigning suggested that Labour would win, but that the SDP was now a close second and that the Conservatives would be third. This was exactly the result that the SDP/Alliance campaign needed, as it meant that many Conservative voters could be tempted to vote for the SDP in order to defeat Labour. The

was held on 26 February 1987. During the afternoon and evening of polling day, SDP/Alliance workers called on known Conservative supporters to remind them that only their candidate could beat Labour. They did so in large numbers and the SDP gained the seat, their first gain from the Labour Party at an election (rather than by defection).

Result

Aftermath

Barnes held the seat at the general election that June, but lost it to Labour in 1992. It revived the SDP before the 1987 election,BBC: Triumphs and Disasters
/ref> but in retrospect, the campaign could be seen as the '

high water mark A high water mark is a point that represents the maximum rise of a body of water over land. Such a mark is often the result of a flood, but high water marks may reflect an all-time high, an annual high (highest level to which water rose that ...

' of the Alliance - it would be downhill from here. The SDP failed to make further gains in the 1987 general election, and the majority of the party joined with the Liberals to form the Liberal Democrats. As a result, the election was also the last time the SDP gained a seat.

References

{{By-elections to the 49th UK Parliament Greenwich,1987 Greenwich by-election By-election, 1987 Greenwich by-election Greenwich by-election