1979 United Kingdom general election - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1979 United Kingdom general election
← List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, October 1974 List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1979 →
All 635 seats in the House of Commons; 318 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	76.0%, 3.2%
	Colours show the winning party—as shown in § Results
	Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election; James Callaghan; Labour	Prime Minister after election ; Margaret Thatcher; Conservative

An election was held on 3 May 1979 to elect all 635 seats of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party won the election and Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. She was the first female Prime Minister of the UK.

The election happened because of a vote of no confidence in the James Callaghan passing by one vote in the House of Commons on the 28 March. This vote happened because Thatcher had brought it forward. It forced the election to happen.

References

Beckett, Andy (2009), When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies, Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-25226-8
Butler, David; Kavanagh, Dennis (1980), The British General Election of 1979, London: Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-333-77875-3
Campbell, John (2000), Margaret Thatcher, Volume One: The Grocer's Daughter, London: Jonathan Cape, ISBN 978-0-224-04097-6
Caryl, Christian (2014), Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century, Basic Books, ISBN 978-0-465-06564-6
Hickson, Kevin; Seldon, Anthony (2004), New Labour, Old Labour: The Wilson and Callaghan Governments 1974–1979, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-134-38161-6
- Witte, Rob (2014), Racist Violence and the State: A Comparative Analysis of Britain, France and the Netherlands, ISBN 978-1-317-88919-9
Young, Hugo (1990), One of Us: A Biography of Margaret Thatcher, Pan Books, ISBN 978-0-330-31487-9

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