ABSTRACT
The years from 1979 to 1983 confirmed the trend of increasing electoral volatility which had been evident in the 1970's. Mrs Margaret Thatcher's forty-three-seat overall majority in May 1979 would obviously be slightly eroded by by-election defeats, which it duly was, but unlike her predecessor, Jim Callaghan, the opportunity to decide the timing of the next election was never in doubt. As the electoral prospects of reelection seemed remote in 1980 and 1981, the Prime Minister was vulnerable to the attacks of the wets, who argued that reflation would help the economy and win voters. In the May 1981 local elections, Labour gains returned it to power in fifteen of the counties it lost in 1977, and Ken Livingstone become the GLC's Labour leader. The Alliance was recording remarkable successes in local Council by-elections, and in November Shirley Williams won Crosby from the Conservatives, overturning a 19,272 majority.
