List Of MPs Elected In The 1979 United Kingdom General Election on:
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This is a list of 
Of the 77 newcomers, two were women (
Note: The Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru sit together as a party group. This is not the official seating plan of the House of Commons, which has five rows of benches on each side, with the government party to the right of the Speaker and opposition parties to the left, but with room for only around two-thirds of MPs to sit at any one time.
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Members 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 ...
(MPs) elected in the 1979 general election, held on 3 May. This Parliament was dissolved in 1983.
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
, which consists of the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
and the elected House of Commons, was convened on Tuesday 15 May 1979 at the Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north b ...
by Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
.
Of the 77 newcomers, two were women (Sheila Faith
Irene Sheila Faith (née Book; 3 June 1928 – 28 September 2014) was a British politician and dental surgeon. She served one term each in the House of Commons and European Parliament as a Conservative. She was a native of Newcastle upon Tyne a ...
and Sheila Wright). In total, the Parliament had 19 female members (8 Conservative, 11 Labour), fewer than any post-war parliament before or since, with the sole exception of 1951.
It was the election from which Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
, the incumbent 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 ...
leader became Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
, the first female head of government in the United Kingdom and Europe.
Composition
These representative diagrams show the composition of the parties in the 1979 general election.
Note: The Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru sit together as a party group. This is not the official seating plan of the House of Commons, which has five rows of benches on each side, with the government party to the right of the Speaker and opposition parties to the left, but with room for only around two-thirds of MPs to sit at any one time.
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By-elections
See the list of United Kingdom by-elections. Two seats were vacant when Parliament was dissolved preparatory to the 1983 general election: *Cardiff, North-West – Michael Roberts (Con) died 10 February 1983 *Rhondda –Alec Jones
Trevor Alec Jones (12 August 1924 – 20 March 1983) was a British Labour Party politician.
Jones was born in Clydach Vale and educated at Rhondda Boys' Grammar School. After obtaining a teaching qualification at Bangor Normal College, he ta ...
(Lab) died 20 March 1983
References
{{1979 United Kingdom general election1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...
1979 United Kingdom general election
Lists of UK MPs 1979–1983
List
UK MPs