
Journal of Liberal History
For the discussion and research of Liberal, Liberal Democrat and SDP history
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Liberals and Trade Unions: The General Strike of 1926
June 29, 2026 / 18:00
On This Day
03 May 1979
Polling day in the 1979 General Election
The election was caused by the defeat of James Callaghan’s government in a confidence vote. The Liberal Party fielded 579 candidates, a decline from the October 1974 election and the vote fell by about a million votes to 4.3 million. The party held on to the majority of its seats, including the recent by-election victory in Liverpool Edge Hill. However, the party lost three seats – Devon North, Cornwall North and Montgomery. Given the recent adverse publicity generated by the Lib-Lab Pact and the committal of former leader Jeremy Thorpe, many Liberals breathed a sigh of relief that the results hadn’t been worse.
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