Famous By-Elections: Lord David Alton and Liverpool Edge Hill 1979
Description
In this episode, Matt Davis interviews Lord David Alton about his extraordinary victory in the 1979 Liverpool Edge Hill by-election. At just 27 years old, Alton achieved one of the most stunning upsets in British electoral history, overturning a massive Labour majority in one of their safest seats during the Winter of Discontent.
The conversation explores how a young Liberal teacher and councillor built a grassroots campaign that capitalised on voter anger at industrial chaos, uncollected refuse, and unburied dead in Liverpool's streets. Alton reveals the innovative community politics approach that connected him to local people, the role of local media in amplifying his message, and the dramatic final days when his victory helped seal the fate of Jim Callaghan's government.
From dirty tricks involving the National Front to betting against 30-1 odds, and becoming both the youngest MP and the shortest-serving member in parliamentary history, this is the inside story of a by-election that proved no seat is truly safe when voters decide it's time for change.
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