# 1979 U.K. General Election: Who would you have voted for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 3, 2024, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1979-u-k-general-election-who-would-you-have-voted-for/1002433 "2024-06-03T12:00:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1979-u-k-general-election-who-would-you-have-voted-for/1002433/1 "2024-06-03T12:00:01Z")
I’ve been reading up and watching coverage of historical U.K. elections. > **[1979 United Kingdom general election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_United_Kingdom_general_election?wprov=sfti1#)** > > James Callaghan > Labour > Margaret Thatcher > Conservative > The 1979 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the House of Commons. 1979 is a very tough election for me to figure out who I would have voted for. I just can’t see myself voting for Thatcher and the Tories, but that 1979 Labour Party and the Winter of Discontent makes me ill as well. 18 year old me liked the Liberal Democrats and I guess I would have voted for the Liberal Party in 1979. Interestingly, I have a biography of James Callaghan on my to be read list along with Thatcher’s Downing Street Years. I’ll return to this thread after reading both to see if my opinions have changed. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2024, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1979-u-k-general-election-who-would-you-have-voted-for/1002433/2 "2024-07-02T08:15:36Z")
I don’t have an answer for you (I look back on Thatcher with loathing but that’s with the benefit of hindsight) but you might be interested in listening to the Rest is History podcast, they’ve done episodes recently on [significant political elections](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/modern-british-elections-part-2/id1537788786?i=1000659646860) and previously on the [winter of discontent](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/britain-in-1974-state-of-emergency-part-1/id1537788786?i=1000643911801). Excellent and entertaining historians. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1979-u-k-general-election-who-would-you-have-voted-for/1002433/3 "2024-07-03T11:55:05Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > I don’t have an answer for you (I look back on Thatcher with loathing but that’s with the benefit of hindsight) but you might be interested in listening to the Rest is History podcast, they’ve done episodes recently on [significant political elections](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/modern-british-elections-part-2/id1537788786?i=1000659646860) and previously on the [winter of discontent](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/britain-in-1974-state-of-emergency-part-1/id1537788786?i=1000643911801). Thanks, I’ll give it a listen. I have a very long bus commute to work these days so lots of time for podcasts ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1979-u-k-general-election-who-would-you-have-voted-for/1002433/4 "2024-07-03T14:44:58Z")
I did vote Labour. It wasn’t yet entirely clear just how far Thatcher would take the Tories back to the slash and burn approach that Ted Heath had tried and walked away from, but I instinctively loathe the lot of them anyway.