It was the first year into a Conservative Government and the
1980 election campaign in Chorlton was fought out on both local issues and
national ones.
The Conservative called on the electorate to “Stop The
Labour Rot in Chorlton” the Liberals pointed to their growing “revival in the
city of Manchester” and Labour reflected on the cost to the electorate after a year of
Conservative Government.
The Conservative candidate was Maureen Vince, the Labour candidate was Harold Brown, and the Liberal candidate was John Commons.
Some wondered about a slogan that called for the electorate to "Stop the Labour Rot in Chorlton," when all three elected councillors were Conservative, but the upshot was a Tory victory, although their vote was well down on previous years.
And in 1986 Labour gained its first council seat here in Chorlton with the election of David Black.
Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson
The beginning of Chorlton's political decline but at least the Conservatives were winning regularly up to 1986 when demographic changes resulted in the disappearance of Chorlton's traditional Conservative voters who were not being replace after their passing.
ReplyDelete