William Pitt the Younger the Coalition's majority shrink as some Members of Parliament left the Opposition to abstain. In March 1784, Parliament was dissolved, and a general election ensued. An electoral defeat for the Government was out of the question because Pitt enjoyed the support of King George III. Patronage and bribes paid by the Treasury were normally expected to be enough to secure the Government a comfortable majority in the House of Commons but on this occasion the government reaped much popular support as well. In most popular constituencies, the election was fought between candidates clearly representing either Pitt or Fox and North.
Pitt Bank and the deepest areas of the former lagoon reach 44 metres. The much smaller Wight Bank is located 6 km to the SE off the southeastern tip of Pitt Bank. This submerged atoll was named after William Pitt the Younger, who was a British prime minister in 1783–1801 and 1804–1806. A buoy, marked by a radar reflector, is moored on the NW side of the bank. Pitt Bank Pitt Bank is a wholly submerged atoll structure in the Southwest of the Chagos Archipelago. It is almost 56 km long Northwest to Southeast, with a width between 20 and 30 km.