Premiership of Margaret Thatcher the June 1983 general election, the Conservatives won 42.4% of the vote, the Labour Party 27.6% and the Alliance 25.4% of the vote. Though the gap between Labour and the Alliance was narrow in terms of votes, the Alliance vote was scattered and they won only a fraction of the seats that Labour held, with its concentrated base. The Conservatives' share of the vote fell slightly (1.5%) since 1979. Labour's vote had fallen by far more (9.3%) and the Conservatives now had an overall majority of 144 MPs. Thatcher was Prime Minister during what "The Guardian" described as "the worst
Premiership of Margaret Thatcher second ballot to Heseltine. On 22 November, at just after 9.30 am, she announced to the Cabinet that she would not be a candidate in the second ballot after all. Shortly afterwards, her staff made public what was, in effect, her resignation statement, in which she stated that she had "concluded that the unity of the Party and the prospects of victory in a General Election would be better served" if she stood down as Prime Minister. Neil Kinnock, Leader of the Opposition, proposed a motion of no confidence in the Government, and Margaret Thatcher seized the opportunity this presented