After a hiatus from politics from 1975 to 1984, Turner returned and successfully contested the 1984 Liberal leadership. Turner held the office of Prime Minister for 79 days, the second-shortest tenure in Canadian history after Sir Charles Tupper, as he advised the Governor General to dissolve Parliament immediately after being sworn in and went on to lose the 1984 election in a landslide to Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives. Turner stayed on as Liberal leader and led the Opposition for the next six years, leading his party to a modest recovery in the 1988 election. He resigned as Liberal leader in 1990 and stepped down as an MP at the 1993 election.