He fought the new seat of Banff and Buchan, which had largely replaced Aberdeenshire East in the 1983 general election. He again lost to Albert McQuarrie by less than 1,000 votes. The 1983 election saw the SNP only win the two seats that they had held in 1979, but Banff and Buchan was one of three that the came close to recapturing from the Conservatives. Future SNP leader Alex Salmond would win this constituency from 1987, and it would remain in SNP hands until 2017. Henderson also suffered in his private life, being divorced in the early 1980s.