1983 General Election (1983) - created from Mind Map

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Falklands War, 1982

Labour

Lack of political opposition

Thatcher ordered a full-scale military task force which set sail within 48 hours

The decision was a gamble which could have backfired but it didn't

The victory was seen as bold leadership and decisiveness on the part of Thatcher

There had been some opposition to a British task force but the war was largely supported, even mostly Labour supported it

Thatcher gained self-confidence and dominated the Conservatives

The country was awash with patriotism after the victor

The leadership lacked credibility

Michael Foot could not deal with the divisions within the Party

The election manifesto was dominated by 'militants'

He performed badly on TV

Gerald Kaufman labelled it 'the longest suicide note in history'

One of the worrying left-wing promises was 'unilateral disarmament'

Discounting the nationalist parties, the anti-Conservative vote totalled 16 million but the Conservatives had a majority of 144 seats

This was an example of the twisting effect of the first-past-the-post system

The SDP Alliance had only half a million fewer votes than Labour but had 186 fewer seats