1984 Portsmouth South by-election

The Conservatives stood Patrick Rock. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) had narrowly taken second place in the constituency in 1983, with just over one quarter of the vote. Three other candidates had stood in the general election, and two of these stood in the by-election: Gordon Knight of the far right National Front, and Alan Evens who stood as "Liberal for Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament", while four new candidate completed the field. Terry Mitchell stood for the Ecology Party, Thomas Layton stood as "Spare the Earth – Ecology", Anthony Andrews stood as an independent with the slogan "Vote Education: Save Schools & Colleges", and Pete Smith stood for the New National Party. ==Result==

The SDP unexpectedly gained the seat. The Conservative vote fell sharply, while Labour saw only a small increase. None of the other candidates were able to take 1% of the votes cast. Hancock lost the seat at the 1987 general election, but was able to retake it in 1997. ==References==