Britain Tories Rebuffed

Welsh voters send a message

The bucolic electoral district of Brecon and Radnor (48,000 registered voters), situated on the eastern boundary of Wales, would appear an unlikely place for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government to take a tumble. In the 1983 general election, the Tories carried the district, which comprises mainly small beef and sheep farmers, by almost 9,000 votes. But in a by-election reversal last week, Brecon and Radnor voters handed the government a stunning defeat. Conservative Christopher Butler finished last among the three major candidates with a dismal 27.6% of the vote. Butler's total of 10,631 votes left him 3,122 ballots behind the...

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