1979 Scottish National Party leadership election

Scottish National Party (SNP) leadership election April 2022 1979 Scottish National Party leadership election presidential no 1969 Scottish National Party leadership election 1969 1990 Scottish National Party leadership election 1990 15 September 1979 Winnie_Ewing_and_Gordon_Wilson_Brussels_(cropped).jpg Gordon Wilson 530 75.8% 3x4.svg Stephen Maxwell 117 16.7% 3x4.svg Willie McRae 52 7.4% Leader William Wolfe Gordon Wilson There was an election to choose a new leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) held in 1979. The election saw Gordon Wilson become the party's new national convenor. William Wolfe had been the leader of the SNP since winning a leadership election in 1969, and initially the party had performed well under his leadership. In 1978, he announced that he intended to stand down the following year and, as a result, he had little involvement with the party's campaign in the 1979 United Kingdom general election. The election went very badly for the SNP, which lost nine of its eleven seats in Parliament.https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8576326.stm Veteran nationalist Billy Wolfe dies at 86 BBC News 19 March 2010 19 March 2010http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/103358 Gordon Wilson, Wolfe, William Cuthbertson (1924–2010) 2004 10.1093/ref:odnb/103358 978-0-19-861411-1 15 August 2017 Immediately after the election, a group of left-wingers in the party, including Roseanna Cunningham and Margo MacDonald, formed what became the 79 Group.David Torrance, "SNP fall-out that saw Salmond expelled but put party on new path", The Scotsman, 19 March 2009. In response, those who wished to prioritise independence over all other considerations formed the Campaign for Nationalism in Scotland.Peter Barberis, John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley, "Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations", Pinter, London, 2000, p. 388. Both groups put forward candidates for election to various posts in the election held at that year's conference, held in Dundee.Peter Lynch, "SNP - The History of the Scottish National Party" (Welsh Academic Press, 2002), p. 170. The most significant election at the conference was that for party leader. Three candidates stood to replace Wolfe: Stephen Maxwell, Vice Chair (Publicity), chair of the unsuccessful SNP campaign in the 1979 Scottish devolution referendum, and a leading figure in the 79 Group. Willie McRae, Vice Chair (Administration), solicitor and unsuccessful SNP candidate for Ross and Cromarty in the general election. Gordon Wilson, Member of Parliament for Dundee East, former leader of the SNP Parliamentary group and spokesperson on oil and energy. Wilson easily won the election, with 530 votes. Maxwell took 117 votes, and MacRae only 52. The 79 Group failed to win any of the elections at the conference.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WMFAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=46UMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2959%2C3186859 Margo stays in SNP despite defeat William Clark The Glasgow Herald 17 September 1979 1 25 June 2017 References 1979 Category:1979 in British politics Category:1979 in Scotland Category:1970s elections in Scotland Category:1979 elections in the United Kingdom Scottish National Party leadership election