The Eastbourne by-election, 1990 was a by-election held on 18 October 1990 for the British House of Commonsconstituency of Eastbourne in East Sussex. The by-election was caused by the death of the town's Conservative PartyMember of ParliamentIan Gow, who was killed on 30 July 1990 by a bomb placed under his car by the Provisional IRA. The result was a victory for the Liberal Democrat candidate David Bellotti, who defeated former Conservative MPRichard Hickmet by a majority of 4,550 votes and with more than half the votes cast. The loss came as a shock to many Conservatives who had expected that they would easily retain the seat. Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe sent a message to voters saying that the IRA would be "toasting their success". It was a welcome success for the Liberal Democrats, formed in March 1988, after some disastrous early local and European election showings, as well as dismal showings in opinion polls. It came at a time when Conservative support was slumping and Labour was enjoying a comfortable lead in the opinion polls, largely due to the unpopular introduction of poll tax by the Conservative government. The Liberal Democrats, whose newly adopted party emblem was a 'bird of liberty', had been compared by Margaret Thatcher in a Conservative party conference speech on 12 October to a "dead parrot". The shock defeat contributed to the end of Thatcher's premiership in November 1990 as Conservative MPs worried if they could hold their seats at a general election if she remained prime minister. At the next general election just 18 months later, Bellotti was defeated by over 5,000 votes. The outcome of was symbolic of how the fortunes of the main three political parties had altered in that short time. The Liberal Democrats, who at the time of the Eastbourne success were looking set for a big rise in votes and seats, were left with a reduced number of seats, while the Conservatives were re-elected under new leader John Major, leaving Labour in opposition for a fourth successive term of parliament - meaning that Neil Kinnock never made it into government as the opinion polls throughout 1990 had all suggested would happen. This remains, as of 2016, the most recent by-election resulting from the assassination of a sitting MP that was contested by all of the major parties. Following the next such killing, which occurred in 2016 when Labour MP Jo Coxwas attacked and murdered in her constituency, Labour's major political rivals announced they would not contest the ensuing Batley and Spen by-election.
