Notes to Editors:

1.      Lord (Paul) Tyler slashed the Conservative majority in the 1982 Beaconsfield by-election by nearly 8,500 votes, pushing Labour’s Tony Blair into third place and causing him to lose his deposit

2.      Main Parties’ results at the Beaconsfield by-election:

Smith, Timothy (Conservative)                           23,049

Tyler, Paul (Liberal – Social Democratic Alliance)        9,996

Blair, Anthony (Labour)                                   3,886

Conservative majority                                   13,053

3.      Tony Blair’s letter to Michael Foot is published as part of an article by Neal Lawson in the New Statesman, available at: http://www.newstatesman.com/nssubsfilter.php3?newTemplate=NSArticle_NS&newDisplayURN=200606190032 (19 June 2006)

4.      Tony Blair later took the long-held Labour seat of Sedgefield at the 1983 General Election
5.      Paul Tyler later served with Tony Blair and Timothy Smith in the House of Commons, as MP for North Cornwall from 1992-2005, before being created a Life Peer