The election was held following the defeat of the Labour government in a no-confidence motion on 28 March 1979, six months before the Parliament was due for dissolution in October 1979.

The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, ousted the incumbent Labour government of Prime Minister James Callaghan, gaining a parliamentary majority of 43 seats.

Future Prime Minister John Major, who went on to succeed Thatcher in November 1990, entered Parliament at this election, retaining the Huntingdonshire seat in Cambridgeshire for the Conservatives.

Prominent MPs Jeremy Thorpe, Shirley Williams and Barbara Castle were among the members of parliament who retired or lost their seats.

After suffering a vote of no confidence on 28 March 1979, Prime Minister James Callaghan was forced to announce that he would request a dissolution of Parliament to bring about a general election.

[5] Without explicitly mentioning Thatcher's sex, Callaghan was (as Christian Caryl later wrote) "a master at sardonically implying that whatever the leader of the opposition said was made even sillier by the fact that it was said by a woman".

Thatcher used the tactics that had defeated her other male opponents: constantly studying, sleeping only a few hours a night, and exploiting her femininity to appear as someone who understood housewives' household budgets.

[6] A proposal for the two main party leaders to participate in two televised debates was put forward by former Labour MP turned broadcaster Brian Walden.

While James Callaghan immediately accepted Walden's proposal, Margaret Thatcher decided to "wait a few days before replying" to the invitation.

According to The Glasgow Herald, Some of Mrs Thatcher's advisers were concerned that she had more to lose from such debates, fearing that it would lead to a "presidential-style 'Her or me' campaign" which would see policy issues become of less importance.

[8] The Labour campaign reiterated their support for the National Health Service and full employment and focused on the damage they believed the Conservatives would do to the country.

[10] Callaghan presented five priorities: The Conservatives campaigned on economic issues, pledging to control inflation and to reduce the increasing power of the trade unions who supported mass strikes.

[12] Choosing to start her campaign in the strongly Labour-supporting city was part of Thatcher's strategy of appealing to skilled manual workers (NRS social group C2), whom both parties had previously seen as certain Labour voters; she thought that many of these would support her promises to reduce unions' power and enact the Right to Buy their homes.

The Glasgow Herald called it an "astonishing rally" which it likened to "the razza-matazz of an American presidential-stye jamboree" and stated "Nothing quite like it has been seen before in a General Election in Britain."

[20] No policies aimed at restricting immigration were passed or proposed by her government, and the subject of race was never highlighted by Thatcher in any of her major speeches as prime minister.

[22] The Conservative manifesto, drafted by Chris Patten and Adam Ridley and edited by Angus Maude, reflected Thatcher's views and was issued on 11 April.

The Liberal Party had a disappointing election; its scandal-hit former leader Jeremy Thorpe lost his seat in North Devon to the Conservatives.