Edward Fletcher Labour Ossie O'Brien Labour The 1983 Darlington by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 24 March 1983 for the House of Commons constituency of Darlington in County Durham.

The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Edward Fletcher had died on 13 February 1983, at age 71.

O'Brien only held the seat for three months, however, as it fell to Fallon at the general election in June 1983.

Tony Cook, a local television celebrity, was the candidate and appeared to know very little about public issues and made a poor impression.

At one point the SDP had been leading in the polls, but in part due to Cook's poor performance as a candidate, highlighted by the coverage from journalist Vincent Hanna, they finished third.