After boundary changes, his seat was renamed Barrow and Furness, for the 1983 General Election but despite a 1979 majority of 7,741 he lost it to the Conservative Cecil Franks.
This has often been attributed to Labour's unilateralist policy of nuclear disarmament, and Booth himself identified with that, leading a CND march through his constituency.
[2][4] However, a campaign against him centred in a local Catholic church, highlighting his record of voting in favour of women's right to choose to have an abortion, was also a significant factor.
)[1] Booth made it through to the final round in the Labour selection for Sunderland South ahead of the 1987 election, but lost out by four votes to Chris Mullin.
[3] Booth died at the Princess Royal University Hospital in Locksbottom, London, on 6 February 2010, at the age of 81; his health had been in decline due to a series of illnesses, including prostate cancer.