The Winter of Discontent had seen the Labour government's popularity slump during the previous four months, and the opinion polls all pointed towards a Conservative victory.

The Conservatives won the election with a majority of 43 seats and their leader Margaret Thatcher became the United Kingdom's first female prime minister.

Decreasing the public sector borrowing requirement as a share of GDP was a part of the medium term financial strategy at the beginning of the first Thatcher ministry.

The Labour opposition, which changed leader from James Callaghan to Michael Foot in 1980, was in no position to exploit the situation and mount a threat to the Conservative government's power.

For a while, opinion polls suggested that this could happen, with support for the Alliance peaking at 50 per cent in late 1981, with both the Tories and Labour faring dismally.

However, when the Falkland Islands (a British dependent territory in the South Atlantic) were seized by Argentine forces in March 1982, Thatcher was swift to mount a military response.

The success of this military campaign saw a rapid turnaround in voter sentiment, with the Tory government firmly in the lead in all major opinion polls by the summer of 1982.

With all the pollsters pointing towards a Conservative majority, the most interesting outcome of the election was the guessing game as to whether it would be Labour or the Alliance who formed the next opposition.