Leader of the House of Lords
Appointed Leader of the House of Lords
Permanent historical records · Updated 2026-11-03
1983 in Great Britain — Page 3
Explore 327 historical events and records for Great Britain in 1983.
Historical records for Great Britain in 1983
Sorted by month and day. Records with no month are shown last. Showing 40 of 327 unique records.
327Unique records
3 of 9Page
31Named events on this page
24Named people on this page
6Places on this page
June
Minister of State
Appointed Minister of State at the Foreign Office
Secretary
Appointed Secretary of Trade & Industry
Secretary of State
Appointed Secretary of State for Energy
State of Confusion
The Kinks release State of Confusion.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Nigel Lawson is appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer on 11 June 1983.
Deputy Leadership Resignation
Healey steps down as Labour’s deputy leader after the party’s general-election defeat.
Foreign Secretary of Great Britain
Geoffrey Howe is appointed Foreign Secretary on 11 June 1983.
Secretary of State for the Environment
Appointed Secretary of State for the Environment
SDP Leadership Resignation
Resigns as SDP leader after the general election and is succeeded by David Owen.
Economy of Great Britain
Points to lowest inflation since 1968 & record productivity
Inflation
Points to lowest inflation since 1968 & record productivity
Queens Speech
Introduces the Queens Speech to the House of Commons
Privatization
Lawson supports the sale of additional government-held BP shares as part of efforts to reduce public borrowing and continue the privatisation programme.
Alliance National Campaign
Leads the SDP-Liberal Alliance during the 1983 general election campaign.
Budget
Urges an immediate 3% reduction in cash limits. Through a sleight of hand, the extra revenue Walters wished to raise was secured by freezing income tax thresholds
Election
Gerald Kaufman, once Harold Wilson's press officer and during the 1980s prominent on the Labour right, described the 1983 Labour manifesto as "the longest suicide note in history"
Election
Gerald Kaufman, once Harold Wilson's press officer and during the 1980s prominent on the Labour right, described the 1983 Labour manifesto as "the longest suicide note in history"
Election
The Labour party lose 60 seats & are returned with 209 seats, the lowest since 1935. The Conservatives increase their overall majority from 43 to 144. Labours share of the popular vote falls from 37% to 28%
Election
The Liberal-SDP Alliance win 25% of the popular vote
Laser Frequency Stabilisation
Drever and collaborators publish the laser-stabilisation technique later known as Pound-Drever-Hall locking, providing exceptionally precise frequency control for interferometric gravitational-wave detectors.
Manifesto
Gerald Kaufman, once Harold Wilson's press officer and during the 1980s prominent on the Labour right, described the 1983 Labour manifesto as "the longest suicide note in history"
Member of Parliament
Elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon, majority 20,348
Rangers Transfer
Joins Rangers from Sunderland and begins a long goalscoring career at Ibrox.
Suicide
Gerald Kaufman, once Harold Wilson's press officer and during the 1980s prominent on the Labour right, described the 1983 Labour manifesto as "the longest suicide note in history"
Suicide
Gerald Kaufman, once Harold Wilson's press officer and during the 1980s prominent on the Labour right, described the 1983 Labour manifesto as "the longest suicide note in history"
July
Economy of Great Britain
Introduces plans for Government expenditure cuts to the Cabinet
Death of David Niven
Death of David Niven
Economy of Great Britain
Makes plans to reduce public expenditure by 1 billion pounds
Public Expenditure
Lawson agrees measures to restrain departmental cash limits, including reductions in the pay bill and other cash-limited expenditure.
September
Born Again
Sings on Born Again after joining Black Sabbath from Deep Purple.
Born Again
Returns to record drums on Born Again before leaving again due to personal problems.
Peerage
Created Baron Wilson of Rievaulx as a life peer
Budget
Meets Khohl, they agree to forward CAP reforms from Stuttgart to the Athens Summit
Conference of Stuttgart
Meets Chancellor Khohl, they agree to forward CAP reforms to the Athens Summit
Coal Wage Negotiations
The Coal Board and NUM disputed a wage offer amid wider arguments about future mine closures.
Coal Wage Offer Dispute
The Coal Board's pay offer became a central issue in disputes with the NUM about wages overtime and future closures.
National Coal Board (NCB)
Informs the Government he intends to cut the workforce by 64,000 over 3 yrs
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
Visits Canada attempting to increase their involvement in NATO & open up more trade
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
Visits Canada attempting to increase their involvement in NATO & open up more trade
How these records were prepared
Generated from the World History Database historical_events table. Identical display records are collapsed; descriptions otherwise retain the stored text. Coverage and source quality vary. Check primary and specialist sources before citing individual historical claims.