Lewisham North by-election, 1957

The Lewisham North by-election of 14 February 1957 was held following the death of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Sir Austin Hudson, 1st Baronet the previous year. In a defeat for the government the seat was gained by the Labour Party.

Candidates

The Conservatives chose Norman Farmer as their candidate for a seat that had been held by the party since its creation in 1950.

Labour's candidate was Niall MacDermot, the son of an Irish barrister. Himself a successful lawyer he had only joined the party the previous year after fearing that his involvement in an earlier manslaughter case would preclude any political ambitions. MacDermot's mentor within the party, Elwyn Jones, persuaded him to run for election.^[1]

Leslie Greene ran as an "independent loyalist" candidate.^[2] Although an independent she was actively supported by the right-wing pressure group the League of Empire Loyalists.^[3] Greene, the group's organising secretary, had gained notoriety the previous year when he interrupted a speech by Anthony Eden, typical of the sort of headline-grabbing stunt favoured by the group at the time.^[4]

Result of the previous general election

Results from the previous general election were:^[5]

General Election 1955: Lewisham North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir Austin Hudson, 1st Baronet	22,070	53.96	+0.50
	Labour	ST Williams	18,834	46.04	-0.50
Majority			3,236	7.91	+0.98
Turnout			40,904	77.93	-6.09
	Conservative hold		Swing

Result of the by-election

The results of the by-election were as follows:

United Kingdom Parliament: Lewisham North by-election 1957^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Niall MacDermot	18,516	49.50	+3.46
	Conservative	Norman Farmer	17,406	46.53	-7.43
	Independent loyalist	Leslie Greene	1,487	3.97	N/A
Majority			1,110	2.97
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

References

↑ Naill MacDermott obituary
↑ RENTS ROW SWINGS THE VOTE video newsreel film
↑ David Boothroyd, The Politico's Guide to the History of British Political Parties, London: Politico's, 2001, p. 143
↑ Martin Durham, Women and Fascism, Routledge, 1998, p. 101
↑ UK General Election results May 1955
↑ "1957 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2015-08-14.

« 40th Parliament « By-elections to the 41st Parliament of the United Kingdom » 42nd Parliament »

1956	February: Blaydon Leeds North East Hereford Gainsborough Taunton March: Walthamstow West May: Mid Ulster June: Tonbridge July: Newport September: Chester-le-Street November: City of Chester December: Melton

1957	February: Lewisham North Wednesbury Carmarthen March: Bristol West Warwick and Leamington Beckenham Newcastle-upon-Tyne North May: Edinburgh South East Ham North Hornsey June: North Dorset September: Gloucester October: Ipswich November: Leicester South East December: Liverpool Garston

1958	February: Rochdale March: Glasgow Kelvingrove Torrington May: Islington North June: Argyll Ealing South St Helens Weston-super-Mare Wigan November: Morecambe and Lunesdale Chichester Pontypool East Aberdeenshire Shoreditch and Finsbury

1959	January: Southend West March: Belfast East Harrow East South West Norfolk April: Galloway June: Penistone Whitehaven

Lists of UK by-elections 1801–1806 1806–1818 1818–1832 1832–1847 1847–1857 1857–1868 1868–1885 1885–1900 1900–1918 1918–1931 1931–1950 1950–1979 1979–2010 2010–present

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.