1947 Gravesend by-election

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The 1947 Gravesend by-election was a by-election held on 26 November 1947 to fill the vacant British House of Commons seat of Gravesend . The vacancy arose when the sitting Member of Parliament (MP), Garry Allighan, was expelled from the House for making allegations of corruption.

Contents

The seat was considered a marginal, having been won at the 1945 general election from the Conservatives, who had held it since the 1924 general election.

Candidates

Labour selected as its candidate Sir Richard Acland, a baronet and former Liberal MP for Barnstaple. He had left the Liberal Party in 1942 to found the socialist Common Wealth Party, which polled well in war-time by-elections, but won only one seat at the 1945 general election. After his own defeat in Putney, where he came third with only 8% of the votes, Acland had joined Labour.

The Conservative Party candidate was Frank K. Taylor. The Liberals, who had polled only 12% of the vote in 1945, did not contest the election.

Result

Labour, who had not lost a seat at a by-election since the general election, had done badly in the recent local elections and were concerned that the unpopularity of their economic policies might cause a loss of the seat. Although their majority was slashed from 7,056 to 1,675 they were satisfied with the result.

Votes

1947 Gravesend by-election [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Richard Acland 24,692 51.8 −0.7
Conservative Frank K. Taylor23,01748.2+12.9
Majority1,6753.6−13.6
Turnout 47,709
Labour hold Swing −6.1

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References

  1. ↑ "1947 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
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