1989 Vauxhall by-election

1989 Vauxhall by-election

←  1987 15 June 1989 1992  →
Constituency of Vauxhall
Turnout	44.4% ( 19.6%)
First party Second party   Con Candidate Kate Hoey Michael Keegan Party Labour Conservative Popular vote 15,191 5,425 Percentage 52.7% 18.8% Swing 2.5% 10.2%   Third party Fourth party   Green Candidate Mike Tuffrey Henry Bewley Party SLD Green Popular vote 5,043 1,767 Percentage 17.5% 6.1% Swing 0.7% 4.3%
MP before election Stuart Holland Labour Subsequent MP Kate Hoey Labour

A by-election for the United Kingdom House of Commons was held in the constituency of Vauxhall on 15 June 1989, following the resignation of sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Stuart Holland.

The winner, Kate Hoey, was Minister for Sport in Tony Blair's Labour government from 1999 to 2001 before returning to the backbenches.

The 1989 by-election was caused by Stuart Holland's resignation to take up an academic job in preference to remaining in the Labour Party. There was controversy surrounding the Labour candidate selection process. Martha Osamor had the most nominations, with Hoey only having one, but the National Executive Committee declined to shortlist Osamor and imposed a shortlist on the constituency party. When the local party refused to choose from the shortlist, Hoey was imposed by the NEC as the Labour candidate. ^[1]

Candidates

The by-election was contested by 14 candidates: one of the longest lists of serious candidates at any by-election in the 1980s. Don Milligan stood as the candidate of the Revolutionary Communist Party and made the struggle for gay equality the centrepiece of his campaign. Rev Hewie Andrew stood as "The People's Candidate", out of protest at the Labour Party's selection process for their candidate. There were two "Green" candidates: Henry Bewley (who represented the Green Party officially, and Dominic Allen (sponsored by a religious cult) who used the title "The Greens". This was the first time the Green Party saved its deposit in a UK Parliamentary election. There were two National Front candidates, from their warring "Official" and "Flag" factions.

At close of nominations, there had been 15 contenders, with rival candidates for the 'Social & Liberal Democrats' and 'Continuing Social Democratic Party'. However, the SDP candidate, Tom Edwards, withdrew his candidature before the notice of poll. ^[2]

Result

Vauxhall by-election, 1989 ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kate Hoey	15,191	52.7	+2.5
	Conservative	Michael Keegan	5,425	18.8	−10.2
	SLD	Mike Tuffrey	5,043	17.5	−0.7
	Green	Henry Bewley	1,767	6.1	+4.3
	The People's Candidate	Hewie Andrew	302	1.1	New
	The Greens	Dominic Allen	264	0.9	New
	Independent	Rudy Narayan	179	0.6	New
	Revolutionary Communist	Don Milligan	177	0.6	New
	Official National Front	Patrick Harrington	127	0.4	New
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	106	0.4	New
	Christian Alliance	David Black	86	0.3	New
	National Front	Ted Budden	83	0.3	New
	Fellowship	Geoffrey Rolph	24	0.1	New
	Leveller Party	William Scola	21	0.1	New
Majority			9,766	33.9	+12.7
Turnout			28,795	44.4	−19.6
Registered electors			64,905
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• Lists of United Kingdom by-elections

References

1. Wintour, Patrick; Bowcott, Owen (18 May 1989). "Labour imposes Vauxhall choice". The Guardian. p. 24.
2. Archived 27 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Vauxhall 1989 David Owen Papers University of Liverpool Library
3. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1987-92 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 1 October 2015.