![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Constituency of Liverpool Walton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Turnout | 57.0% (![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Liverpool Walton by-election was held on 4 July 1991, following the death of the Labour Party Member of Parliament Eric Heffer for Liverpool Walton, on 27 May.
The constituency had become a safe Labour seat under Heffer, who was known as being on the left of the party and a member of the Campaign Group. The Trotskyist Militant group, using entryist tactics was working within the Labour Party, and had gained control of Liverpool City Council in 1982. The city had become a significant base for the group.
When Heffer announced his retirement, Lesley Mahmood, a "Broad Left" councillor and a member of Militant, stood for the Labour nomination. Peter Kilfoyle, who had been the Labour Party organiser in the city since 1985, gained the nomination by a narrow margin; he had been involved in removing Militant influence from the Liverpool Labour Party. [1] Mahmood stood as a "Walton Real Labour" candidate.
Several other candidates stood. The Liberal Democrat candidate was Paul Clark, a local councillor who had been the Liberal Party candidate in the 1987 general election. The Conservatives, who had little support in the constituency, although they had held it until 1964, stood Berkeley Greenwood. Screaming Lord Sutch stood for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, and George Lee-Delisle stood on a platform advocating proportional representation.
Kilfoyle was able to win the election, taking a majority of the votes cast (53.1%), although 11.3% down on Heffer's result in the previous general election. The Liberal Democrats gained from the division in the Labour Party and increased their vote to come second. Mahmood was only able to take a distant third place with 6.5% of the vote. The Conservatives were beaten into fourth, for the first time in Britain since the 1983 Bermondsey by-election, and lost their deposit. They did not place fourth in an English by-election again until the 2004 Hartlepool by-election.
Kilfoyle held the seat at the 1992 general election and at each subsequent election, eventually standing down at the 2010 general election.
Some of Militant's leaders, Ted Grant and Rob Sewell, had remained convinced of the merits of entryism and argued privately against Mahmood standing. [2] The candidacy was part of the process in Militant's rejection of entryism, or as they saw it, their open turn, and the expulsion of Grant leading to a split in the group.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Peter Kilfoyle | 21,317 | 53.1 | −11.3 | |
Liberal Democrats | Paul Clark | 14,457 | 36.0 | +14.8 | |
Walton Real Labour | Lesley Mahmood | 2,613 | 6.5 | N/A | |
Conservative | Berkeley Greenwood | 1,155 | 2.9 | −11.5 | |
Monster Raving Loony | Screaming Lord Sutch | 546 | 1.4 | N/A | |
Independent | George Lee-Delisle | 63 | 0.1 | N/A | |
Majority | 6,860 | 17.1 | −26.1 | ||
Turnout | 40,151 | 57.0 | -16.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Eric Heffer | 34,661 | 64.4 | N/A | |
Liberal | Paul Clark | 11,408 | 21.2 | N/A | |
Conservative | Iain Mays | 7,738 | 14.4 | N/A | |
Majority | 23,253 | 43.2 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 73.6 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Peter Kilfoyle is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Walton from 1991 to 2010.
The Liberal Party is a British political party that was founded in 1989 as a continuation of the original Liberal Party by former members who opposed its merger with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to form the Liberal Democrats. The party holds twelve local council seats.
A by-election was held in the Bermondsey constituency in South London, on 24 February 1983, following the resignation of Labour MP Bob Mellish. Peter Tatchell stood as the candidate for the Labour Party, and Simon Hughes stood for the Liberal Party. Following a bitter campaign, the Liberals made huge gains and took the seat, with a majority of votes cast. Labour's vote fell from 63.6 per cent in May 1979 to 26.1 per cent as Tatchell came a distant second, while the Conservative candidate, Robert Hughes, managed only fourth place. With a swing of 44.2%, the 1983 Bermondsey by-election remains the largest by-election swing in British political history.
Liverpool, Walton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Dan Carden of the Labour Party. Carden won the highest percentage share of the vote in June 2017 of 650 constituencies, 85.7%. It is the safest Labour seat in the United Kingdom, and the safest seat in the country having been won by 85% of the vote in the most recent election in 2019.
Terence Fields was a British politician and firefighter. A member of the Militant group, he was the Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Broadgreen from 1983 to 1992. He was expelled from the Labour Party in 1991 with the rest of Militant. Earlier he had been on the executive of the Fire Brigades Union.
Eric Samuel Heffer was a British socialist politician. He was Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton from 1964 until his death. His Working class background and consciousness fostered his left-wing politics. With 12,000 books in his home, he also admitted to being a bibliophile. Due to his experience as a professional joiner, he made a speciality of the construction industry and its employment practices, but was also concerned with trade union issues in general. He changed his view on the European Common Market from being an outspoken supporter to an outspoken opponent, and served a brief period in government in the mid-1970s. His later career was dominated by his contribution to debates within the Labour Party and he defended the Liverpool City Council.
Michael Carr was a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Bootle for 57 days in 1990 from his election until his death. He was a dockworker who later became a trade union official, but his political rise was assisted by the help he gave the Labour Party leadership in removing the influence of the Militant tendency. Carr had served briefly as a local councillor and did not see his attempts to become an MP as a career move. His sudden death occurred after he had been sent home from hospital where staff failed to identify an imminent heart attack; prosecutions were considered and his family sought legal redress.
Lesley Elizabeth Mahmood is a British politician. She was active in Militant and Liverpool politics along with her brother Roy Farrar in the 1970s and 1980s.
The 1987 Greenwich by-election was a by-election to the British House of Commons held on 26 February 1987, shortly before the 1987 general election. The election was caused by the death of Guy Barnett, Labour Party Member of Parliament for Greenwich on 24 December 1986.
Two by-elections were held for the constituency of Blaenau Gwent in Wales following the death of Member of Parliament and Assembly Member Peter Law on 25 April 2006. As Law was the MP and Assembly Member (AM), his death required by-elections in both the parliamentary seat and the equivalent Welsh Assembly constituency. The two elections polled on the same day, 29 June, as a by-election in Bromley and Chislehurst. A win by the Labour Party in the AM by-election would have restored their majority in the Welsh Assembly, which was lost when Law was expelled from the party.
The Monklands East by-election was held on 30 June 1994, following the death of the Leader of the Labour Party John Smith, Member of Parliament (MP) for Monklands East in Scotland, on 12 May.
Elections to the Borough Council in Slough, England, were held on 3 May 2007. One third of the council was up for election. This was the 122nd Slough general local authority election since Slough became a local government unit in 1863.
The 2008 Henley by-election to elect a member of the British House of Commons for the constituency of Henley in Oxfordshire was held on 26 June 2008. It followed the election of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London in May 2008. In order to resign from being an MP, Johnson accepted the post of Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead on 4 June 2008.
The 2010 Barnet Council election took place on 6 May 2010 to elect members of Barnet London Borough Council in London, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.
The 1999 Pendle Borough Council election took place on 6 May 1999 to elect members of Pendle Borough Council in Lancashire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Liberal Democrats lost overall control of the council to no overall control.
The 2008 Carlisle City Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Carlisle District Council in Cumbria, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.
The Militant tendency, or Militant, was a Trotskyist group in the British Labour Party, organised around the Militant newspaper, which launched in 1964. According to Michael Crick, its politics were based on the thoughts of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and "virtually nobody else".
The 2012 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council in Merseyside, England. One third of the council was up for election and the LabourPparty stayed in overall control of the council.
The 2014 St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council in Merseyside, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council.
The Liverpool City Council adopted policies largely inspired by those elected Councillors who were members of a left wing group known as the Militant tendency through much of the 1980s, and was subsequently taken to court by the Government of Margaret Thatcher.