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| This article is part of a series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the |
| Politics of Scotland |
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On 4 August 1999, NATO announced that the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Hamilton South , in Scotland, George Robertson, had been chosen as their new Secretary-General. This meant that Robertson was required to resign from his seat which he had won at the 1997 general election. The seat had fallen vacant in a Parliamentary recess, and the law does not permit a by-election to be called during a recess if the sitting member resigns by taking the Chiltern Hundreds.
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Robertson was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Robertson of Port Ellen on 24 August 1999, instantly vacating his seat. The writ for the by-election was moved immediately. The Labour Party selected Bill Tynan, a locally based trade union official, to defend the seat. The Scottish National Party, which was likely to provide the main challenge, chose Annabelle Ewing. [1] Ewing was the daughter of Winnie Ewing; who had famously defeated Labour to win the Hamilton by-election of 1967. The Scottish Socialist Party fought a strong campaign for the seat, and Stephen Mungall was nominated by a local group protesting against the ownership of the local football team, Hamilton Academical F.C.
Twelve candidates stood, which was at the time, the most at any Scottish by-election. This figure was surpassed, when thirteen candidates stood at the 2009 by-election in Glasgow North East.
Polling day for the by-election was on 23 September. The Labour Party narrowly held on to the seat, after a recount; the Liberal Democrats polled poorly, their sixth place was the worst placing at a by-election by any major party since the Conservative candidate in the 1990 Upper Bann by-election also came sixth; in by-elections in seats in Great Britain; it was the lowest since the Liberal candidate in the 1948 Glasgow Camlachie by-election also came sixth. The Scottish Socialist Party outperformed the Conservatives.