Battersea North by-election, 1946

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The Battersea North by-election, 1946 was a parliamentary by-election held on 25 July 1946 for the British House of Commons constituency of Battersea North in the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea.

By-elections, also spelled bye-elections, are used to fill elected offices that have become vacant between general elections.

United Kingdom constituencies electoral area in the UK (do not use in P31; use subclasses of this instead)

In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elect one member to a parliament or assembly, with the exception of European Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies which are multi member constituencies.

Battersea North was a parliamentary constituency in the then Metropolitan Borough of Battersea in South London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

Contents

The seat had become vacant on the resignation from the House of Common of the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Francis Douglas, who had been appointed as Governor of Malta and ennobled as Baron Douglas of Barloch. He had held the seat since a by-election in 1940.

Members of Parliament (MPs) sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically not permitted to resign their seats. To circumvent this prohibition, MPs who wish to resign can ask to be appointed to an "office of profit under the Crown", disqualifying them from sitting as MPs. While offices of profit are no longer disqualifying in general, various offices that no longer have duties associated with them still cause disqualification from and vacation of the seat.

The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom which has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The party's platform emphasises greater state intervention, social justice and strengthening workers' rights.

Francis Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Barloch British politician

Francis Campbell Ross Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Barloch KCMG, was a British journalist, solicitor and Labour Party politician.

Candidates

The Labour Party selected as its candidate Douglas Jay, a 39-year-old economist who had been a financial journalist, a Fellow of All Souls and then (from 1941) a civil servant.

The Conservative Party candidate was B.A. Shattock, while the Liberal Party did not field a candidate.

Conservative Party (UK) Political party in the United Kingdom

The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom. Presently led by Theresa May, it has been the governing party since 2010. It presently has 314 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 249 members of the House of Lords, and 18 members of the European Parliament. It also has 31 Members of the Scottish Parliament, 12 members of the Welsh Assembly, eight members of the London Assembly and 9,008 local councillors. One of the major parties of UK politics, it has formed the government on 45 occasions, more than any other party.

Liberal Party (UK) political party of the United Kingdom, 1859–1988

The Liberal Party was one of the two major parties in the United Kingdom with the opposing Conservative Party in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The party arose from an alliance of Whigs and free trade Peelites and Radicals favourable to the ideals of the American and French Revolutions in the 1850s. By the end of the 19th century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite being divided over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to government in 1905 and then won a landslide victory in the following year's general election.

The third candidate was 38-year-old Trotskyite and adult education tutor, Hugo Dewar of the Independent Labour Party (ILP). He had joined the ILP in 1928, and in 1930 co-founded the Marxist League. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1931, but was expelled the following year. He was one of the founders in 1932 of the Communist League, Britain's first Trotskyist group, and had remained active in 'Left Opposition' groups until he was drafted into the army in 1943. [1]

Hugo Dewar was a Trotskyist activist influential in founding many of the early British Trotskyist groups.

Independent Labour Party UK political party

The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893, when the Liberals appeared reluctant to endorse working-class candidates, representing the interests of the majority. A sitting independent MP and prominent union organiser, Keir Hardie, became its first chairman.

Communist Party of Great Britain communist party in Great Britain dissolved in 1991

The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was a British communist party which was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.

Results

On a turnout reduced to 55% from the 71% at the 1945 general election, Jay held the seat for Labour with 69% of votes, a small reduction from the 74% won by his predecessor in 1945. Shattock's 29.6% share was a small increase on the 26.1% Conservative vote the previous year, while Dewar won only 240 votes (1.5%) of the total, and lost his deposit.

Aftermath

Jay joined the government the following year as Economic Secretary to the Treasury, and held several other government offices before his retirement from the House of Commons in 1983. He was made a life peer in 1987.

Votes

General Election 1945: Battersea North [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour Francis Douglas 14,070 73.9
Conservative J G W Paget 4,969 26.1
Majority 9,101 47.8
Turnout 10,738 25.1
Labour hold Swing
Battersea North by-election, 1946 [3] [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour Douglas Jay 11,329 68.9−5.0
Conservative B A Shattock 4,858 29.6 +3.5
Ind. Labour Party Hugo Dewar 240 1.5 N/A
Majority 6,471 39.3−8.5
Turnout 16427 55.4
Labour hold Swing

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Papers of Hugo Dewar, Trotskyist (1871-1891)". Trotskyist Sources at the Modern Records Centre. Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick . Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  2. ↑ "UK General Election results July 1945". United Kingdom General Election results. University of Keele. 2008. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  3. ↑ No change at N. Battersea, The Times, July 26, 1946, p.4
  4. ↑ "1946 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2015-08-12.

Sources

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