Bedford by-election, 1921

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The Bedford by-election, 1921 was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Bedford on 23 April 1921.

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

House of Commons of the United Kingdom lower house in the Parliament of the United Kingdom

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster. Officially, the full name of the house is the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. Owing to shortage of space, its office accommodation extends into Portcullis House.

Bedford (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1997 onwards

Bedford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2017 general election by Mohammad Yasin of the Labour Party. The seat dates to the earliest century of regular parliaments, in 1295; its double representation was halved in 1885, then being altered by the later-termed Third Reform Act in 1918.

Contents

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the appointment of the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for Bedford, Frederick Kellaway, to the office of Postmaster General. [1] Under the Parliamentary procedures of the day, he was obliged to resign his seat and fight a by-election.

Frederick Kellaway British politician

Frederick George Kellaway PC, often called F. G. Kellaway, was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom, and Member of Parliament for Bedford from December 1910 to 1922.

Candidates

Kellaway, who was originally a journalist by profession, [2] had first been elected as Liberal MP for Bedford at the general election of December 1910, narrowly beating the sitting Unionist member, Walter Annis Attenborough. After 1916, Kellaway supported the Coalition government of David Lloyd George and held ministerial office at the Ministry of Munitions and as Secretary for Overseas Trade. At the 1918 general election he was awarded the Coalition coupon and easily held his seat in a straight fight with an Independent candidate. [3] He was again described as a Coalition Liberal for the by-election and was supported by both local Liberals and Unionists. [4]

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.

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.

He was opposed for Labour by Frederick Fox Riley, an assistant secretary of the Union of Post Office Workers. [5] Riley stood for Parliament a number of times for Labour and was later MP for Stockton-on-Tees from 1929-31.

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.

Frederick Fox Riley was a British trade unionist and politician.

Stockton-on-Tees (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Stockton-on-Tees is a former borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Issues

Kellaway’s election address announced that he was a ruthless enemy of waste in all areas of public expenditure. In his own field, the General Post Office, he declared a policy of making the GPO self-sufficient. He was also pressed by electors on the expansion of telephone services to rural areas. Riley questioned the government’s policy towards Ireland, especially its repression of nationalist protest and called for a capital levy to help reduce the national debt. [6] The coal dispute was also an issue which dominated debate. [7]

General Post Office postal system in the United Kingdom

The General Post Office (GPO) was officially established in England in 1660 by Charles II and it eventually grew to combine the functions of state postal system and telecommunications carrier. Similar General Post Offices were established across the British Empire. In 1969 the GPO was abolished and the assets transferred to The Post Office, changing it from a Department of State to a statutory corporation. In 1980, the telecommunications and postal sides were split prior to British Telecommunications' conversion into a totally separate publicly owned corporation the following year as a result of the British Telecommunications Act 1981. For the more recent history of the postal system in the United Kingdom, see the articles Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd.

Ireland Island in north-west Europe, 20th largest in world, politically divided into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (a part of the UK)

Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth.

Government debt debt owed by a central government

Government debt contrasts to the annual government budget deficit, which is a flow variable that equals the difference between government receipts and spending in a single year. The debt is a stock variable, measured at a specific point in time, and it is the accumulation of all prior deficits.

In his letter of support for Kellaway the prime minister described the Coalition as an example of a government committed to all regardless of class, clearly making a contrast with the centre-right view of Labour as a socialist and sectarian party. Lloyd George also attacked Labour for fomenting industrial strife and so threatening national unity against the interests of working people. [8] To emphasise this distinction Kellaway told the electorate that the choice was between the red flag of revolution and the Union Jack. [9]

Red flag (politics) symbol of Socialism, Communism, and left-wing politics

In politics, a red flag is predominantly a symbol of socialism, communism, Marxism, trade unions, left-wing politics, and historically of anarchism; it has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution (1789–99). Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its use by the Paris Commune of 1871. The flags of several communist states, including China, Vietnam and the Soviet Union, are explicitly based on the original red flag. The red flag is also used as a symbol by some democratic socialists and social democrats, for example the League of Social Democrats of Hong Kong, French Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The Labour Party in Britain used it until the late 1980s. It was the inspiration for the socialist anthem, The Red Flag.

Union Jack national flag of the United Kingdom

The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the national flag of the United Kingdom. The flag also has a semi-official status in Canada, by parliamentary resolution, where it is known as the Royal Union Flag. Additionally, it is used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas territories. The Union Flag also appears in the canton of the flags of several nations and territories that are former British possessions or dominions, as well as the state flag of Hawaii.

Dame Margaret Lloyd George campaigned in the by-election on behalf of the Coalition. Permission was apparently given for schoolchildren to take time off lessons to cheer her and sing for her and to parade in several of the constituency’s villages. The Bedfordshire Education Committee felt obliged to set up an inquiry into how consent for this was granted. [10]

The result

In what was described as a high turn-out, particularly amongst women voters [11] Kellaway retained his seat but by a reduced majority. The by-election turn-out was 73% as opposed to 45% at the general election. At the previous general election Kellaway had had a majority of 6,837 over an Independent candidate. His by-election majority over Labour was 4,666. [12] Kellaway declared the result a triumph for Parliamentary government and against direct action, nationalization or other ‘foreign fads introduced into the country’. Riley said the heavy Labour poll was a victory in itself and looked forward to closer election results in the constituency in times to come. [13]

The Votes

Bedford by-election, 1921
PartyCandidateVotes%±
C Liberal Frederick Kellaway 14,397 59.7
Labour Frederick Fox Riley 9,731 40.3
Majority 4,666 19.4
Liberal hold Swing
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

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References

  1. ↑ The Times, 6 April 1921 p14
  2. ↑ The Times House of Commons 1911; Politico’s Publishing, 2004 p32
  3. ↑ The Times House of Commons 1919; Politico’s Publishing, 2004 p46
  4. ↑ The Times, 15 April 1921 p7
  5. ↑ The Times, 15 April 1921 p7
  6. ↑ The Times, 16 April 1921 p5
  7. ↑ The Times, 25 April 1921 p7
  8. ↑ The Times, 18 April 1921 p7
  9. ↑ The Times, 22 April 1921 p7
  10. ↑ The Times, 23 April 1921 p7
  11. ↑ The Times, 25 April 1921 p7
  12. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1914 p289
  13. ↑ The Times, 26 April 1921 p10

See also

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