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Constituency of Leeds South | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1963 Leeds South by-election was held on Thursday 20 June 1963. It was held due to the death of the incumbent MP and Leader of the Labour Party, Hugh Gaitskell. The by-election was won by the Labour candidate, Merlyn Rees who would later become a Cabinet minister. Had Gaitskell lived to contest the 1964 general election, it has been predicted that Gaitskell would have won the election for Labour and became the next Prime Minister. Some supporters of the late Hugh Gaitskell describe him as "the best Prime Minister Britain never had".
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
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Labour | Merlyn Rees | 18,785 | 62.93 | +4.37 | |
Conservative | J. Udal | 5,996 | 20.09 | -10.95 | |
Liberal | B. Walsh | 4,399 | 14.74 | +4.34 | |
Communist | Bert Ramelson | 670 | 2.24 | New | |
Majority | 12,789 | 42.84 | +15.32 | ||
Turnout | 29,850 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
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