1969 Weston-super-Mare by-election
{{Short description|UK Parliamentary by-election}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2019}}
The Weston-super-Mare by-election of 27 March 1969 was held after the death of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) David Webster. The seat was retained by the Conservatives with an increased majority.{{Cite web |url=http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge66/i21.htm |title=Result from previous election |access-date=4 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811173827/http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge66/i21.htm |archive-date=11 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}
Electoral history
{{Election box begin | title=General election 1966: Weston-super-Mare}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Conservative Party (UK)
|candidate = David Webster
|votes = 27,733
|percentage = 52.08
|change =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Labour Party (UK)
|candidate = Melvyn E. Butcher
|votes = 15,340
|percentage = 28.81
|change =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Liberal Party (UK)
|candidate = Ian D. McDonald
|votes = 10,173
|percentage = 19.11
|change =
}}
{{Election box majority|
|votes = 12,393
|percentage = 23.27
|change =
}}
{{Election box turnout|
|votes = 53,246
|percentage = 79.06
|change =
}}
{{Election box hold with party link|
|winner = Conservative Party (UK)
|swing =
}}
{{Election box end}}
Candidates
The Conservative candidate was 32 year-old Alfred William (Jerry) Wiggin. Educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a farmer with holdings in Worcestershire and Peeblesshire.'Register: Sir Jerry Wiggin', Times, 10 April 2015. He had previously stood as the party's candidate in Montgomeryshire in 1964 and 1966.{{Who's Who | title=Wiggin, Sir Alfred William, (Sir Jerry Wiggin) | id = U39756 | type = was | volume = 2020 | edition = online}}
The Liberals selected a new candidate, 43 year-old Edward Deal. He was a local solicitor, who was a member of The Law Society and the British Legal Association. He had been educated at Uppingham School and Clare College, Cambridge. He was standing for Parliament for the first time.The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1970
The Labour Party selected 27 year-old Nicholas Bosanquet, an economic adviser at the National Board of Prices and Incomes. He was educated at Winchester College and Clare College, Cambridge.{{Who's Who | title=Bosanquet, Prof. Nicholas | id = U8151 | volume = 2020 | edition = online}}
Result
{{Election box begin | title=Weston-super-Mare, 1969{{cite web|url=http://by-elections.co.uk/69.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314034618/http://by-elections.co.uk/69.html|title=1969 By Election Results|archive-date=2012-03-14|url-status=dead|publisher=British Elections Ephemera Archive|access-date=2015-08-26}}}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Conservative Party (UK)
|candidate = Jerry Wiggin
|votes = 29,211 | percentage = 65.71 | change = +13.63
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Liberal Party (UK)
|candidate = Edward Richard F. Deal
|votes = 8,739 | percentage = 19.66 | change = +0.55
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Labour Party (UK)
|candidate = Nicholas Bosanquet
|votes = 6,504 | percentage = 14.63 | change = -14.18
}}
{{Election box majority|
|votes = 20,472
|percentage = 46.05
|change = +22.78
}}
{{Election box turnout|
|votes = 44,454
|percentage =
|change =
}}
{{Election box hold with party link|
|winner = Conservative Party (UK)
|swing =
}}
{{Election box end}}
Aftermath
The result was one of three Conservative wins in by-elections held that day, with the party also retaining Brighton Pavilion and gaining Walthamstow East from Labour. Across the three contests there was an average swing of 16% from Labour to Conservative, which Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Quintin Hogg noted would give his party a comfortable majority in the House of Commons if repeated at the next general election.{{cite news |title=By-election treble for the Tories |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19690328&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |access-date=7 February 2021 |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=28 March 1969 |page=1}} The next day's Glasgow Herald reported that the "dispiriting performance" by Labour in these first by-elections of 1969 raised questions as to when the tide would turn for the party and noted that "some Labour MPS feel in their bones" that the party could not recover to win the general election which would come within the next two years.{{cite news |last1=|title=Labour still seeking turn of the tide |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19690328&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |access-date=7 February 2021 |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=28 March 1969 |page=1}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{By-elections to the 44th UK Parliament}}
Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Somerset constituencies
Category:20th century in Somerset
{{England-UK-Parl-by-election-stub}}