The 1935 Liverpool Wavertree by-election was a by-election held in England for the House of Commons constituency of Liverpool Wavertree on 6 February 1935. It was won by the Labour Party candidate Joseph Cleary.

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant when the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), Ronald Nall-Cain had succeeded to the peerage as Baron Brocket. He had held the seat since a by-election in 1931.

Electoral history

General election October 1931: Liverpool Wavertree
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ronald Nall-Cain 33,476 77.9 +12.9
Labour C. G. Clark 9,504 22.1 −12.9
Majority 23,972 55.8 +25.8
Turnout 42,980 75.2
Conservative hold Swing +12.9

Candidates

The Conservative candidate was James Platt, but Randolph Churchill (son of the future Prime Minister Winston Churchill) stood as an "independent Conservative". The Labour Party candidate was 32-year-old Joseph Cleary, a local magistrate.

The Liberal Party selected 49 year-old Liverpool solicitor, Tudor Artro Morris as their candidate. Morris had contested Wallasey for the Liberals at the 1922 and 1923 general elections. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute and Liverpool University.[1]

Result

With the Conservative vote split between the official candidate and the independent Churchill, the result was a victory for the Labour candidate, Joseph Jackson Cleary, who took the seat on a swing of 30%.

Liverpool Wavertree by-election, 1935
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Joseph Cleary 15,611 35.3 +13.2
Conservative James Platt 13,711 31.2 −46.7
Ind. Conservative Randolph Churchill 10,575 23.9 New
Liberal Tudor Artro Morris 4,208 9.5 New
Majority 1,840 4.1 N/A
Turnout 44,165 72.3 −2.9
Labour gain from Conservative Swing −30.0

Aftermath

Cleary was unseated at the 1935 general election by the Conservative Peter Shaw, who held the seat until he stood down at the 1945 general election.

See also

Sources

  1. ↑ The Liberal Year Book, 1927
  • Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  • Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.