1920 Northampton by-election
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The 1920 Northampton by-election was a parliamentary
Vacancy
The by-election was caused by the appointment of the sitting
Candidates
Liberals
The Northampton Liberals agreed to support McCurdy, although the mood in the association was reported as being strongly in favour of the maintenance of the Liberal Party as an independent political force and wary of any moves which might involve fusion with the Coalition Conservatives or the creation of a Centre Party.[2]
Conservatives
The
Labour
The Labour Party chose as their candidate Mrs Margaret Bondfield. Mrs Bondfield was originally a textiles worker who became a trade union official for the Shop Assistants' Union. She was also a founder-member and an officer of the Women's Labour League. She went on to become one of the first women elected to Parliament for Labour and the Britain’s first female Cabinet Minister.[4]
Issues
Given Mc Curdy’s appointment the price of food was an early campaign issue with Labour attacking the government for high prices and McCurdy defending the actions of the Coalition in setting up a committee to investigate the price of food and the level of
In her
In his election address, issued on 27 March 1920, McCurdy dealt exclusively with questions of food control and profiteering. He linked his appointment as Food Minister and the measures the government were taking with the issue of high prices. If he were re-elected, he argued, it would be a blow against the exploitation of the consumer and against the profiteer. In view of his personal commitment to the job, Labour was finding it hard to paint McCurdy as a friend of the profit-mongers.[8]
The result
McCurdy held his seat with a reduced majority (down to 3,371 from 7,275 at the
The result was also good news for Lloyd George who was pleased to see his newly appointed ministers being returned successfully to Parliament. By-election results early in the life of the government had not gone so well and Northampton and other results were regarded as something of a revival in government fortunes.
The votes
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | Liberal | Charles McCurdy | 16,650 | 55.6 | -7.1 |
Labour | Margaret Bondfield | 13,279 | 44.4 | +7.1 | |
Majority | 3,371 | 11.2 | -14.2 | ||
Turnout | 29,929 | 67.1 | +4.6 | ||
Liberal hold | Swing | -7.1 | |||
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government. |
See also
- List of United Kingdom by-elections
- United Kingdom by-election records
References
- ^ The Times, 18 March 1920 p16
- ^ The Times, 24 March 1920 p18
- ^ The Times, 26 March 1920 p11
- ^ Philip Williamson, Margaret Bondfield in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online, 2004-09
- ^ The Times, 22 March 1920 p11
- ^ The Times, 25 March 1920 p18
- ^ The Times, 26 March 1920 p11
- ^ The Times, 27 March 1920 p11
- ^ The Times, 13 April 1920 p14
- ^ The Times, 15 April 1920 p17
- ^ The Times, 16 April 1920 p15
- K O Morgan, Consensus and Disunity: The Lloyd George Coalition Government 1918-1922; OUP 1979 p202
- ^ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p205