1925 Oldham by-election
The 1925 Oldham by-election was a by-election held on 24 June 1925 for the House of Commons constituency of Oldham. Oldham was at that time a two-member constituency. The other seat was held by the Unionist Duff Cooper.
Vacancy
The election was triggered by the resignation of the sitting
Electoral history
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist
|
Duff Cooper | 37,419 | 31.2 | ||
Liberal | Edward Grigg | 36,761 | 30.7 | ||
Labour | William John Tout | 23,623 | 19.7 | ||
Labour | James Wilson
|
22,081 | 18.4 | ||
Majority | 13,796 | 11.5 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 119,884 | ||||
Liberal hold | Swing | ||||
Unionist gain from Labour
|
Swing |
Candidates
Liberals
The Liberals selected William Wiggins, a 54-year-old cotton manufacturer and former Mayor of Middleton in Lancashire as their candidate.[2] Wiggins had previously contested Oldham as a Liberal. He fought the 1923 general election alongside Grigg but came third and was not elected.[3]
Labour
Labour were keen to fight the by-election.[4] They had held one of the Oldham seats from 1922 to 1924 when their MP, William Tout, lost to Duff Cooper and they re-selected Tout for the by-election contest.[2]
Unionists
At the
Unionist-Liberal pact?
The Liberals and the Unionists insisted that no formal pact existed between them to stand only one candidate from each party in the two-member Oldham seat.[7] But there clearly was a tacit understanding between them. In deciding not to run a candidate at the by-election, the Oldham Unionists explained that “ ... in view of the attitude adopted by our party at the last election, we do not propose to nominate candidate at the forthcoming [by]-election ... ” [6] There was a formal, written, arrangement between the parties concerning the standing of rival candidates in local elections and it is evident that Grigg and Cooper received a large measure of support from each other’s core supporters.[8]
When Wiggins’ nomination papers were submitted it was noted that all his sponsors were known Liberals. They included Father Ivory of St Mary’s
At this stage the Unionists were careful not to be formally associated with Wiggins’ nomination or to say publicly how they would advise their supporters to vote but leading local Unionists were making no secret of their belief that normally Unionist voters would, in the circumstances of this by-election, support Wiggins as the anti-socialist candidate.[10] Once the election was under way however the Unionists did issue a manifesto urging their supporters to give their unstinting support to the Liberal candidate.[11]
Issues
Wiggins
Wiggins said before the election writ was issued that he wished to make finance, particularly the government’s duties on silk, a central point of his campaign. This was consistent with his declared position as a Free Trader but was also designed to help the Oldham Unionist Association with their decision on whether to run a candidate or not. Like Wiggins, many local Unionists were prominent in the cotton trade and were against having to pay duties on silk and artificial silk.[8] He also told the Oldham Liberals that he would vote against any proposed expansion of the Safeguarding of Industries Act another pledge which he knew would find support amongst both traditional Liberals and free trade Unionists.[6]
For Wiggins however, the essential battleground of the election was the struggle between what he and the Unionists regarded as Constitutional government and socialism. Wiggins argued that Tout believed in the
Tout
Tout’s job as an opposition candidate was to attack the government of
Party expectations
The Liberals would have hoped that the 36,761 votes polled by Grigg in 1924 would pass on to Wiggins in a two-party contest with Labour. Tout's poll of 23,623 in 1924 would be unlikely to seriously challenge the Liberals. The notional Liberal v Labour result in 1924, in terms of a percentage poll was Liberal 60.9 and Labour 39.1.
Result
The result was a Liberal hold but by a reduced majority over that obtained at the previous general election. The turn out was 66% as opposed to 83% in 1924.[3] Compared to the notional 1924 percentage, this result was a good one for the Labour Party;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | William Wiggins | 26,325 | 54.8 | -6.1 | |
Labour | William John Tout | 21,702 | 45.2 | +6.1 | |
Majority | 4,623 | 9.6 | |||
Turnout | 48,027 | ||||
Liberal hold | Swing | -6.1 |
See also
References
- ^ a b The Times, 28 May 1925 p14
- ^ a b The Times, 5 June 1925 p14
- ^ a b F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918–1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p211
- ^ The Times, 29 May 1925 p14
- ^ Chris Cook, The Age of Alignment: Electoral Politics in Britain 1922–1929; Macmillan, 1975 p99
- ^ a b c The Times, 12 June 1925 p18
- ^ a b The Times, 20 June 1925 p10
- ^ a b The Times, 30 May 1925 p14
- ^ a b c The Times, 24 June 1925 p9
- ^ The Times, 17 June 1925 p18
- ^ The Times, 23 June 1925 p18
- ^ a b The Times, 16 June 1925 p10
- ^ The Times, 22 June 1925 p16
- ^ Friday, Jun 19, 1925; pg. 13