1954 Inverness by-election
The 1954 Inverness by-election was a
The by-election was caused by the
The result was a victory for the Unionist candidate
The constituency
In 1954 the constituency of Inverness was one of the largest Parliamentary constituencies in Britain[1] spread across 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2) of Scottish Highland, from the county town of Inverness to the west coast of Scotland and included the Isle of Skye and some nearby islands. More than half the electorate lived in the town of Inverness itself however.[2]
Candidates
The Tories chose as their representative the 36-year-old,
Election issues
The first political controversy to emerge in relation to Inverness was the timing of the by-election itself. Labour in particular objected to what they called 'the sharp practice' of moving the by-election writ by the Tories when they did, based on the deliberate shortening of campaign time this would mean for opposition candidates, especially in a geographically large and electorally scattered constituency and at a difficult time of year - the dead of winter and just before Christmas.[5] According to one account in a national newspaper the topical issues were the problems of depopulation, transport and midges.[6] However the Liberal candidate, John Bannerman, based his campaign on support for Home Rule for Scotland[7] and an increase in old age pensions.[8] Paterson received a letter of support from former prime minister Clement Attlee reminding voters that the Labour Party in office had developed hydro-electric power and a great programme of afforestation in the Highlands.[9]
Votes
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Neil McLean
|
10,329 | 41.4 | -23.1 | |
Liberal | John Bannerman | 8,998 | 36.0 | New | |
Labour | William Paterson | 5,642 | 22.6 | -12.9 | |
Majority | 1,331 | 5.4 | -23.7 | ||
Turnout | 24,959 | 49.2 | -20.1 | ||
Unionist hold | Swing |
Impact
The by-election result caused little stir at the time, although the Liberals were clearly pleased with their performance given they had not fought the seat in 1951 and had pushed Labour into third place. It does however seem that Inverness served as a portent of what was to come in Scotland over the next few general elections. One historian has commented that the "...Conservative Party was to suffer in the following decades from the effects of growing support for home rule, later translated into support for the Scottish National Party and a rise in support for the Liberals and Labour."[11] Despite the opinion in The Times newspaper that ‘...it is possible to argue that if the Liberals could not recover Inverness this time, when all the circumstances and candidate favoured them, their best days there seem to be over for good'[12] the Inverness result also pre-figured the Liberal revival of the late 1950s and 1960s when under the leadership of Jo Grimond the party won its first by-election victory since 1929 at Torrington in 1958 and more spectacularly at Orpington in 1962. As already noted, the Liberals best days in Inverness were hardly behind them as they won the seat in 1964 and the Liberal Democrats‘ Danny Alexander held the equivalent constituency until the 2015 general election.
See also
- 1922 Inverness by-election
- Inverness constituency
- Lists of United Kingdom by-elections
- Murdoch Macdonald
References
- ^ The Times, 4 December 1954, p. 6
- ^ Alun Wyburn Powell, The Inverness turning point; in Journal of Liberal History, Issue 53 Winter 2006-07 pp. 18–25
- ^ The Times, 11 December 1954 p. 3
- ^ The Times, 13 December 1954 p. 4
- ^ The Times, 4 December 1954 p. 6
- ^ The Times, 11 December 1954 p. 3
- ^ The Times, 15 December 1954 p5 & 18 December 1954 p. 3
- ^ Wyburn Powell, op cit
- ^ The Times, 17 December 1954 p. 4
- ^ "1954 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- ^ Wyburn Powell, op cit
- ^ The Times, 24 December 1954
- Inverness by-election result
- Bannerman: The Memoirs of Lord Bannerman of Kildonan, edited by John Fowler; (Impulse Books, Aberdeen, 1972)
- Chris Cook & John Ramsden, By-elections in British Politics; UCL Press, 1997 p. 286