Abstract
Until 1966, it had for many years been a rare exception for a seat to change hands in a by-election. The Labour Governments of 1945–51 lost only one seat. The Conservatives survived over five years after their return to power without any casualties, and actually picked up a seat from Labour in May 1953 — the first time since 1924 that the government had captured a seat from the opposition at a by-election. In the whole of their thirteen years the Conservatives lost only 10 seats — 8 to Labour, 2 to the Liberals.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
List of Sources
For a similar opinion, see Lord Wigg, George Wigg (1972).
For a contrary view, see A. W. Singham, in D. E. Butler and A. King, The British General Election of 1964 (1956) pp. 363–4. Gordon Walker may also have been accident-prone. When NOP were carrying out an inquest on their inaccurate poll in Leyton, one elderly lady told them she had decided not to vote Labour after learning at the last minute who their candidate was. ‘It was that Lucky Gordon Walker’, she explained, ‘that was in the Christine Keeler case.’
Michael Steed, in D. E. Butler and A. King, The British General Election of 1966 (1966) p. 290.
Iain McLean, The Rise and Fall of the Scottish National Party, offprinted from Political Studies (Oxford, 1970).
Ibid., p. 364. See also James Kellas, in D. E. Butler and M. Pinto-Duschinsky, The British General Election of 1970 (1971).
J. P. Mackintosh, The Devolution of Power (1968).
See the analysis in D. E. Butler and D. Stokes, Political Change in Britain (1969) pp. 436–7.
See Anthony King, ‘Why All Governments Lose By-Elections, New Society, 21 Mar 1968.
David McKie, ‘Two-way Politics’, Guardian, 20 July 1968.
Robert Rhodes James, Ambitions and Realities (1972) pp. 124–30.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1973 David McKie
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McKie, D. (1973). By-Elections of the Wilson Government. In: Cook, C., Ramsden, J. (eds) By-Elections in British Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-01707-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-01707-2_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-01709-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-01707-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)