Callaghan’s New Dawn?

Abstract

Electoral volatility at by-elections is a strong feature of recent British politics. Harold Macmillan in the days of ‘you’ve never had it so good’ saw Torrington and Orpington fall to the Liberals and Mr Heath’s government faced a series of by-election debacles at the hands of the Liberals. Between 1964 and 1970 Labour’s by-election performances, with one or two exceptions, were abject. However until 1974 governments could take by-election losses in their stride because their overall majority was sufficiently comfortable to allow them to do so. Even Labour’s loss of Leyton in 1965, while humiliating for Patrick Gordon Walker, did not precipitate a threatened general election.