Glasgow Pollok by-election, 1967

Glasgow Pollok by-election, 1967
9 March 1967

 
Candidate Esmond Wright Dick Douglas George Leslie
Party Conservative Labour SNP
Popular vote 14,270 12,069 10,884
Percentage 36.9 31.2 28.2
Map showing the Glasgow Pollok Parliamentary constituency within Scotland.
MP before election

Alex Garrow
Labour

 Subsequent MP

Esmond Wright
Conservative

The Glasgow Pollok by-election of 9 March 1967 was held after the death of Labour MP (MP) Alex Garrow:[1]

The seat was marginal, having been won by Labour at the United Kingdom general election, 1966 by under 2,000 votes[2]

Candidates

  • Esmond Wright for the Conservatives was a historian and author
  • Labour nominated local councillor and campaigner Dick Douglas
  • The Scottish National Party nominated George Leslie, who had trained as a vet after studying at Glasgow University.
  • The local Liberal Party association nominated Ian Miller
  • The Communists chose Alex Murray, their Scottish Secretary

Result of the previous general election

General Election 1966: Glasgow Pollok
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Alex Garrow 21,257 52.44
Conservative P T Smollett 19,282 47.56
Majority 1,975 4,87 -

Result of the by-election

Glasgow Pollok by-election, 9 March 1967
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Esmond Wright 14,270 36.92 Decrease10.64
Labour Dick Douglas 12,069 31.22 Decrease21.22
SNP George Leslie 10,884 28.16 N/A
Liberal Ian Miller 735 1.90 N/A
Communist Alexander Murray 694 1.80 N/A
Majority 2,208 5.7
Turnout 38,652
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Both main parties lost votes compared with the previous general election due to the good showing of the SNP, who recorded what was then their best result in a Glasgow constituency. However, as the Conservatives had predicted, the SNP drew more votes from Labour, allowing Wright to gain the seat with a majority of 2,201.[3] It was the first time the Conservatives had gained a seat in Scotland since the 1959 General election and the party's first by-election gain since the Glasgow Camlachie by-election in 1948.[3] The Glasgow Herald suggested that the result would be claimed as a turning point by the Conservatives in Scotland, while Labour would have to eat "a lot of campaign words", have predicted an increased majority and a lost SNP deposit.[3] Having almost pushed Labour into third place the result was described by the same newspaper as a "triumph" for the SNP, who had not previously contested the constituency, while the poor showing by the Liberals was labelled "a disaster".[3]

References

  1. ↑ Full results Archived 29 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Election results PoliticsResources.net
  3. 1 2 3 4 Staff Reporter (10 March 1967). "Tories win Pollock by 2201 votes". The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
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