1977 City of London and Westminster South by-election

The City of London and Westminster South by-election on 24 February 1977 was held after Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Christopher Tugendhat resigned the seat upon his appointment to the European Commission. A safe Conservative seat, it was won by their candidate, Peter Brooke.[1]

Candidates

The election was contested by a record ten candidates, beating the nine who had contested the 1976 Walsall North by-election. This total was topped at the 1978 Lambeth Central by-election. The candidates were:

  • Bill Boaks stood under the title "Air, Road, Public Safety, White Resident". Boaks was a road safety campaigner and serial by-election candidate.
  • Peter Brooke, a graduate of Harvard Business School was the Conservative Party candidate.
  • Dennis Delderfield was the candidate for the New Britain Party, of which he was founder and leader. Delderfield was also a common councilman of the Corporation of London.[2]
  • Ralph Herbert was an independent who stood under the title "Christ, Crown, Country, Commonwealth, Christian Constitution".
  • Paul Kavanagh was the candidate for the National Front.
  • Michael Lobb was the candidate for the National Party, a splinter group of the National Front. He was candidate for the National Front in Newham South in the February 1974 general election[3] and the subsequent by-election in the same seat.[4]
  • Peter Mitchell stood under the banner "Pro-Homosexual Civil Rights". He was involved in the Campaign for Homosexual Equality pressure group.[5]
  • Malcolm Noble was the Labour Party candidate.
  • Angus Scrimgeour was the Liberal Party candidate.
  • William Thompson was an independent who stood under the title "Christian Outreach to Britain, Anti-Pornography".

Aftermath

Brooke would retain the seat at the 1979 general election, and hold it until his retirement at the 2001 general election (it reverted to its former name of Cities of London and Westminster in 1997). He held a number of front-bench Government posts during his tenure, including Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Results
City of London and Westminster South by-election, 1977[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Peter Brooke 11,926 55.49 +3.79
Labour Malcolm Noble 3,997 18.60 -12.40
Liberal Angus Scrimgeour 1,981 9.22 -5.68
National Front Paul Kavanagh 1,051 4.89 +2.39
Pro-Homosexual Civil Rights Peter Mitchel 449 2.09 N/A
National Party Michael Lobb 364 1.69 N/A
New Britain Dennis Delderfield 306 1.42 N/A
Air, Road, Public Safety, White Resident Bill Boaks 61 0.28 N/A
Christian Outreach to Britain, Anti-Pornography William Thompson 43 0.20 N/A
Christ, Crown, Country, Commonwealth, Christian Constitution Ralph Herbert 37 0.17 N/A
Majority 7,929 39.23 +18.43
Turnout 20,215 39.60 -15.60
Registered electors
Conservative hold Swing

The results for the previous election were:[7]

General election October 1974: City of London and Westminster South
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Christopher Tugendhat 14,350 51.7 -1.5
Labour Phil Turner 8,589 31.0 +3.7
Liberal T. G. Underwood 4,122 14.9 -4.0
National Front D. Baxter 686 2.5 N/A
Majority 5,761 20.8 -5.1
Turnout 27,747 53.2 -8.2
Registered electors 52,170
Conservative hold Swing

See also

References
  1. 1977 Full result Archived 12 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Boothroyd, David Politico's Guide to the History of British Political Parties (2001), p207
  3. "February 1974 general election results". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  4. Newham South by-election 1974 result Archived 14 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Hall-Carpenter Archives
  6. "1977 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  7. "October 1974 general election results". Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
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