1969 Weston-super-Mare by-election

The Weston-super-Mare by-election of 27 March 1969 was held after the death of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) David Webster. The seat was retained by the Conservatives.[1]

Electoral history
General election 1966: Weston-super-Mare
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Webster 27,733 52.08
Labour Melvyn E. Butcher 15,340 28.81
Liberal Ian D. McDonald 10,173 19.11
Majority 12,393 23.27
Turnout 53,246 79.06
Conservative hold Swing

Candidates

The Conservative candidate was Alfred William (Jerry) Wiggin. Educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a farmer with holdings in Worcestershire and Peeblesshire.[2] He had previously stood as the party's candidate in Montgomeryshire in 1964 and 1966.[3]

The Weston-super-Mare Liberals selected a new candidate, 43 year-old Edward Deal. He was a local solicitor, who was a member of The Law Society and the British Legal Association. He had been educated at Uppingham School and Clare College, Cambridge. He was standing for parliament for the first time.[4]

The Labour Party selected 27 year-old Nicholas Bosanquet, an economic advisor at the National Board of Prices and Incomes. He was educated at Winchester College and Clare College, Cambridge.[5]

Result
Weston-super-Mare, 1969[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jerry Wiggin 29,211 65.71 +13.63
Liberal Edward Richard F. Deal 8,739 19.66 +0.55
Labour Nicholas Bosanquet 6,504 14.63 -14.18
Majority 20,472 46.05 +22.78
Turnout 44,454
Conservative hold Swing

Aftermath

The result was won of three Conservative wins in by-elections held that day, with the party also retaining Brighton Pavilion and gaining Walthamstow East from Labour. Across the three contests there was an average swing of 16% from Labour to Conservative, which Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Quintin Hogg noted would give his party a comfortable majority in the House of Commons if repeated at the next general election.[7] The next day's Glasgow Herald reported that the "dispiriting performance" by Labour in these first by-elections of 1969 raised questions as to when the tide would turn for the party and noted that "some Labour MPS feel in their bones" that the party could not recover to win the general election which would come within the next two years.[8]

References
  1. "Result from previous election". Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  2. 'Register: Sir Jerry Wiggin', Times, 10 April 2015.
  3. "WIGGIN, Sir Alfred William, (Sir Jerry Wiggin)". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. 2020 (online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription or UK public library membership required) (subscription required)
  4. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1970
  5. "BOSANQUET, Prof. Nicholas". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. 2020 (online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription or UK public library membership required) (subscription required)
  6. "1969 By Election Results". British Elections Ephemera Archive. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  7. "By-election treble for the Tories". The Glasgow Herald. 28 March 1969. p. 1. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  8. Our Political Correspondent (28 March 1969). "Labour still seeking turn of the tide". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 7 February 2021.


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