When did the Lib Dems last lose a seat in a by-election?
- 3 Jun 08, 05:02 PM
The answer to the question in yesterday's post is the 1957 Carmarthen by-election, which many Liberals regard as the nadir of their party's fortunes (they were left with just five seats in the Commons).
The wound hurt all the more for two reasons: 1) It was delivered by Megan Lloyd-George, daughter of the great Liberal Prime Minister, who had defected to the Labour Party before the 1955 General Election; and 2) One of the issues was the Suez war which the Liberal Party opposed but its candidate supported.
Prior to that there was the October 1934 Lambeth North by-election, also a loss to Labour. The last by-election loss to the Conservatives was the March 1926 Combined English Universities by-election.
If Mark Oaten is negotiating, his hand is very strong. A loss to the Conservatives at a by-election would be almost impossible for his party to explain away.
Comment number 1.
At 3rd Jun 2008, grumpy-jon wrote:Hello Michael,
Should the Lib-Dems lose such a by-election, and should they then need to explain this away, they could do worse than approach Oaten himself. He enjoyed at least limited success with his excuse-making after the rent-boy unpleasantness.
I wonder if you find it slightly surprising, as I do, that Nick Clegg hasn't clicked in any real way with voters, as yet. In many respects, he would seem to be an attractive political figure, and while some fugitives from New Labour are naturally turning to David Cameron's Conservatives, one might have expected that left-of the-New-Labour spectrum refugees might have stopped off at the Lib-Dems.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 3rd Jun 2008, David Boothroyd wrote:It has to be commented that there haven't been a lot of byelections where Liberals were defending. Since 1945 there have only been five, although a sixth could possibly be added:
28th February 1957: Carmarthen (Labour gain)
15th May 1962: Montgomery (Liberal hold)
(3rd June 1982: Mitcham and Morden (Conservative gain from SDP))
12th March 1987: Truro (Liberal hold)
20th November 1997: Winchester (Liberal Democrat hold)
14th July 2005: Cheadle (Liberal Democrat hold)
Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)
Comment number 3.
At 15th Jun 2008, dennisjunior1 wrote:I can not answer this question?!
sorry.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)