Bristol South East by-election, 1963
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bristol South East by-election, 1963 was a by-election held on 20 August 1963 for the British House of Commons constituency of Bristol South East in the city of Bristol.
The seat had become vacant in 1961 when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Tony Benn had inherited from his father an hereditary peerage as Viscount Stansgate, thus making him ineligible to serve in the House of Commons. He had been elected at a by-election in 1950.
Benn stood in the 1961 by-election anyway, but due to his ineligibility, the Conservative Party candidate Malcolm St. Clair was declared the winner.
When the law was later changed to allow Benn to renounce his peerage, St Clair resigned his seat, triggering the 1963 by-election. Benn won again, with nearly 80% of the votes.
[edit] Votes
| Bristol South East by-election, 1963 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Tony Benn | 20,313 | 79.7 | +10.2 | |
| National Fellowship Conservative | Edward Martell | 4,834 | 19.0 | ||
| Independent | M. P. Lloyd | 287 | 1.1 | ||
| Independent | G. Pearl* | 44 | 0.2 | ||
| Majority | 15,479 | 60.7 | +21.7 | ||
| Turnout | 25,478 | 42.2 | −14.5 | ||
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | ||||
* Pearl withdrew on the eve of poll, to support Martell
[edit] See also
- Tony Benn
- Bristol South East constituency
- Bristol South East by-election, 1950
- Bristol South East by-election, 1961
- List of United Kingdom by-elections
[edit] References
- British Parliamentary by-elections, 1963: Bristol South East
- This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.
