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Constituency of Birmingham Stechford | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1977 Birmingham Stechford by-election, in Birmingham, on 31 March 1977 was held after Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Roy Jenkins resigned his seat following his appointment as President of the European Commission. A seat that had been solidly Labour since its formation in 1950, it was won by Andrew MacKay of the Conservative Party, before being regained by Labour in 1979. The by-election was noted for the strong performance of the National Front candidate and the presence of two far left candidates.[1]
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Background
As a leading Labour sitting MP Roy Jenkins had hoped to become Foreign Secretary in the government of James Callaghan but was overlooked in favour of Anthony Crosland.[2] Following this Jenkins was nominated as President of the European Commission in succession to François-Xavier Ortoli, a move which necessitated his departure from Parliament.
Candidates
With the seat being solid Labour Party territory the by-election presented the possibility of a return to Parliament for Terry Davis, who had served as member for the defunct Bromsgrove seat from a by-election in 1971 until its abolition in 1974. Davis however failed to take the seat and began a pattern for the ailing Labour government who also lost the next by-election in Ashfield when David Marquand followed Jenkins to a role in the Commission.[3]
It also left the governing Labour Party without a majority and resulted in a vote of no confidence being issued, although the government won and was able to cling onto power by forming a pact with the Liberals.[4]
The Conservative candidate Andrew MacKay won the election with a majority of nearly 2,000, although ultimately he would only hold the seat until 1979 when it was regained for Labour.[5] MacKay would go on to enjoy a long parliamentary career representing a number of constituencies.
The Liberal Party candidate was Graham Gopsill, a Birmingham councillor who finished the by-election in a lowly fourth place. Gopsill would later serve the Liberal Democrats in Droitwich Spa until his death in 2009.[6] He was beaten into fourth by National Front candidate Andrew Brons, a veteran of a number of far right movements and member of the NF National Directorate who eventually became NF chairman in 1980.[7] Other candidates to appear on the ballot were leftists Brian Heron of the International Marxist Group and journalist Paul Foot for the Socialist Workers Party.
Result
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Andrew MacKay | 15,731 | 43.4 | +15.6 | |
| Labour | Terry Davis | 13,782 | 38.0 | -19.6 | |
| National Front | Andrew Brons | 2,955 | 8.2 | New | |
| Liberal | Graham Gopsill | 2,901 | 8.0 | -6.6 | |
| International Marxist | Brian Heron | 494 | 1.4 | New | |
| Socialist Workers | Paul Foot | 377 | 1.0 | New | |
| Majority | 1,949 | 5.4 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 36,240 | ||||
| Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Roy Jenkins | 23,075 | 57.6 | +4.5 | |
| Conservative | D. Wedgwood | 11,152 | 27.8 | -2.4 | |
| Liberal | Graham Gopsill | 5,860 | 14.6 | -1.4 | |
| Majority | 11,923 | 29.8 | +6.8 | ||
| Turnout | 40,087 | 64.1 | -8.0 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
References
- ^ Full results Archived 12 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Rosen, Greg (2001) Dictionary of Labour Biography, Politicos, p. 318
- ^ 1977 by-elections Archived 12 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ BBC News
- ^ "1979 results". Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
- ^ Obituary from local Liberal Democrats site Archived 2 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Duncan Campbell, 'Andrew Brons, the genteel face of neo-fascism', The Guardian 8 June 2009
- ^ "1977 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
This page was last edited on 9 March 2024, at 02:24