Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles by-election, 1965

The Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles by-election was significant in that it led to the election of David Steel, who went on to lead the Liberal Party, to the British House of Commons for the first time. As such it was a milestone in the revival of that party's political fortunes from their nadir in the 1950s.

Background

Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, a large rural constituency in the Scottish borders, had been safely Conservative for many years. The Liberal Party's 26-year-old candidate David Steel had dramatically cut Commander Charles Donaldson's majority in the general election of October 1964. When Donaldson died some months later it was clear that the ensuing by-election represented an opportunity for the Liberals to repeat previous by-election triumphs in Torrington and Orpington. However, the Conservatives were now in opposition rather than in government and the party's standing in the constituency was thought to have been further bolstered as their leader, Sir Alec Douglas-Home was himself a Scot, representing the rather similar constituency of Kinross and West Perthshire to the north.

Result

The election was held on Wednesday 24 March 1965. The result was a major defeat for the Conservatives. The votes cast were as follows:

Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles By-Election March 1965^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	David M S Steel	21,549	49.2	+ 10.4
	Conservative	Robert L McEwen	16,942	38.6	- 4.2
	Labour	Ronald K Murray	4,936	11.2	- 4.6
	Independent Scottish Nationalist	A J C Kerr	411	0.9	- 1.6
Majority			4,607	10.5
Turnout			43,838	81.5%	- 0.7
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	7.3

Reaction

This defeat was seen as a huge setback for the Conservatives, coming on top of their defeat in the general election the previous year and wiping out the boost they had received in the Leyton by-election, 1965. Douglas-Home resigned as leader shortly afterwards, and in the first election for party leader from amongst the Conservative MPs, was replaced by Edward Heath.

Although the Labour candidate lost his deposit, the governing party enjoyed the Conservatives' discomfort, and the result represented a turning point in the government's political fortunes after a very uncertain opening few months. For the Liberals, the acquisition of a talented young MP was still rare enough to be extremely welcome. Steel soon made a national impression and it was his Private Member's Bill which led to the legalisation of abortion in 1967. He would go on to represent the area at Westminster until 1997.

References

↑ "1965 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2015-08-19.

External links

« 42nd Parliament « By-elections to the 43rd Parliament of the United Kingdom » 44th Parliament »

1965	January: Leyton Nuneaton February: Altrincham and Sale East Grinstead Salisbury March: Saffron Walden Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles April: Abertillery May: Birmingham Hall Green July: Hove November: Cities of London and Westminster Erith and Crayford

1966	January: Hull North

Lists of UK by-elections 1801–1806 1806–1818 1818–1832 1832–1847 1847–1857 1857–1868 1868–1885 1885–1900 1900–1918 1918–1931 1931–1950 1950–1979 1979–2010 2010–present

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.