|
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. The Conservatives did not nominate an official candidate, the last by-election in Great Britain in which there was no Conservative candidate. ==Candidates== Other than Benn, three candidates stood. Edward Martell was the leader of the National Fellowship. He claimed that the organisation usually supported the Conservatives, but had wanted to use the opportunity to oppose a socialist candidate. He had approached two local businessmen to stand for the group, but they had both declined the nomination. He described the group's policies as traditional Conservative ideals.〔"3 will oppose Benn", ''The Guardian'', 10 August 1963〕 Geoffrey Pearl stood as an anti-socialist liberal conservative. Martell met with Pearl before nominations took place, but Pearl was determined to stand.〔 Martell did persuade another anti-socialist, Norman Moggs, to instead support the Fellowship candidate.〔"'Don't vote against Benn'", ''The Guardian'', 8 August 1963〕 Marguerite Lloyd was a housekeeper from Kensington, who had once attempted to become a local election candidate sponsored by the General and Municipal Workers Union. She described her platform as opposing "scandals, murders, robberies, vice and housing rackets". She decided to stand only at the last minute, and spent most of her savings on her deposit. A Mr Elkey of the British Commonwealth Party also arrived at Bristol City Hall in order to nominate himself, but after discovering that Lloyd was on the ballot paper, he decided not to stand.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bristol South East by-election, 1963」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|