1920 Paisley by-election

UK parliamentary by-election December 2023 November 2013 1920 Paisley by-election United Kingdom by-election Popular Paisley (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1910s 1918 1920 02 12 yes (Polling)1920 02 25 yes (Declaration) Paisley (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1920s 1922 39,235 77.6% File:H.H. Asquith in 1910s by Olive Edis (cropped).jpg H. H. Asquith Liberal Party (UK) 14,736 48.4% 14.4% File:John Biggar (cropped).jpg John Biggar Co-operative Party Labour Party (UK) 11,902 39.1% 5.6% Unionist Party (Scotland) James MacKean Unionist Party (Scotland) Coalition 3,795 12.5% New MP John McCallum Liberal Party (UK) Subsequent MP H. H. Asquith Liberal Party (UK) The 1920 Paisley by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 12 February 1920 for the House of Commons constituency of Paisley in Scotland. It was triggered by the death of the constituency's sitting Liberal Member of Parliament Sir John Mills McCallum. Former UK Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, who was still Leader of the Liberal Party but who had lost his seat at the 1918 general election, returned to Parliament following this by-election. Background Electoral history The result at the last General Election in 1918 was; General election 1918: PaisleyCraig Fred W. S British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 https://archive.org/details/britishparliamen0000crai/ Political Reference Publications 0900178019 5 April 2025 1969 Liberal Party (UK) John McCallum 7,542 34.0 –30.3 Co-operative Party Labour Party (UK) John Biggar 7,436 33.5 New National Democratic and Labour Party John Taylor 7,201 32.5 New 106 0.5 –28.1 22,179 57.6 –17.3 38,508 Liberal Party (UK) N/A Asquith's return The by-election provided an opportunity for the return to Parliament of H. H. Asquith, the former Prime Minister who had lost his East Fife seat to the Unionists at the 1918 general election in the aftermath of the split in the Liberal Party over David Lloyd George's coalition with the Conservatives. Asquith remained party leader, and the opponents of the coalition came to be known as the Independent Liberals, or unofficially as the ‘Wee Frees’ after a Scottish religious sect of that name. Candidates Liberal H. H. Asquith, Leader of the Liberal Party, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Member for East Fife (1886–1918) Co-operative John Biggar, member of Glasgow School Board, Chartered accountant and candidate for this seat in 1918 Unionist James MacKean, manufacturer Campaign Initially, it was widely expected that Biggar (Co-Operative Party, ie. Labour), who had nearly won the seat in 1918 and who was endorsed by nine former Liberal MPs, would win.Koss 1985, p246-7 The Liberal Party in the constituency was split between supporters of Asquith and Lloyd George, and Asquith, whose continued leadership of the Liberal Party was being much criticised, was only narrowly selected as candidate, although after his formal adoption on 21 January 1920 the local Liberal Association united behind him. He initially had misgivings about returning to Scotland and risking his career, but grew more confident as the campaign progressed.Koss 1985, p242-7 Asquith had been an opponent of women’s suffrage (women over thirty were given the vote under the Representation of the People Act 1918), and (30 January 1920) thought women voters “hopelessly ignorant, credulous to the last degree, and flickering with gusts of sentiment like a candle in the wind. Then there are some thousands of Irish, who have been ordered by their bosses to vote Labour – as if Labour had ever done or was ever likely to do anything for them”. Asquith directed most of his campaign not against Biggar but against Taylor, the Coalition candidate, whom he thought “a foul-mouthed Tory”. He condemned the Treaty of Versailles and called for moderation over German reparations, immediate Dominion Status for Ireland (where the Irish War of Independence was currently in progress)government policy at the time was restore British rule so that Home Rule, postponed since 1914, could at last be implemented. The Irish Free State eventually set up in 1921-2 was technically a dominion, in British eyes at least. and warned of the danger of tariffs being erected, especially by the newly independent small states of Central and Eastern Europe.This was a period of currency turmoil and competitive devaluations among these small countries. Free trade was a totemic issue for Liberals, as Asquith had been a leading campaigner against Joseph Chamberlain's campaign for Tariff Reform in the run up to the Liberals' landslide victory in 1906Jenkins 1964, p486-7 Sir John Simon and Lord Buckmaster spoke in Asquith's support, as did his daughter Violet who had become an excellent speaker. Result The by-election seemed to be a triumph for the Independent Liberals with a majority of 2,834 votes over Biggar and in blow for the government, the “foul-mouthed Tory” lost his deposit (by ten votes), to Asquith’s delight.Jenkins 1964, p486-7 Paisley by-election, 1920 Liberal Party (UK) H. H. Asquith 14,736 48.4 +14.4 Co-operative Party Labour Party (UK) John Biggar 11,902 39.1 +5.6 Unionist Party (Scotland) James MacKean 3,795 12.5 New 2,834 9.3 +8.8 30,433 77.6 +20.0 39,235 +727 Liberal Party (UK) +4.4 Aftermath At the following General Election in 1922, Asquith held the seat narrowly, with a much reduced majority (albeit a slightly larger share of the vote) in a two-horse race against Labour. Asquith held the seat again at the 1923 election but was defeated by Labour at the 1924 election. He was then elevated to the House of Lords as Earl of Oxford and Asquith. Political biographer John Campbell noted parallels between Asquith's Paisley campaign condemning Lloyd George's opportunism and the Paris Peace Conference to William Ewart Gladstone's Midlothian campaign condemning Benjamin Disraeli and the Congress of Berlin.Campbell John https://archive.org/details/pistolsatdawntwo0000camp/13960/t6wx5mm07 Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown 2010 Vintage 978-1-84595-091-0 London 181 489636152 Such comparisons were made at the time, although Asquith himself was more circumspect.Koss 1985, p248-9 References Further reading Jenkins Roy Roy Jenkins 1964 Asquith first https://books.google.com/books?id=cKdBAAAAIAAJ&q=asquith+Jenkins&dq=asquith+Jenkins London Collins 243906913 Jenkins Koss Stephen Stephen Koss 1985 Asquith https://books.google.com/books?id=tBGGAAAAIAAJ&dq=Asquith+Stephen+Koss London Hamish Hamilton 978-0-231-06155-1 Koss The Radical Thread: Political Change in Scotland. Paisley Politics, 1885-1924 by Catriona M M MacDonald, Scottish Historical Review, 2000 Victory at Paisley; Graeme Peters on Asquith’s return to Parliament; Journal of Liberal History, Issue 19, Summer 1998, p14 & 17 https://web.archive.org/web/20110617010157/http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/uploads/19_peters_victory_at_paisley.pdf Hold on, hold out; we are coming; Ian Hunter on the speech made by Lady Violet Bonham Carter on the return of her father to Parliament; Journal of Liberal History, Issue 37, Winter 2002-03 pp 22–25 https://web.archive.org/web/20120502132739/http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/uploads/37-Winter%25202002-03.pdf collapsed Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies Category:1920 elections in the United Kingdom Category:1920 in Scotland Category:1920s elections in Scotland Category:Politics of Paisley, Renfrewshire Category:H. H. Asquith