1923 Willesden East by-election

UK parliamentary by-election April 2022 1923 Willesden East by-election presidential United Kingdom Willesden East (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1920s 1922 Willesden East (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1920s 1923 3 March 1923 Johnstone 85px Liberal Party (UK) 14,824 60.6% Stanley 85px Unionist Party (UK) 9,648 39.4% File:WillesdenEast1918.png 250px MP Subsequent MP Mallaby-Deeley Unionist Party (UK) Johnstone Liberal Party (UK) The 1923 Willesden East by-election was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Willesden East held on 3 March 1923. The constituency was a large one extending from Kilburn in the south to the Welsh Harp and on to Neasden. Vacancy The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Unionist MP, Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley.The Times, 14 February 1923, p14 Mallaby-Deeley had been MP for Willesden East since the 1918 general election.The Times, 6 February 1937, p14 Despite the protestations of ill-health which Mallaby-Deeley cited to justify his standing down from Parliament,The Times, 14 February 1923, p14 he lived for another 14 years during which he carried on a substantial business career.The Times, 6 February 1937, p14 The strong likelihood is that Mallaby-Deeley was asked to stand aside and cause a by-election as a route back into Parliament for the Hon. G.F.Stanley,Ivor Davies, Trial By Ballot; Christopher Johnson, 1950 p61 Electoral history At the previous General Election, the constituency had become a Unionist/Liberal marginal; thumb|120px|Mallaby-Deeley General election 1922: Willesden EastF W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p277 Unionist Party (UK) Harry Mallaby-Deeley 12,525 52.8 -8.2 Liberal Party (UK) Harcourt Johnstone 11,211 47.2 +33.2 1,314 5.6 -31.4 23,736 58.4 +7.5 Unionist Party (UK) Liberal Party (UK) -20.7 Candidates The Unionist candidate was Hon. George Stanley, the sixth son of the Earl of Derby. Stanley had been a soldier serving in the Second Boer War and during the Great War. He had been Unionist MP for Preston from 1910 to 1922. Although out of Parliament, Stanley was still a government minister being Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department.Colin Rallings & Michael Thrasher, British electoral facts 1832-2006; Ashgate Publishing, 2007 p135 n1 The Liberals re-selected Harcourt Johnstone,The Times, 16 February 1923, p7 27-year-old son of a British diplomat who had also served in the War and who had fought Willesden East at the 1922 general election losing by 1,314 votes to Mallaby-Deeley. There had been a Labour candidate at the 1918 general election but the party had not fought in 1922.F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p277 It was reported however that Labour was seriously considering putting up a candidate for the by-election and the name of Alfred Smith, the President of the Licensed Vehicle Workers Association and a previous Labour candidate at Dorset East and at West Leyton was mentioned.The Times, 16 February 1923, p7 Smith later gained election to the House of Commons as Labour MP for Sunderland in 1929. In the end Labour decided not to contest the election.The Times, 23 February 1923, p9 At one point it seemed possible that a candidate standing under the Anti-Waste banner would be nominated. A few days before close of nominations, posters bearing the name of W. Lennard appeared in the constituency as an Anti-Waste and Independent Unionist. The bills warned the electorate that the issue was Anti-Waste or bankruptcy. Lennard indicated that he would announce on 20 February if he intended to stand but despite the appearance of the posters and the decision of the Anti-Waste League to put up candidates at a number of by-elections during this time, most notably James Erskine's victory at the by-election at Westminster St George's on 7 June 1921,Chris Cook, Sources in British Political History; Macmillan, 1975 p11 Lennard was not nominated in Willesden East and the contest was therefore a straight fight between Stanley and Johnstone. Campaign Controversially in a constituency where over six thousand electors were thought to be Jewish, polling day was fixed for a Saturday.The Times, 26 February 1923, p15The Times, 28 February 1923, p8 Housing was featuring strongly as an issue of importance at this time. In the by-election at Mitcham being held on the same day as Willesden East, the Unionist candidate was Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen. Griffth-Boscawen had lost his seat at Taunton at the general election of November 1922 but accepted Bonar Law’s offer to remain in the government as Minister of Health while he tried to find a seat to get back into Parliament. His main task as minister was to produce a Bill on local government rating but this proved highly controversial and the issue was a magnet for a whole range of problems associated with housing, including the failure of the government to increase the number of houses being built, to be raised at Mitcham and elsewhere, including to Johnstone’s advantage at Willesden.The Times, 22 February 1923, p7The Times, 26 February 1923, p15The Times, 28 February 1923, p12 It was reported that the loss of the by-election would represent a blow for the Unionist government, although it was too early after the general election to see the results as a definitive verdict on Bonar Law’s administration.The Times,3 March 1923, p11 Result The result was a gain for the Liberal Party from the Unionists with Johnstone gaining 60% of the poll and a majority of 5,176 over Stanley. Willesden East by-election, 1923F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949, p277 Liberal Party (UK) Harcourt Johnstone 14,824 60.6 +13.4 Unionist Party (UK) George Frederick Stanley 9,648 39.4 -13.4 5,176 21.2 N/A 24,472 60.2 +1.8 Liberal Party (UK) Unionist Party (UK) +13.4 The Liberal victory was described by Austen Chamberlain as a “smash” and a bad omen for the by-election at Mitcham being held on the same day, The Austen Chamberlain Diary Letters: The correspondence of Sir Austen Chamberlain; Royal Historical Society, Cambridge University Press, 1995 p221 which the Unionists also lost, this time to Labour. Clearly the absence of a Labour candidate at Willesden meant the Liberals were able to present Johnstone as the only progressive and anti-Tory candidate.The Times, 3 March 1923, p10 This tactical advantage was underscored by an unproved allegation against Stanley that he or his supporters had tried to bribe a Labour man into standing as a candidate for the purpose of splitting the Liberal vote.The Times, 1 March 1923, p12 The loss of Willesden by such a large majority was unexpected The Times, 5 March 1923, p12 Aftermath It was hard to discern Willesden as part of any pattern of political success for the Liberal Party. Cook and Ramsden in their survey of British by-elections comment that none of the by-elections in the 1922-1923 Parliament pointed to the outcome of Stanley Baldwin’s Tariff reform general election of 6 December 1923.Chris Cook & John Ramsden, By-elections in British politics; UCL Press, 1997 p40 At that election, Johnstone narrowly held the seat despite the intervention of a Labour Party candidate. General election 6 December 1923: Willesden EastF W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949, p277 Liberal Party (UK) Harcourt Johnstone 11,260 40.5 -6.7 Unionist Party (UK) George Frederick Stanley 11,146 40.1 -12.7 Labour Party (UK) Joseph George Butler 5,392 19.4 New 114 0.4 -5.2 27,798 68.1 +9.7 Liberal Party (UK) Unionist Party (UK) References See also List of United Kingdom by-elections United Kingdom by-election records Category:1923 elections in the United Kingdom Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London constituencies Category:Political history of Middlesex Category:1923 in England Category:March 1923 in the United Kingdom Category:Elections in the London Borough of Brent Category:20th century in Middlesex Category:Willesden