1929 Kilmarnock by-election

UK parliamentary by-election December 2023 November 2013 June 2025 The 1929 Kilmarnock by-election was a by-election held on 27 November 1929 for the British House of Commons constituency of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. The first Scottish by-election since the general election in May 1929, it was won by the Labour Party candidate Craigie Aitchison. Vacancy The seat had become vacant when the sitting Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Robert Climie had died at the age of 61 on 3 October 1929. He had held the seat since the general election in May 1929, having previously been Kilmarnock's MP from 1923 until his defeat in the 1924 general election. Candidates The Labour Party candidate was 47-year-old Craigie Aitchison KC, who had been the Lord Advocate of Scotland since June 1929. He had stood as a Liberal Party candidate in Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire at the 1922 and 1923 general elections. He had contested the 1924 general election as a Labour candidate in The Hartlepools, and in May 1929 came within a small margin of winning the Unionist-held Glasgow Central seat. The Unionist candidate was 41-year-old Charles MacAndrew, who had won the seat from Climie in 1924, but lost it again in May 1929. The third candidate was Isabel Brown, of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The Liberals, who had finished third at the general election, did not field a candidate. Result The result was a victory for the Labour candidate, Craigie Aitchison, who held the seat with an increased share of the vote. However, his majority was lower than Climie's, the Unionists having benefited from the absence of a Liberal candidate. Aitchison was re-elected at the 1931 general election as a National Labour candidate, having sided with Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald when the Labour Party split and MacDonald formed a National Government with the Conservative Party. He resigned his seat in 1933, when he was appointed Lord Justice Clerk. MacAndrew returned to the House of Commons in 1931 as MP for Glasgow Partick. Votes Kilmarnock by-election, 27 November 1929 Labour Party (UK) Craigie Aitchison 18,465 55.6 +7.4 Unionist Party (Scotland) Charles MacAndrew 13,270 40.0 +9.6 Communist Party of Great Britain Isabel Brown 1,448 4.4 New 5,195 15.6 −2.2 33,183 71.7 −6.1 Labour Party (UK) -1.1 Previous election General election, May 1929: Kilmarnock Labour Party (UK) Robert Climie 17,368 48.2 +0.4 Unionist Party (Scotland) Charles MacAndrew 10,939 30.4 −21.8 Liberal Party (UK) J. R. Rutherford 7,700 21.4 New 6,429 17.8 N/A 36,007 77.8 −1.7 Labour Party (UK) Unionist Party (Scotland) +11.2 See also Kilmarnock (UK Parliament constituency) Kilmarnock 1933 Kilmarnock by-election 1946 Kilmarnock by-election List of United Kingdom by-elections (1931–1950) Elections in Scotland Sources Craig F. W. S. F. W. S. Craig British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 1969 3rd 1983 Parliamentary Research Services https://www.google.com/books/edition/British_Parliamentary_Election_Results_1/2W8NAQAAMAAJ?hl=en Chichester 0-900178-06-X March 2012 Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies Category:1929 in Scotland Category:1920s elections in Scotland Category:1929 elections in the United Kingdom Category:Politics of Kilmarnock