1999 Eddisbury by-election

UK parliamentary by-election December 2020 July 2012 1999 Eddisbury by-election United Kingdom parliamentary no 1997 United Kingdom general election 1997 2001 United Kingdom general election 2001 22 July 1999 Stephen O'Brien 150x150px Conservative Party (UK) 15,465 44.8% 2.3pp Margaret Hanson Labour Party (UK) 13,859 40.2% 0.1pp Paul Roberts Liberal Democrats (UK) 4,757 13.8% 0.6pp MP Alastair Goodlad Stephen O'Brien Conservative Party (UK) Conservative Party (UK) A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Eddisbury was held on 22 July 1999, following resignation of incumbent Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) Alastair Goodlad upon his appointment as High Commissioner to the Commonwealth of Australia. Stephen O'Brien won the by-election, holding the seat for the Conservatives. On 25 May 1999, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced the appointment of Goodlad as High Commissioner to the Commonwealth of Australia, creating a vacancy in the seat which he had retained as the Conservative candidate in the 1997 general election. Goodlad resigned from the House of Commons by accepting the office of Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern on 28 June 1999 to formally vacate his seat. The 1999 British cabinet reshuffle was delayed by a week in anticipation of a strong Labour performance in the by-election.Ward Lucy 1999-07-17 Mowlam key figure in reshuffle en-GB The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/jul/17/reshuffle1999.labour 2023-08-12 0261-3077 Candidates The Conservatives selected Stephen O'Brien, a former SDP member who lived in Chichester, to defend the seat. Labour nominated Margaret Hanson, wife of David Hanson (Labour MP for Delyn), who had also fought the seat at the 1997 election. Labour had been only just over 1,000 votes behind the Conservatives in 1997 and ran an energetic campaign, raising the issue of fox hunting which she pledged to ban. Prime Minister Tony Blair went to the constituency to campaign for her, an unusual move as it is convention for incumbent Prime Ministers not to visit byelection campaigns. Polling day was 22 July and the result was a virtual carbon copy of that in 1997; each party had fought to a standstill. Opinion polling Date(s)conductedPollsterClientSamplesizeConLabLib DemOthersLead22 Jul 1999 year1999 by-election–44.8%40.2%13.8%1.2%4.6%13 Jul 1999 yearIpsosN/A50038%42%17%3%4%1 May 1997 year1997 general election–42.5%40.1%13.2%4.2%2.4% Result Eddisbury by-election, 1999http://www.election.demon.co.uk/by2001.html Results of Byelections in the 1997–2001 Parliament Boothroyd David 6 October 2024 United Kingdom Election Results 21 January 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200121105156/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/by1997.html dead Conservative Party (UK) Stephen O'Brien 15,465 44.8 +2.3 Labour Party (UK) Margaret Hanson 13,859 40.2 +0.1 Liberal Democrats (UK) Paul Roberts 4,757 13.8 +0.6 Official Monster Raving Loony Party Alan Hope 238 0.7 New Independent Roger Everest 98 0.3 New Natural Law Party Dinah Grice 80 0.2 New 1,606 4.6 +2.2 34,497 51.4 -24.4 Conservative Party (UK) Previous election General election 1997: Eddisbury Conservative Party (UK) Alastair Goodlad 21,027 42.5 Labour Party (UK) Margaret Hanson 19,842 40.1 Liberal Democrats (UK) David Reaper 6,540 13.2 Referendum Party Norine Napier 2,041 4.2 1,185 2.4 49,450 75.8 Conservative Party (UK) See also Eddisbury constituency Lists of United Kingdom by-elections References External links British Parliamentary By Elections: Campaign literature from the by-election Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Cheshire constituencies Eddisbury by-election Eddisbury by-election Eddisbury by-election Category:1990s in Cheshire