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1973 Hove by-election
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1973 UK parliamentary by-election
April 2022
The 1973 Hove by-election was held on 8 November 1973 for the British House of Commons constituency of Hove in East Sussex.
The by-election was caused by the death of Conservative Party Member of Parliament Martin Maddan.
Hove was a safe Conservative seat, having been held by the party since its creation for the 1950 general election. At the 1970 general election, the Conservatives had won over two-thirds of the votes cast.
The Conservative candidate was Tim Sainsbury, a member of the board of supermarket chain J Sainsbury plc. Former Labour Party MP Desmond Donnelly was unsuccessful in getting the Conservative nomination.
Labour, who had put up the only other candidate in 1970, stood Ronald Wallis. The Liberal Party, who had not stood a candidate in 1970, but had won 16% of the vote in 1966, stood New Zealand-born Des Wilson, one of the founders of Shelter.
Two other candidates stood. The far right National Front stood John Harrison-Broadley, a former Royal Air Force squadron leaderNational Front candidate Sqn. – Ldr. John Harrison-Broadley and bobsleigh champion, while the Maoist Communist Party of England (Marxist-Leninist) stood Carole Reakes.
Result
Sainsbury held the seat for the Conservatives, although the party now gained less than half of the votes cast. This was largely due to a strong result for Wilson, who took the Liberals into second place, while the Labour vote fell sharply; Labour in fact lost their deposit.
Sainsbury held the seat until he stood down at the 1997 general election. Wilson became the Vice Chair of the Liberal Party, and later the Campaign Director for the Liberal Democrats at the 1992 general election.
Hove by-election, 1973http://by-elections.co.uk/73.html https://web.archive.org/web/20120314034602/http://by-elections.co.uk/73.html 1973 By Election Results 2012-03-14 dead 2015-09-17
Conservative Party (UK)
Tim Sainsbury
22,070
47.8
– 20.9
Liberal Party (UK)
Des Wilson
17,224
37.3
New
Labour Party (UK)
Ronald Wallis
5,335
11.6
– 19.7
National Front (UK)
John Harrison-Broadley
1,409
3.1
New
Communist Party of England (Marxist-Leninist)
Carole Reakes
128
0.3
New
4,846
10.5
-26.9
46,166
Conservative Party (UK)
-29.2
External links
UK General Election Results 1970
Hove by-election result & some election literature
References
Hove by-election
Hove by-election
Hove by-election
Category:20th century in Brighton and Hove
Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in East Sussex constituencies
Category:Politics of Brighton and Hove