1946 Battersea North by-election

1946 UK parliamentary by-election April 2022 The 1946 Battersea North by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 25 July 1946 for the British House of Commons constituency of Battersea North in the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea. The seat had become vacant on the resignation from the House of Common of the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Francis Douglas, who had been appointed as Governor of Malta and ennobled as Baron Douglas of Barloch. He had held the seat since a by-election in 1940. Candidates The Labour Party selected as its candidate Douglas Jay, a 39-year-old economist who had been a financial journalist, a Fellow of All Souls and then (from 1941) a civil servant. The Conservative Party candidate was B.A. Shattock, while the Liberal Party did not field a candidate. The third candidate was 38-year-old Trotskyist and adult education tutor, Hugo Dewar of the Independent Labour Party (ILP). He had joined the ILP in 1928, and in 1929 co-founded the Marxian League. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1931, but was expelled the following year. He was one of the founders in 1932 of the Communist League, Britain's first 'official' Trotskyist group, and had remained active in 'Left Opposition' groups until he was drafted into the army in 1943. https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/subject_guides/trotskyite_sources/#Hugo%20Dewar Papers of Hugo Dewar, Trotskyist (1871-1891) Trotskyist Sources at the Modern Records Centre Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick 2009-05-06 Election On a turnout reduced to 55% from the 71% at the 1945 general election, Jay held the seat for Labour with 69% of votes, a small reduction from the 74% won by his predecessor in 1945. Shattock's 29.6% share was a small increase on the 26.1% Conservative vote the previous year, while Dewar won only 240 votes (1.5%) of the total, and lost his deposit. Aftermath Jay joined the government the following year as Economic Secretary to the Treasury, and held several other government offices before his retirement from the House of Commons in 1983. He was made a life peer in 1987. Previous result General election 1945: Battersea Northhttp://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge45/i02.htm UK General Election results July 1945 2008-06-25 2008 United Kingdom General Election results University of Keele https://web.archive.org/web/20080516123716/http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge45/i02.htm 16 May 2008 live Labour Party (UK) Francis Douglas 14,070 73.9 +15.2 Conservative Party (UK) J G W Paget 4,969 26.1 -15.2 9,101 47.8 +30.5 19,039 71.1 +7.6 Labour Party (UK) +15.2 Result Battersea North by-election, 1946No change at N. Battersea, The Times, July 26, 1946, p.4http://www.by-elections.co.uk/46.html https://web.archive.org/web/20131105224145/http://www.by-elections.co.uk/46.html 1946 By Election Results 2013-11-05 dead 2015-08-12 Labour Party (UK) Douglas Jay 11,329 68.9 −5.0 Conservative Party (UK) B A Shattock 4,858 29.6 +3.5 Independent Labour Party (UK) Hugo Dewar 240 1.5 New 6,471 39.3 −8.5 16,427 55.4 -15.7 Labour Party (UK) See also Battersea North constituency 1940 Battersea North by-election Battersea List of United Kingdom by-elections United Kingdom by-election records References Sources Craig F. W. S. F. W. S. Craig British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 1969 3rd 1983 Parliamentary Research Services Chichester 0-900178-06-X 3 March 2012 Battersea North by-election Battersea North,1946 Battersea North by-election Battersea North,1946 Category:Battersea Battersea North by-election