1973 Dundee East by-election

UK parliamentary by-election October 2022 May 2013 The 1973 Dundee East by-election, in Scotland, was held on 1 March 1973. It was one of three UK parliamentary by-elections held on that day. It was caused by the appointment of George Thomson as a European commissioner. George Machin retained the seat for Labour, but only narrowly. There was a strong showing by the Scottish National Party, which prefigured their serious breakthrough at the Govan by-election later in the year, and the two general elections of 1974. Background Thomson had represented the seat since winning it in a a by-election in 1952. Since the seat's creation in 1950 it had returned Labour members, and until the 1970 general election Labour's majorities over the second placed Conservative candidates had ranged from a low of 3,805 votes in 1951 to a high of 8,126 at the 1952 by-election. However, in 1970 the Labour vote share fell below 50% for the first time and Thomson's majority over the second-placed Conservative candidate Allan Stewart was 2,798 votes, the lowest yet seen in the seat. At the same contest the SNP, who had previously only contested the seat at the 1952 by-election, had come third with 8.9% of the votes.Craig F. W. S. British parliamentary Election Results 1950-1970 1971 Political Reference Publications Chichester 0-900178-02-7 596 Dundee's Lord Provost William Fitzgerald was chosen as the Conservative candidate by the Dundee Conservative and Unionist Association from a short leet of six.Tory Choice for East Dundee https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19721130&id=tew9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=l0gMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5220,5767482&hl=en 24 March 2016 The Herald Glasgow 30 November 1972 During the campaign Fitzgerald pledged action to try to prevent the loss of 70 jobs at the local Robb Caledon shipyard.Clark William Dundee Tory gives pledge to yard men https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19730227&printsec=frontpage&hl=en 15 May 2017 The Herald Glasgow 27 February 1973 The contest was viewed as three-way fight, although the Conservatives and Labour claimed it was a contest between their candidates.Clark William East Dundee voters may upset form book https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19730301&printsec=frontpage&hl=en 24 March 2016 The Herald Glasgow 1 March 1973 Fitzgerald's election was considered possible if his party's vote held and the SNP gained from Labour. However, SNP canvassers reportedly thought they could win enough votes to repeat their surprise victory at Hamilton in 1967. The Liberal candidate Nathaniel Gordon also hoped he could pull off a shock result, but this was widely doubted. Nonetheless, Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe came to Dundee to campaign for Gordon. There was some speculation that the Labour vote may be hurt by the fact that Machin was from Sheffield and an English candidate in a Scottish seat had angered some local Labour supporters. Result 1973 Dundee East by-electionhttp://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 Labour Party (UK) George Machin 14,411 32.74 -15.60 Scottish National Party Gordon Wilson 13,270 30.15 +21.22 Conservative Party (UK) William Fitzgerald 11,089 25.19 -17.17 Scottish Liberal Party Nathaniel Gordon 3,653 8.30 New Labour Party of Scotland George MacLean 1,409 3.20 New Independent (politician) John S Thomson 182 0.41 New 1,141 2.59 -3.39 44,014 Labour Party (UK) Aftermath While Labour were reported to be relieved to hold the seat, it was noted that the result showed the SNP were still an electoral force.Warden John Taverne Landslide. Labour Hold Dundee https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19730302&printsec=frontpage&hl=en 8 May 2017 The Herald Glasgow 2 March 1973 Machin's victory speech was reportedly disrupted by 'the angry shouts of Scottish Nationalist supporters' and he faced 'chants of "Go back to Yorkshire" and "Go home, Englishman". An editorial in The Glasgow Herald attributed part of the SNP's success to the issue of oil and opined that had a Public Accounts Committee report which was critical of some aspects of the Conservative Government's handling of oil policy been published earlier, the SNP might have won the seat.Labour Gloom https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19730303&printsec=frontpage&hl=en 15 May 2017 The Herald Glasgow 3 March 1973 8 Ultimately, Machin's success was short lived as Wilson built on his performance and captured the seat in the February general election the following year. He would hold it until 1987.MS 315 Gordon Wilson, MP for Dundee East and Chairman of the Scottish National Party http://arccat.dundee.ac.uk/dserve.exe?&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=((text)=%27gordon%20wilson%27) Archive Services Online Catalogue University of Dundee 8 May 2017 References See also Dundee East (UK Parliament constituency) List of United Kingdom by-elections (1950–1979) 1973 Lincoln by-election 1973 Chester-le-Street by-election Dundee East by-election Dundee East by-election Category:1970s elections in Scotland Dundee East by-election Category:1970s in Dundee East 1973 Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies