1967 Cambridge by-election

UK parliamentary by-election November 2019 The 1967 Cambridge by-election of 21 September 1967 was held after the premature death of Cambridge's Labour MP Robert Davies in June 1967. The seat was highly marginal, having only been won by Labour during the previous year's Labour landslide by 439 votes, and it had only been the second time Labour had ever taken the constituency. In the ensuing by-election, a swing of more than eight percent to the Conservatives saw their candidate David Lane win by 5,978 votes. Candidates David Lane was an Eton, Cambridge and Yale-educated former barrister who had been working for Shell Oil since 1959. He was the only candidate to have previously contested the seat, having done so in 1966. George Bazeley Scurfield (1920-1991) was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, and was a writer and second-hand bookseller. He had been a member of Cambridge City Council representing Petersfield ward from 1963 to 1966, and he would go on to contest the seat again in 1970. David Spreckley (1915-13), a caravan builder, was a former Labour member of Huntingdonshire County Council. He had been the Liberal candidate for Great Yarmouth in the 1964 general election and Huntingdon in 1966. He would go on to contest the 1969 Newcastle-under-Lyme by-election for the Liberals. Result of the previous general election General election 1966: Cambridge Labour Party (UK) Robert Davies 21,963 45.47 +5.01 Conservative Party (UK) David Lane 20,972 43.42 +0.05 Liberal Party (UK) Michael O'Loughlin 4,928 10.20 -5.97 Independent (politician) P. King 439 0.91 N/A 991 2.05 N/A 48,302 80.00 +0.86 Labour Party (UK) Conservative Party (UK) +2.48 Result of the by-election on 21 September 1967 Cambridge by-election, 21 September 1967http://by-elections.co.uk/67.html https://web.archive.org/web/20120329035318/http://by-elections.co.uk/67.html 1967 By Election Results 2012-03-29 dead 2015-08-20 Conservative Party (UK) David Lane 20,488 51.61 +8.19 Labour Party (UK) George Bazeley Scurfield 14,510 36.55 -8.92 Liberal Party (UK) David Spreckley 4,701 11.84 +1.64 5,978 15.06 N/A 39,699 65.70 -14.30 Conservative Party (UK) Labour Party (UK) The Conservative victory was described as "always expected" in an editorial in the next day's The Glasgow Herald.Discontent https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19670922&printsec=frontpage&hl=en 13 July 2020 The Glasgow Herald 22 September 1967 8 The result was overshadowed by the shock outcome of the same day's Walthamstow West by-election, where an 18.4% Labour to Conservative swing saw the Conservatives narrowly gain a seat Labour had held since 1929.Conservatives big double in by-elections https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19670922&printsec=frontpage&hl=en 13 July 2020 The Glasgow Herald 22 September 1967 1 References Category:1967 in England Category:1967 elections in the United Kingdom By-election, 1967 By-election, 1967 Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Cambridgeshire constituencies Category:20th century in Cambridge