1956 Chester-le-Street by-election

November 2019 The 1956 Chester-le-Street by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Chester-le-Street on 27 September 1956. Vacancy The by-election had been caused by the death aged 47 years on 25 June 1956 of the sitting Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Bartley. Bartley had held the seat since 1950. Candidates In what was to be a straight fight between the two main parties, Labour chose Norman Pentland, a colliery checkweighman from Fatfield, County Durham as their candidate and the Conservatives selected the journalist William Rees-Mogg.The Times, 13 September 1956, p6 Issues The main political topic of the day was the Suez CrisisThe Times, 21 September 1956, p4 but the cost of living and the performance of the government on the economy were also mentioned by Labour as issues in the campaign.The Times, 26 September 1956, p6 Result In what was a safe Labour seat during a period of Conservative government, Pentland was easily elected with a majority of 21,287 votes. Chester-le-Street by-election, 1956 http://by-elections.co.uk/56.html https://web.archive.org/web/20121010071845/http://by-elections.co.uk/56.html 1956 By Election Results 2012-10-10 dead 2015-08-14 Labour Party (UK) Norman Pentland 27,912 80.8 +4.5 Conservative Party (UK) William Rees-Mogg 6,625 19.2 -4.5 27,287 61.6 +9.0 34,537 65.0 -14.6 Labour Party (UK) References See also List of United Kingdom by-elections United Kingdom by-election records Category:1956 elections in the United Kingdom Category:1956 in England Category:September 1956 in the United Kingdom Category:20th century in County Durham 1956