1919 Manchester Rusholme by-election explained

Election Name:1919 Manchester Rusholme by-election
Type:presidential
Country:United Kingdom
Previous Election:Manchester Rusholme (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1910s
Previous Year:1918
Next Election:Manchester Rusholme (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1920s
Next Year:1922
Election Date:7 October 1919
Candidate1:Thorpe
Party1:Unionist Party (UK)
Popular Vote1:9,394
Percentage1:45.7%
Candidate2:Dunstan
Party2:Labour Party (UK)
Popular Vote2:6,412
Percentage2:31.2%
Candidate3:Pringle
Party3:Liberal Party (UK)
Popular Vote3:3,923
Percentage3:19.1%
Candidate4:Crewdson
Party4:National Party (UK, 1917)
Popular Vote4:815
Percentage4:4.0%
Map Size:250px
MP
Posttitle:Subsequent MP
Before Election:Stoker
Before Party:Unionist Party (UK)
After Election:Thorpe
After Party:Unionist Party (UK)

The 1919 Manchester Rusholme by-election was a parliamentary by-election held in October 1919 for the British House of Commons constituency of Manchester Rusholme. The by-election was important for shaping the future Labour Party attitude to electoral relations with the Liberal Party.

Vacancy

In September 1919 the Conservative MP Robert Burdon Stoker died. He had previously represented Manchester South since March 1918. At the 1918 general election he had been in receipt of the Coalition Government coupon.

Electoral history

The seat was created for the 1918 general election partly out of the Unionist/Liberal marginal seat of Manchester South and partly out of the Liberal seat of Stretford. The result at the last general election was;

Candidates

Campaign

The election campaign took place during the great railway strike of 1919.[4] Dunstan, the Labour candidate, sought to appeal to the centre ground by calling for widespread abolition of economic war-time restrictions. Pringle, the Liberal candidate, came out in support of Labour's policy of a capital levy, something that was not Liberal policy. It has been suggested that this stance may have cost him votes, lost to the Unionist candidate.[5] Pringle advocated economic retrenchment to appeal to Unionist voters and also the nationalization of the railways and mines to appeal to Labour voters.[6]

Result

The turnout for the by-election was up on the last general election. The Unionists managed to hold the seat. Their support had fallen, but not much because of the intervention of the National Party. The Labour candidate did particularly well and pushed the Liberal candidate into third place.The relative success of the Labour party in such a constituency encouraged them to field candidates in further Unionist/Liberal marginals rather than seek to reconstruct the Progressive Alliance.[7]

Aftermath

Thorpe sat until his defeat by the Liberals in 1923. His son Jeremy Thorpe, became Leader of the Liberal Party. Dunstan continued to be unsuccessful in his bid to enter Parliament. Pringle made a successful return to the House in 1922, winning Penistone for the Liberals. Crewdson was later adopted as the National Party's prospective candidate for North Norfolk, before being adopted by the Unionists after the National Party was wound up. The result at the following general election saw the Liberals regain second place;

Notes and References

  1. The Downfall of the Liberal Party by Trevor Wilson
  2. Trial By Ballot by Ivor RM Davies
  3. "Labour Candidate For Rusholme." Times [London, England] 10 Sept. 1919: 7. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 Aug. 2014.
  4. The Downfall of the Liberal Party by Trevor Wilson
  5. Trial By Ballot by Ivor RM Davies
  6. "Labour Candidate For Rusholme." Times [London, England] 10 Sept. 1919: 7. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 Aug. 2014.
  7. Trial By Ballot by Ivor RM Davies