Romsey by-election, 2000

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Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Colvin was killed in a house fire at his home on February 24, 2000. This created a by-election in his constituency of Romsey in Hampshire, England.

The Conservative Party decided to delay the polling day until May 4, so that it would come simultaneously with local elections. They selected Tim Palmer, a farmer and Dorset County Councillor, to defend the seat. The Liberal Democrats considered this byelection their best chance of gaining a seat since 1997 and selected a local Pharmacist Sandra Gidley (who had been Mayor of Romsey) as their candidate.

Labour carried out minimal campaigning in a constituency in which they had come third. This led many observers to assume that the party was expecting, or hoping, that its vote would largely go to the Liberal Democrats in order to help defeat the Conservatives. In the event, the Labour vote collapsed while the Liberal Democrats surged, and they made this the only mainland by-election to result in a change of party control in the entire Parliament.

[edit] Results

By-election 2000: Romsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sandra Gidley	19,571	50.6	+21.2
	Conservative	Tim Palmer	16,260	42.0	−4.0
	Labour	Andy Howard	1,451	3.7	−14.9
	UK Independence	Garry Rankin-Moore	901	2.3	−1.2
	Legalise Cannabis	Derrick Large	417	1.1	+1.1
	Independent (politician)	Thomas Lamont	109	0.3	+0.3
Majority
Turnout				55.4
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

[edit] General Election result, 1997

General Election 1997: Romsey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Colvin	23,834	46.0
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Cooper	15,249	29.4
	Labour	Joanne Ford	9,623	18.6
	UK Independence	Alan Sked	1,824	3.5
	Referendum Party	Michael Wigley	1,291	2.5
Majority
Turnout