Smethwick by-election, 1945
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The Smethwick by-election, 1945 was a by-election held on 1st October 1945 for the British House of Commons constituency of Smethwick in Staffordshire (now in the West Midlands county).
The by-election was caused by the death of the town's newly-elected Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), 63-year-old Alfred Dobbs, who was killed in a car accident on 27 July 1945, only one day after his election at the 1945 general election. Apart from some MPs who were elecetd posthumously, Dobbs remains the United Kingdom's shortest-serving MP.
There were only two candidates in the by-election, Labour and Conservative; the Liberal Party had not fielded a candidate in Smethwick since the 1929 general election.
The result was a victory for the Labour candiadate candidate Patrick Gordon Walker, who held the seat comfortably with a slightly increased majority on a slightly reduced turnout. Gordon Walker was an MP for nearly 30 years, serving twice as a Cabinet minister.
[edit] Votes
| By-election 1945: Smethwick | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 19,364 | 68.8 | +2.9 | |
| Conservative | G.H. Edgar | 8,762 | 31.2 | −2.9 | |
| Majority | 10,602 | 37.6 | +5.8 | ||
| Turnout | 43,020 | 65.4 | −7.0 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | 2.9 | |||
[edit] References
- Craig, F. W. S. [1969] (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, 3rd edition, Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
