1968 Bassetlaw By-election
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1968 Bassetlaw By-election
The Bassetlaw by-election, 1968 was a parliamentary by-election for the constituency of Bassetlaw held on 31 October 1968. It was caused by the death of the former Labour Member of Parliament, Fred Bellenger. The Labour candidate, Joe Ashton, was a Sheffield city councillor. His Conservative opponent was Jim Lester, a Nottingham businessman. The Liberal party decided against contesting the seat for financial reasons. There was one independent, Tom Lynch of the National Union of Small Shopkeepers, who campaigned for a coalition of all the parties and the end of the fivepenny post. He fell five times short of retaining his deposit (only doubly short since 1985). Early reports suggested a low turnout was likely, due to voter disenchantment with the major parties, and Labour had some reason to fear its supporters staying away. Pit closures were an important issue in a seat with a large mining sector vote. Ashton argued that the Labour government's approach, which included redundanc ...
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By-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumbent dying or resigning, or when the incumbent becomes ineligible to continue in office (because of a recall, election or appointment to a prohibited dual mandate, criminal conviction, or failure to maintain a minimum attendance), or when an election is invalidated by voting irregularities. In some cases a vacancy may be filled without a by-election or the office may be left vacant. Origins The procedure for filling a vacant seat in the House of Commons of England was developed during the Reformation Parliament of the 16th century by Thomas Cromwell; previously a seat had remained empty upon the death of a member. Cromwell de ...
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Bassetlaw (UK Parliament Constituency)
Bassetlaw is a parliamentary constituency in Nottinghamshire, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2019 general election by Brendan Clarke-Smith, a Conservative. Before that election, the seat had been part of the so-called " red wall", being held by the Labour Party since 1929. Constituency profile The Bassetlaw constituency is mostly rural and covers the north of Nottinghamshire, including the towns of Worksop and Retford. It shares the name with the Bassetlaw district. Parts of the constituency are former coal mining areas. Residents' health and wealth are slightly below the UK average. Boundaries The constituency includes 22 electoral wards from Bassetlaw District Council: * Beckingham, Blyth, Carlton, Clayworth, East Retford East, East Retford North, East Retford South, East Retford West, Everton, Harworth, Langold, Misterton, Ranskill, Sturton, Sutton, Welbeck, Worksop East, Worksop North, Worksop North East, Worksop North Wes ...
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Frederick Bellenger
Captain Frederick John Bellenger (23 July 1894 – 11 May 1968) was a British surveyor, soldier and politician. Early life Born in Bethnal Green, London, he was the son of Eugene Bernard Bellenger, a dairyman, and his wife Isabella Annette ''née'' Henner. He received only an elementary education before starting work aged 14. He worked in various jobs: in a tea warehouse in Houndsditch, as a messenger boy for the Post Office and as a clerk to an export company in the City of London. World War I With the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Bellenger volunteered to join the British Army. He became a gunner in the Royal Field Artillery, arriving at the Western Front in the following year. He was twice wounded, and rose through the ranks, being commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1917. Following the armistice in November 1918, he served in the forces occupying the Rhineland. He was demobilised in 1919. In Cologne he had met Marion Theresa Stollwerck, daughter of ...
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Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1922, Labour has been either the governing party or the Official Opposition. There have been six Labour prime ministers and thirteen Labour ministries. The party holds the annual Labour Party Conference, at which party policy is formulated. The party was founded in 1900, having grown out of the trade union movement and socialist parties of the 19th century. It overtook the Liberal Party to become the main opposition to the Conservative Party in the early 1920s, forming two minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in the 1920s and early 1930s. Labour served in the wartime coalition of 1940–1945, after which Clement Attlee's Labour government established the National Health Service and expanded the welfa ...
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Joe Ashton
Joseph William Ashton (9 October 1933 – 30 March 2020) was a British Labour Party politician who was known for his defence of the rights of Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) against the demands of the left wing of the party to subject them to mandatory reselection. He took his seat in a by-election, winning with a majority of just 1.72%; in his last election before retiring, he won it by a majority of 36.4%. Early career Ashton was born and brought up in Sheffield; he attended High Storrs Grammar School and Rotherham Technical College. Before he was elected as an MP, he was a Sheffield City Councillor beginning in 1962. Parliament Ashton was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw in a by-election in 1968, when he struggled to hold the seat (which had been Labour-held since 1929) at a time when the government of Harold Wilson was unpopular. The close result saw it become a marginal seat, won by Ashton with a majority of just 740 (1.72%). The previous ...
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Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the Two-party system, two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. It is the current Government of the United Kingdom, governing party, having won the 2019 United Kingdom general election, 2019 general election. It has been the primary governing party in Britain since 2010. The party is on the Centre-right politics, centre-right of the political spectrum, and encompasses various ideological #Party factions, factions including One-nation conservatism, one-nation conservatives, Thatcherism, Thatcherites, and traditionalist conservatism, traditionalist conservatives. The party currently has 356 Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament, 264 members of the House of Lords, 9 members of the London Assembly, 31 members of the Scottish Parliament, 16 members of the Senedd, Welsh Parliament, 2 D ...
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Jim Lester
Sir James Theodore Lester (23 May 1932 – 31 October 2021) was a British Conservative Party politician. Parliamentary career Born in Nottingham in May 1932, Lester first stood for Parliament in a by-election at Bassetlaw in 1968, when he almost overturned a Labour majority of 10,428 votes, failing to beat Joe Ashton by just 740 votes. He contested the seat again at the 1970 general election, but Ashton stretched his advantage to 8,261 votes. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Beeston between February 1974 and 1983, then for Broxtowe until the 1997 election, when he lost his seat to Labour. During his time in the House of Commons, he served as a party whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ... and a junior employment minister. Lester died on 31 October 202 ...
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Deposit (politics)
In an electoral system, a deposit is the sum of money that a candidate for an elected office, such as a seat in a legislature, is required to pay to an electoral authority before they are permitted to stand for election. In the typical case, the deposit collected is repaid to the candidate after the poll if the candidate obtains a specified proportion of the votes cast. The purpose of the deposit is to reduce the prevalence of 'fringe' candidates or parties with no realistic chance of winning a seat. If the candidate does not achieve the refund threshold, the deposit is forfeited. Australia In Australian federal elections, a candidate for either the Australian House of Representatives or the Australian Senate is required to pay a deposit of $2,000. The deposit is refunded if the candidate or group gains at least 4% of first preference votes in the relevant electoral division. The States and territories of Australia will have their own individual deposit requirements and repayment ...
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Swing (United Kingdom)
Swing, in the politics of the United Kingdom, is a number used as an indication of the scale of voter change between two political parties. It originated as a mathematical calculation for comparing the results of two Parliamentary constituencies. The UK uses a first-past-the-post voting system. The swing (in percentage points) is the percentage of voter support minus the comparative percentage of voter support corresponding to the same electorate or demographic. The swing is calculated by comparing the percentage of voter support from one election to another. The percentage value of the comparative elections results are compared with the corresponding results of the substantive election. An electoral swing analysis shows the extent of change in voter support from one election to another. It can be used as a means of comparison between individual candidates or political parties for a given electoral region or demographic. Original mathematical calculation The original mathematic ...
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Nelson And Colne (UK Parliament Constituency)
Nelson and Colne was a constituency in Lancashire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election. It was largely succeeded by the Pendle Pendle may refer to: * Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England ** Pendle (UK Parliament constituency) * Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England ** Forest of Pendle, hilly landscape surrounding the hill * Pendle College of the University of Lancaster * ... constituency. Boundaries 1918–1950: The Boroughs of Nelson and Colne, the Urban Districts of Barrowford, Brierfield, and Trawden, and the detached part of the parish of Foulridge which was bordered on the north, west and south by the Borough of Colne. 1950–1983: The Boroughs of Nelson and Colne, and the Urban Districts of Barrowford, Brierfield, and Trawden. Members of Parliament Elections Elections in the 1910s Elections in the 1920s ...
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1968 Oldham West By-election
The by-election for the British House of Commons seat of Oldham West took place on 13 June 1968, at a time when the Labour government of Harold Wilson was deeply unpopular. The election was caused by the resignation of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Charles Leslie Hale for reasons of ill health. Hale had been an MP in the town since the 1945 general election. This election took place in a two-year period during which Labour lost ten seats in by-elections, never with a swing of less than ten percent against them. Oldham West was convincingly gained for the Conservatives with a 17.7% swing by Bruce Campbell with a majority of 3,311 over the Labour candidate Michael Meacher. Meacher, a future minister both under Wilson and in the Blair government, would go on to recover the seat from Campbell in the 1970 general election: 1968-1970 was the only time in the post-World War II era that this division of Oldham was not represented by Labour. The Liberal Party, contesting the seat for ...
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1968 Elections In The United Kingdom
The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * January 10 – John Gorton is sworn in as 19th Prime Minister of Australia, taking over from John McEwen after being elected leader of the Liberal Party the previous day, following the disappearance of Harold Holt. Gorton becomes the only Senator to become Prime Minister, though he immediately transfers to the House of Representatives through the 1968 Higgins by-election in Holt's vacant seat. * January 15 – The 1968 Belice earthquake in Sicily kills 380 and injures around 1,000. * January 21 ** Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh – One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins, ending on April 8. ** 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash: A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress crashes in Greenland, discharging 4 nuclear bombs. * ...
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