The 1945

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

by-election was held on 15 November 1945. The by-election was held due to the elevation to hereditary peerage of the incumbent Conservative MP,

Sir Leonard Lyle Charles Ernest Leonard Lyle, 1st Baron Lyle of Westbourne (22 July 1882 – 6 March 1954) was a British industrialist and Conservative Party politician. Early life He was born in London, the only son of Charles Lyle and his wife, Mary, ''n� ...

. It was won by the Conservative candidate

Brendan Bracken Brendan Rendall Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken, PC (15 February 1901 – 8 August 1958) was an Irish-born businessman, politician and a minister in the British Conservative cabinet. He is best remembered for supporting Winston Churchill during ...

, who was a prominent supporter of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

and Conservative parliamentarian who had lost his

Paddington North Paddington North was a borough constituency in the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington in London which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post vot ...

seat to Labour in the 1945 Labour landslide. Somewhat unusually, there was a significant swing to the governing party, with Labour achieving a swing of more than 10%. This election had the biggest swing for an incumbent governing party in a by-election until the

2021 Hartlepool by-election A by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Hartlepool in the former county of Cleveland, England, was held on 6 May 2021. The by-election was triggered following the resignation of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Mike Hill, who re ...

References

1945 in England 1945 elections in the United Kingdom By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Hampshire constituencies By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Dorset constituencies 20th century in Hampshire {{England-UK-Parl-by-election-stub