The Dundee West

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 f ...

was held on 21 November 1963 due to the death of the incumbent

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP John Strachey. It was won by the Labour candidate,

Peter Doig Peter Doig ( ; born 17 April 1959) is a Scottish painter. One of the most renowned living figurative painters, he has settled in Trinidad since 2002. In 2007, his painting ''White Canoe'' sold at Sotheby's for $11.3 million, then an auction rec ...

Background

Dundee West had been held by the Labour Party since its creation in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

. In

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

, the Unionist candidate Robert Taylor had reduced the Labour majority to just 714 votes, thereby coming close to a surprise victory. The 43 year-old Dr. Taylor was selected again as the Unionist and

National Liberal National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A seri ...

candidate. The

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

selected fifty year-old David Bowman, a local engine driver who had contested the seat at the previous three elections. On 22 September 1963, local councillor Peter Doig was chosen ahead of five other people to be the Labour Party candidate. Doig, a bakery supervisor, was chairman of the Labour group on Dundee Town Council. He was also deputy chairman of the council and honorary city treasurer of Dundee. The short list of six had been drawn up from a field of at least ten candidates. This included three other Dundee-based aspirants, one of whom was Doig's fellow councillor Bailie James L. Stewart. The

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

selected James C. Lees and were reported to have high hopes of achieving a good result following their strong showing in the West Lothian by-election the previous year.

Result

After his victory Doig declared that

Sir Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), styled as Lord Dunglass between 1918 and 1951 and being The 14th Earl of Home from 1951 till 1963, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conse ...

's claim of a new chapter following his victory in the recent Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election was now a closed book and predicted the Conservatives’ hopes of holding their seats at the forthcoming

St Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it merge ...

and

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

contests were in danger. He also called on Home to call a general election.

References

Dundee West by-election Dundee West by-election 1960s elections in Scotland 1960s in Dundee Dundee West by-election West, 1963 By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies {{Scotland-UK-Parl-by-election-stub