The Glasgow Pollok

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 ...

of 9 March 1967 was held after the death of

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 (MP)

Alex Garrow Alexander Garrow (12 March 1923 – 16 December 1966) was a Labour politician in the United Kingdom. He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Pollok at the 1964 general election, was re-elected in 1966 but died later the same year, ...

:Full results
The seat was marginal, having been won by Labour at the

1966 United Kingdom general election The 1966 United Kingdom general election was held on 31 March 1966. The result was a landslide victory for the Labour Party led by incumbent Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson decided to call a snap election since his government, elected a m ...

by under 2,000 votes.Election results
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Candidates

Esmond Wright Esmond Wright (5 November 1915, Newcastle upon Tyne – 9 August 2003, Masham, North Yorkshire) was an English historian of the United States, Director of the Institute of United States Studies at the University of London from 1971 to 1983, a tel ...

for the Conservatives was a historian and author *Labour nominated local councillor and campaigner

Dick Douglas Richard Giles Douglas (4 January 1932 – 3 May 2014) was a Scottish politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) elected as a Labour Co-operative candidate, but who subsequently joined the Scottish National Party (SNP). Political career ...

*The Scottish National Party nominated George Leslie, who had trained as a vet after studying at Glasgow University. *The local Liberal Party association nominated Ian Miller *The Communists chose Alex Murray, their Scottish Secretary

Result of the previous general election

Result of the by-election

Both main parties lost votes compared with the previous general election due to the good showing of the SNP, who recorded what was then their best result in a Glasgow constituency. However, as the Conservatives had predicted, the SNP drew more votes from Labour, allowing Wright to gain the seat with a majority of 2,201. It was the first time the Conservatives had gained a seat in Scotland since the 1959 general election and the party's first by-election gain since the Glasgow Camlachie by-election in 1948. ''The

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' suggested that the result would be claimed as a turning point by the Conservatives in Scotland, while Labour would have to eat "a lot of campaign words", having predicted that they would have an increased majority and that the SNP would lose their deposit. Having almost pushed Labour into third place the result was described by the same newspaper as a "triumph" for the SNP, who had not previously contested the constituency, while the poor showing by the Liberals was labelled "a disaster".

References

{{Westminster by-elections in Scotland 1950-present By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Glasgow constituencies Glasgow Pollok by-election Glasgow Pollok by-election 1960s elections in Scotland 1960s in Glasgow Glasgow Pollok by-election