1931 Westminster St George's by-election
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The Westminster St. George's by-election, 1931 was a parliamentary by-election held on 19 March 1931 for the British House of Commons constituency of Westminster St. George's.


Vacancy and electoral history

The seat had become vacant on 14 February when the constituency's
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP), Sir
Laming Worthington-Evans Sir Worthington Laming Worthington-Evans, 1st Baronet, (23 August 1868 – 14 February 1931) was a British Conservative politician. Background and education Born Laming Evans, he was the son of Worthington Evans and Susanah Laming. He assumed t ...
, died aged 62. He had sat for the constituency since the 1929 general election, having previously been MP for
Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...
since
1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...
; he had served in the cabinets of
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...
and Stanley Baldwin during the 1920s.


Background

The by-election took place during a campaign, led by the press magnates Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere, to remove Stanley Baldwin as Leader of the Opposition. The vehicles for their campaign were the
United Empire Party The Empire Free Trade Crusade was a political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Lord Beaverbrook in July 1929 to press for the British Empire to become a free trade bloc. The group was founded to oppose both the Labour minority ...
and the Empire Free Trade Crusade. The campaign had had some success. The
Conservative Central Office The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), formerly known as Conservative Central Office (CCO), is the headquarters of the British Conservative Party, housing its central staff and committee members, including campaign coordinators and man ...
had withdrawn support for its own candidate at the
1929 Twickenham by-election The 1929 Twickenham by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 8 August 1929 for the British House of Commons constituency of Twickenham in Middlesex. Vacancy The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Conservative Member of Pa ...
, who supported the Empire Free Trade policy. The UEP had won the
1930 Paddington South by-election The 1930 Paddington South by-election was held on 30 October 1930. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, Commodore Douglas King. It was won by the Empire Free Trade Crusade candidate Ernest Taylor. On We ...
from the Conservatives. The split in the right-wing vote between Conservative and UEP candidates at the Islington East by-election in February 1931 had allowed Labour to hold a seat they had been expected to lose. David Cannadine has argued that due to the actions of Beaverbrook and Rothermere now Baldwin's position as leader seemed to be becoming untenable and it was anticipated that he would resign as Conservative Party leader.


Candidates

The industrialist Sir Ernest Willoughby Petter announced his candidacy on 28 February as an
Independent Conservative Independent Conservative is a description which has been used in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States and elsewhere, to denote a political conservative who lacks a formal affiliation to the party of that name. In the United Kingdom As a de ...
opposed to Baldwin's leadership of the Conservative Party. Petter had founded the
Petters Limited Petters Limited (known as JB Petter & Sons of Yeovil until 1910), were a maker of stationary petrol and diesel engines from 1896 onwards.Petter, Percival. ''The Story of Petters Limited'' (Westbury: David Edgington, 1989) In 1915 Petter founded ...
engineering company from which
Westland Aircraft Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. D ...
was separated in 1915. Though he claimed to be free of party and running at the request of the electors, he was eagerly backed by the Beaverbrook and Rothermere papers, the '' Daily Express'' and '' Daily Mail''. The Conservatives originally selected
John Moore-Brabazon Lieutenant-Colonel John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara, , HonFRPS (8 February 1884 – 17 May 1964), was an English aviation pioneer and Conservative politician. He was the first Englishman to pilot a heavier-than ...
. He withdrew on 28 February, saying he could not defend Baldwin. Baldwin, under pressure to resign as Leader of the Conservative Party, toyed with the idea of resigning his safe
Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
seat of
Bewdley Bewdley ( pronunciation) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley west of Kidderminster and southwest of Birmingham. It lies on the Riv ...
and contesting the by-election himself. On 1 March Baldwin called Neville Chamberlain to see him and the latter understood Baldwin intended to resign the leadership of the Conservative Party at once. However the same evening William Bridgeman urged Baldwin to remain as leader and suggested he contest the by-election. Further discussions with Chamberlain and other colleagues convinced him not to be the candidate, but also not to resign at least while the by-election was in progress. The eventual Conservative candidate was Alfred Duff Cooper, who had been MP for
Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...
from
1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...
until his defeat in
1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...
. He had been
Financial Secretary to the War Office The Financial Secretary to the War Office and for certain periods known as the Finance Member of the Army Council, was a junior ministerial office of the British government established in 1870. In May 1947 the office was unified with that of the ...
from 1928 to 1929. In 1929 there had been a Labour candidate for the constituency, but Labour did not contest the by-election.


Campaign

One notable speech during the campaign was by Stanley Baldwin. At the
Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...
on 17 March he attacked the press proprietors, uttering the often-quoted words: "What the proprietorship of those papers is aiming at is power, and power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot through the ages". The latter phrase had been suggested to him by his cousin
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
. Cannadine who has highlighted the significance of the speech in the relationship between politicians and the press argued that comparing the press with a harlot was "devastating" especially "coming from Baldwin, whose public persona was that of an honest, decent Christian gentleman of unimpeachable character and integrity." ''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 ...
'' reported that "London has never seen anything quite like" Baldwin's speech and noted that it was the most "aggressive and bellicose speech" Baldwin had ever made.


Result

Cooper won the by-election with 59.9% of the votes.


Aftermath

After the result was announced Duff Cooper said that his win had been "a great victory for the true interest of the Conservative Party" and said the lesson to be learned was that in the future the party must "stand together behind one leader". The Conservative victory at the by-election was an important factor in Baldwin's retention of the Conservative Party leadership. Following the collapse later that year of the Labour Government, the Conservatives would unite with the
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Ramsay MacDonald to form the National Government, which enjoyed a landslide victory at the polls that autumn. Cooper was unopposed at the general election later that year, and remained MP for the constituency until 1945.


See also

* Westminster St. George's constituency *
List of United Kingdom by-elections The list of by-elections in the United Kingdom is divided chronologically by parliament: Parliament of the United Kingdom *List of United Kingdom by-elections (1801–1806) * List of United Kingdom by-elections (1806–1818) * List of United King ...
*
United Kingdom by-election records Parliamentary by-elections in the United Kingdom occur when a Member of Parliament (MP) vacates a House of Commons seat (due to resignation, death, disqualification or expulsion) during the course of a parliament. Scope of these records Altho ...


References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Westminster St George's By-Election, 1931 Westminster St George's by-election Westminster St George's,1931 Westminster St George's,1931 Westminster St George's by-election Westminster St George's by-election