The 1961 Bristol South East by-election was a

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 ...

held on 4 May 1961 for the British House of Commons constituency of

Bristol South East Bristol South East was a constituency in the city of Bristol that returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, mainly from t ...

in the city of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. The seat had become vacant when the constituency's

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 ...

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),

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...

, had inherited a hereditary peerage from his

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

and became

Viscount Stansgate Viscount Stansgate, of Stansgate in the County of Essex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1942 for the Labour politician, former Secretary of State for India and future Secretary of State for Air, William Wedg ...

, thus making him automatically ineligible to serve in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

. He had been elected at a by-election in 1950. Benn stood in the by-election anyway—claiming that he had not asked for and would not ask for a writ of summons to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

—and won the majority of votes, but he was forbidden by Parliamentary authorities to physically return to the Commons due to his ineligibility. The

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

candidate Malcolm St Clair—who was himself the heir to a peerage—filed a petition against the result, and was declared the winner after a court challenge. When the law was later changed by the

Peerage Act 1963 The Peerage Act 1963 (c. 48) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permits women peeresses and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords and allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be disclaimed. Backgro ...

to allow Benn to renounce his peerage, Benn immediately did so and, fulfilling a promise to the electors of Bristol South East, St Clair

resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

his seat. Benn was returned to the House of Commons at the

1963 Bristol South East by-election The 1963 Bristol South East by-election was a by-election held on 20 August 1963 for the British House of Commons constituency of Bristol South East in the city of Bristol. The seat had become vacant in 1961 when the constituency's Labour Member ...

, which was not contested by the Conservatives.

Votes

References

British Parliamentary by-elections, 1961: Bristol South East
1961 in England Tony Benn 1961 elections in the United Kingdom

South East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

1960s in Bristol May 1961 events in the United Kingdom {{England-UK-Parl-by-election-stub

Votes

See also

References