The 2023 Tamworth by-election is a by-election to be held on 19 October 2023 for the

UK parliamentary constituency The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

of Tamworth, due to the resignation of

Chris Pincher Christopher John Pincher (born 24 September 1969) is a British independent politician and a Conservative Party member, who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamworth since 2010. Pincher previously served as Government Deputy Chief Wh ...

MP. Pincher announced his resignation following a sexual misconduct scandal, and his recommended suspension from the House of Commons for eight weeks.

Background

Chris Pincher resignation

Chris Pincher, a former Deputy

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

, was involved in a controversy following allegations of sexual misconduct. Pincher resigned as Deputy Chief Whip on 30 June 2022, and was suspended as a Conservative MP following allegations that he had sexually assaulted two men. Further allegations were made in July, which pre-dated his appointment by

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

, who originally denied knowledge of the allegations. It was later revealed Johnson had been aware, and many cited this scandal as the final straw that led to Johnson's

resignation 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 ...

. The Standards Committee upheld the allegations of sexual assault in July and recommended an eight-week suspension from the Commons. Pincher appealed the decision, but subsequently lost the appeal. The eight-week suspension would have been enough to trigger a

recall petition A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of offi ...

, but Pincher resigned before the House could vote on the recommended suspension.

Constituency

Tamworth constituency consists of the southeast corner of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, including the towns of

Fazeley Fazeley is an industrial town and civil parish in the Lichfield District in Staffordshire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Fazeley is located on the outskirts of Tamworth and the civil parish of Fazeley also in ...

and Tamworth. It was previously considered to be a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...

constituency, but has become a

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 i ...

safe seat in recent years, with a majority of nearly 20,000 in the 2019 election. The constituency voted 66% for leave in the 2016 EU membership referendum. The constituency last had a by-election in 1996, when it was known as South East Staffordshire. The by-election saw Labour take the seat from the Conservatives with a large swing.

Candidates

On 18 June 2023, prior to Pincher's resignation,

MP Eddie Hughes had been selected as the candidate for Tamworth at the next general election. Hughes is currently the MP for the nearby

Walsall North Walsall North is a constituency created in 1955 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Eddie Hughes, a member of the Conservative Party. The local electorate returned a Labour MP in the seat's first seventeen ...

constituency, which is being abolished at the next general election under the

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies is the current cycle of the process to redraw the constituency map for the House of Commons. The process for periodic reviews of parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom is gover ...

. If Hughes had stood and won the by-election, this would have triggered another by-election in Walsall North. However, Hughes announced on 7 September that he would not be standing in the by-election. The Conservatives selected Andrew Cooper as their candidate, a councillor in Tamworth since 2021. Cooper was raised on a council estate in Tamworth and served in the Army. On 23 July,

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 ...

selected Sarah Edwards to be their candidate. She is a

Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs ...

union official from

Moseley Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...

who has worked for the charity

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

. Sunny Virk, a local barrister and mediator, is the

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

candidate. Ian Cooper is the

Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant po ...

candidate. Former university lecturer Dr. Sue Howarth is standing for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

. Robert Bilcliff is standing for UKIP. He was a member of

Tamworth Borough Council Tamworth Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Tamworth in the county of Staffordshire, England. The council consists of 30 councillors, three for each of the 10 wards in the town. It is currently controlled by the Conserva ...

for

Stonydelph Stonydelph is a neighbourhood about south east of the centre of Tamworth, Staffordshire, Tamworth, Staffordshire. A spelling of "Stoneydelph" is sometimes used but the Ordnance Survey, OS map of 1888 shows "Stonydelph Farm" as the only building ...

from 2016 to 2021. Ashlea Simon is standing for

Britain First Britain First is a far-right, British fascist political party formed in 2011 by former members of the British National Party (BNP). The group was founded by Jim Dowson, an anti-abortion and far-right campaigner. * ''See also'': The organisa ...

. The party chair, she previously contested the

2022 Wakefield by-election A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Wakefield was held on 23 June 2022. It was triggered by the resignation, on 3 May 2022, of Member of Parliament (MP) Imran Ahmad Khan, who was elected as a Conservative at the 2 ...

for the party. Local teacher and former Mayor of Tamworth, Richard Kingstone announced his intention to stand as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, but later made a statement announcing he would no longer be standing due to personal circumstances.

Previous result

References

2023 elections in the United Kingdom 2023 in England 2023 Tamworth

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October 2023 events in the United Kingdom {{DEFAULTSORT:Tamworth by-election