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 ...

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 of ...

Michael Colvin Michael Keith Beale Colvin (27 September 1932 – 24 February 2000) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol North West in 1979. From 1983 onwards, he was the MP for Romsey a ...

and his wife died in a fire at their home on 24 February 2000. This created 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 ...

in his constituency of

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a historic market town in the county of Hampshire, England. Romsey was home to the 17th-century philosopher and economist William Petty and the 19th-century British prime minister, Lord Palmerston, whose statue has stood in the t ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The Conservative Party decided to delay the polling day until 4 May, so that it would come simultaneously with local elections. They selected Tim Palmer, a farmer and

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

County Councillor, to defend the seat. The Liberal Democrats considered this byelection their best chance of gaining a seat since 1997 and selected a local

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

Sandra Gidley Sandra Julia Gidley MRPharmS (''née'' Rawson; born 26 March 1957) is a British pharmacist and politician who served as the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for Romsey in Hampshire from 2000 to 2010, when she lost her seat to Conserva ...

(who had been Mayor of Romsey) as their candidate.

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 ...

carried out minimal campaigning in a constituency in which they had come third for years. This led many observers to assume that the party was expecting, or hoping, that its vote would largely go to the Liberal Democrats in order to help defeat the Conservatives. In the event, the Labour vote collapsed while the Liberal Democrats surged, and they made this the only mainland by-election to result in a change of party control in the entire Parliament. This was the first time the Conservatives had lost a seat in a by-election while in Opposition since the

1965 Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles by-election The Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles by-election was significant in that it led to the election of David Steel, who went on to lead the Liberal Party, to the British House of Commons for the first time. As such it was a milestone in the revival of ...

, and would be the last time the Liberal Democrats gained a constituency from the Conservatives at a by-election until the

2016 Richmond Park by-election The Richmond Park by-election was a UK parliamentary by-election in the constituency of Richmond Park which was held on 1 December 2016. It was triggered by the resignation of the Conservative Member of Parliament Zac Goldsmith on 25 October 201 ...

Results

1997 general election result

References

External links

Campaign literature from the by-election
{{By-elections to the 52nd UK Parliament 2000 elections in the United Kingdom 2000 in England By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Hampshire constituencies Test Valley 2000s in Hampshire