Two Bootle by-elections were held during 1990, for the House of Commons constituency of Bootle in Merseyside. Bootle was one of the Labour Party's safest seats, having held the seat since

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

May by-election

The first by-election was caused by 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 Allan Roberts, on 21 March 1990. Roberts had held the seat since the 1979 general election, and his majority had remained over 15,000 votes; even at the

1983 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general e ...

, which was a landslide victory for 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 ...

. At the 1987 general election, Roberts' majority had increased to almost 25,000 votes. For the by-election, Labour selected Michael Carr, a full-time official for the Transport and General Workers Union, and a former Labour Party councillor. The Conservatives, who had consistently taken second place in the seat but was struggling in the national polls, nominated James Clappison, a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

from Yorkshire. He had unsuccessfully contested

Barnsley East Barnsley East is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency in South Yorkshire, represented since 2017 by Stephanie Peacock of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. Constituency profile The seat covers the south-east sub ...

for the Conservative Party in 1987, and the South Yorkshire constituency at the

1989 European Parliament election The 1989 European Parliament election was a European election held across the 12 European Community member states in June 1989. It was the third European election but the first time that Spain and Portugal voted at the same time as the other m ...

. The newly named Liberal Democrats had suffered in the national polls since their formation by a merger of the Liberal Party and the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SDP), and in Bootle they were challenged by both

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party (UK), Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 t ...

's continuing

and Michael Meadowcroft's continuing Liberal Party, each consisting of members of the former Alliance parties who had rejected their merger. 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 ...

also nominated a candidate.

Screaming Lord Sutch Screaming Lord Sutch (10 November 1940 – 16 June 1999), who had his name legally changed from David Edward Sutch, was an English musician and perennial parliamentary candidate. He was the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party an ...

of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and an independent rounded out the field. The Loonies gained publicity after the Labour Party election agent unsuccessfully tried to get Sutch charged with having a public house as an election campaign headquarters. This had not been illegal since 1987. The election was held on 24 May. Despite having to contend with a large field of candidates, Carr increased the Labour vote, to win with more than three-quarters of all the votes cast. The Conservative vote halved, although they retained second place, as the Liberal Democrat vote could not match that of the SDP-Liberal Alliance in 1987. The Greens polled 3.6%, while the continuing Liberals fared poorly, and the continuing Social Democrats were beaten even by the Monster Raving Loonies. Sutch jokingly offered to form a coalition with them, and the party was wound up soon afterwards, but Holmes formed yet another

of members who wished to continue.

November by-election

Carr died on 20 July, only 57 days after his by-election victory. A second by-election was called for 8 November. Labour nominated

Joe Benton Joseph Edward Benton (born 28 September 1933) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bootle from 1990 to 2015. Early life Benton was born in Bootle, Merseyside and was educated at the St Monica's Roman ...

, the leader of

Sefton Borough Council Sefton Council is the governing body for the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in the county of Merseyside, north-western England. The council was under no overall control from the 1980s until 2012 when the Labour Party took control. It is a const ...

, a local

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and a personnel manager with Girobank. All the other parties nominated the same candidates as in May, except for the Social Democratic Party which did not participate (neither did the independent Schofield). The only addition to the field was David Black, a candidate in the previous year's

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and Vale of Glamorgan by-elections, standing as "Christian Alliance". On a low turnout of 39.7%, Benton increased the Labour Party majority again, taking 78.2% of the vote. The Conservative vote held steady, while all the other parties fell back. This allowed the Loonies to overtake the continuing Liberal Party. Benton remained as the Member of Parliament for Bootle until he retired in 2015, while Clappison was elected in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

for Hertsmere; he too retired in 2015.

May by-election

November by-election

References

See also