Cheadle by-election, 2005
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| Cheadle in Greater Manchester Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the... , which is shown right within England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental... |
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The Cheadle by-election, in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, England, was caused by the death of Patsy Calton
Patsy Calton
Patsy Calton was a British politician, and was a Liberal Democrat politician, and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Cheadle in Greater Manchester....
, the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Cheadle on 29 May 2005. The election was held on 14 July 2005.
The Liberal Democrat candidate succeeding Calton was Stockport council leader
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The council is currently in no overall control since the 2011 local elections when the Liberal Democrats lost their majority. The Liberal Democrats now have 31...
Mark Hunter
Mark Hunter (politician)
Mark James Hunter is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is the current Member of Parliament for Cheadle.-Education and background:...
. The Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
candidate was Stephen Day
Stephen Day (MP)
Stephen Richard Day is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, and a former Member of Parliament .He was the Conservative candidate for Bradford West at the 1983 general election, before being elected as MP for Cheadle from 1987 to 2001, when he lost his seat by 33 votes, the...
(who held the seat from 1987
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
to 2001, and lost to Calton in the 2005 general election). In his victory speech, Hunter described the campaign of the Conservatives as 'nasty' and 'misleading'.
The campaign was marred by accusations of dirty tricks and ruthless negative campaigning
Negative campaigning
Negative campaigning, also known more colloquially as "mudslinging", is trying to win an advantage by referring to negative aspects of an opponent or of a policy rather than emphasizing one's own positive attributes or preferred policies...
, principally accusing the Conservative campaign. Both the Liberal Democrats and a local newspaper threatened legal action over inaccuracies and defamation in Conservative campaign leaflets. The most significant example was a Conservative leaflet that superimposed a headline about Hunter's voting record on crime with a headline from a local newspaper about a rape, prompting the Liberal Democrats to threaten legal action. With only 4.6% of the vote the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
candidate, Martin Miller, lost his deposit
Deposit (politics)
A deposit is a sum of money that a candidate must pay in return for the right to stand for election to certain political offices, particularly seats in legislatures.-United Kingdom:...
; Labour did not fight an energetic campaign in a seat that was a Liberal Democrat/Conservative marginal.
With the exception of the 1997 Winchester by-election
Winchester by-election, 1997
The 1997 Winchester by-election was a by-election to the UK House of Commons in the constituency of Winchester, Hampshire. After an unclear result in Winchester at the general election on 1 May 1997, a new election was allowed by the High Court...
, where the General Election result was annulled, it was the first seat to be defended in a by-election by the Liberal Democrats since their formation in 1988. Their predecessor parties last defended a seat in a by-election at Truro in 1987
Truro by-election, 1987
The Truro by-election, 1987, was caused by the death of David Penhaligon, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Truro on 22 December 1986 in a car crash near the city. The election was held on 12 March 1987...
.