Kensington South by-election, 1968
Encyclopedia
The Kensington South by-election, 1968 by-election
was held in the Kensington South constituency
of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 14 March 1968. The election was to fill a vacancy in the seat formerly held by Conservative
MP William Roots
, who resigned from Parliament
in 1968 due to ill health.
The seat was considered a safe seat
for the Conservatives ('as safe and solid as the red-brick Victorian blocks of flats', wrote the Times
); at the 1966 general election
Roots was elected with 65.1 percent of the vote and a majority
of 14,631. Turnout was expected to be low as the constituency had a large transient population living in bedsit
s and flats
.
The Conservative Sir Brandon Rhys-Williams
, a management consultant, won the seat with 75.5 percent of the vote and a slightly reduced majority (13,747) on a much reduced turnout. The Liberal
candidate Thomas Kellock, a QC
who had fought the seat at the previous general election, came in a distant second, with Labour
candidate Clive Bradley, a barrister and journalist, forced into third place and losing his deposit
. There were two independent candidates who received the fewest number of vote: Sinclair Eustace, 37, a teacher of phonetics and a campaigner against aircraft noise, described by the Times as 'perhaps the most civilized and likeable' of all the candidates but with a platform very close to that of the Liberal Party; and William Gold, 45, and engineer and 'a Buddhist, anti-vivisectionist
, periodic vegetarian and author of at least six unpublished novels' who had only just returned to the UK after living in Australia.
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
was held in the Kensington South constituency
United Kingdom constituencies
In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...
of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 14 March 1968. The election was to fill a vacancy in the seat formerly held by 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...
MP William Roots
William Roots
William Lloyd Roots was a British Conservative politician. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Kensington South at the 1959 general election, and served until his resignation in 1968.- External links :...
, who resigned from Parliament
Resignation from the British House of Commons
Members of Parliament sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically forbidden to resign. To circumvent this prohibition, a legal fiction is used...
in 1968 due to ill health.
The seat was considered a safe seat
Safe seat
A safe seat is a seat in a legislative body which is regarded as fully secured, either by a certain political party, the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both...
for the Conservatives ('as safe and solid as the red-brick Victorian blocks of flats', wrote the Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
); at the 1966 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1966
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...
Roots was elected with 65.1 percent of the vote and a majority
Majority
A majority is a subset of a group consisting of more than half of its members. This can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset; i.e. a plurality is not necessarily a majority as the largest subset may consist of less than half the group's population...
of 14,631. Turnout was expected to be low as the constituency had a large transient population living in bedsit
Bedsit
A bedsit, also known as a bed-sitting room, is a form of rented accommodation common in Great Britain and Ireland consisting of a single room and shared bathroom; they are part of a legal category of dwellings referred to as Houses in multiple occupation....
s and flats
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
.
The Conservative Sir Brandon Rhys-Williams
Brandon Rhys-Williams
Sir Brandon Meredith Rhys-Williams, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative politician.Rhys-Williams was elected a Member of Parliament in the Kensington South by-election, 1968, representing that seat until 1974, then for Kensington from 1974 until his death in 1988 aged 60...
, a management consultant, won the seat with 75.5 percent of the vote and a slightly reduced majority (13,747) on a much reduced turnout. The Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
candidate Thomas Kellock, a QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
who had fought the seat at the previous general election, came in a distant second, with Labour
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 Clive Bradley, a barrister and journalist, forced into third place and losing 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:...
. There were two independent candidates who received the fewest number of vote: Sinclair Eustace, 37, a teacher of phonetics and a campaigner against aircraft noise, described by the Times as 'perhaps the most civilized and likeable' of all the candidates but with a platform very close to that of the Liberal Party; and William Gold, 45, and engineer and 'a Buddhist, anti-vivisectionist
Vivisection
Vivisection is defined as surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure...
, periodic vegetarian and author of at least six unpublished novels' who had only just returned to the UK after living in Australia.