Stockton-on-Tees by-election, 1962
Encyclopedia
The Stockton-on-Tees by-election, 1962 was a parliamentary by-election
held for the House of Commons constituency of Stockton-on-Tees
in County Durham
on 5 April 1962. It was the by-election at which Bill Rodgers
, a future Cabinet minister
and member of the "Gang of Four" of senior Labour
politicians who defected to form the SDP
, entered Parliament
. Rodgers subsequently helped to lead the SDP into the merger that formed the Liberal Democrats, and later served as that party's leader in the House of Lords
. In the circumstances it is not without irony that Rodgers remembers future Liberal
leader David Steel
, then not yet an MP, loudly booing the result of the election at Stockton from the floor of the count.
to take up the post of Director of the North East Development Council.
and Chetwynd took Rodgers to the constituency to introduce him to some key figures in the local party. Among the other hopefuls at the selection meeting were three local candidates as well as Maurice Foley
who later became MP for West Bromwich
and left-winger Renee Short
, who went on to be MP for Wolverhampton North East. Rodgers won on the third ballot, taking most of second preferences from Foley and the local candidates.
chose a 28 year old barrister
, Gerald Coles, the son of a well-known Teesside
Tory
, Alderman
J W Coles of Redcar
.
, and their near miss at Blackpool
the day before, could deliver another success. They trusted that in a seat where voters over the age of 50 could still remember a Liberal MP, enough of a Liberal tradition in Stockton still existed. This was despite the fact that the Liberals had not fought the seat at the three previous general elections in 1959
, 1955
and 1951
and had forfeited their deposits in 1950
and 1945
. The Liberals selected John Henry Mulholland, a 28 year old personnel officer with ICI
. Mulholland was a local man, having been born in Stockton-on-Tees
with his parents still living in the town. He worked in Manchester
and was a local councillor
in Runcorn
. John Mulholland's son is now a Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, Greg Mulholland
.
. Macmillan was a former MP for Stockton-on-Tees and returned to the constituency to campaign for Coles, the first time since before the Second World War that a serving prime minister
had been seen on the streets of by-election supporting his party’s candidate. Rodgers' principal weapon of attack was the unemployment figures which had been steadily increasing over the past months and stood at 5% at the time of the by-election. The Tory and Liberal candidates spent much of their time engaging in argument over whether Blackpool and Orpington were flashes in the pan or the manifestation of something more permanent in British politics. However Macmillan concentrated on Britain’s application to enter the Common Market
in his speech to a packed crowd at Stockton’s Maison de Danse. Indications were that this was not a popular or resonant issue with the voters who were unhappy about the treatment of pensioners and the government’s imposed pay pause. They also felt a general desire for a change with the government having been in office since 1951.
on 12 July 1962 when the Tories did fall into third place behind the Liberals. As a consequence, Macmillan re-shuffled his cabinet removing seven ministers, including Chancellor of the Exchequer
, Selwyn Lloyd
who was held responsible for the unpopularity of the pay pause policy. This mass removal of ministers, referred to as ‘the night of the long knives’
, smacked of desperation and caused many people to question Macmillan’s political judgment. It also led to one of the best political quotations of the era from future Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe
when he commented: “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life.”
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
held for the House of Commons constituency of Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees (UK Parliament constituency)
Stockton-on-Tees is a former borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
in County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
on 5 April 1962. It was the by-election at which Bill Rodgers
William Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank
William Thomas Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, PC , usually known as William Rodgers but also often known as Bill Rodgers, was one of the "Gang of Four" of senior British Labour Party politicians who defected to form the Social Democratic Party...
, a future Cabinet minister
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
and member of the "Gang of Four" of senior 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...
politicians who defected to form the SDP
Social Democratic Party (UK)
The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
, entered Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. Rodgers subsequently helped to lead the SDP into the merger that formed the Liberal Democrats, and later served as that party's leader in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. In the circumstances it is not without irony that Rodgers remembers future 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...
leader David Steel
David Steel
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, KT, KBE, PC is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats...
, then not yet an MP, loudly booing the result of the election at Stockton from the floor of the count.
Vacancy
The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Labour MP, George ChetwyndGeorge Chetwynd
Sir George Roland Chetwynd, CBE was a British lecturer, politician and public servant. He defeated Harold Macmillan in order to get elected as a Member of Parliament, but later left Parliament to become Director of the North East Development Council for five years in the 1960s.-Education:Chetwynd...
to take up the post of Director of the North East Development Council.
Labour
The Stockton Labour Party held a contest to select their candidate. Rodgers, who was then aged 33 and was a lecturer and economist, was the preferred candidate of retiring MP George Chetwynd. He had been recommended to Chetwynd by Hugh DaltonHugh Dalton
Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton PC was a British Labour Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947, when he was implicated in a political scandal involving budget leaks....
and Chetwynd took Rodgers to the constituency to introduce him to some key figures in the local party. Among the other hopefuls at the selection meeting were three local candidates as well as Maurice Foley
Maurice Foley (politician)
Maurice Anthony Foley was a British Labour Party politician. He was elected as Member of Parliament for West Bromwich at a by-election in 1963, and represented the constituency until his resignation from the House of Commons in 1973...
who later became MP for West Bromwich
West Bromwich (UK Parliament constituency)
West Bromwich was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1974. It was based around West Bromwich, in the West Midlands...
and left-winger Renee Short
Renee Short
Renée Short was a British Labour Party politician.Born Renée Gill in Leamington Spa, she had a Jewish mother but was brought up by her Church of England grandparents. She was educated at Nottingham County Grammar School and Manchester University. She was a journalist...
, who went on to be MP for Wolverhampton North East. Rodgers won on the third ballot, taking most of second preferences from Foley and the local candidates.
Conservatives
The ConservativesConservative 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...
chose a 28 year old barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
, Gerald Coles, the son of a well-known Teesside
Teesside
Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...
Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
, Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
J W Coles of Redcar
Redcar
Redcar is a seaside resort in the north east of England, and a major town in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. It lies east-northeast of Middlesbrough by the North Sea coast...
.
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party had hopes that Stockton-on-Tees, coming less than a month after their famous by-election victory at OrpingtonOrpington by-election, 1962
The Orpington by-election of 1962 is often described as the start of the Liberal Party revival in the United Kingdom.The election was caused by the appointment of Donald Sumner, Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Orpington as a County Court Judge...
, and their near miss at Blackpool
Blackpool North by-election, 1962
In 1962, Blackpool North held a by-election that was newsworthy. The by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Blackpool North, in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, was held on 13 March 1962....
the day before, could deliver another success. They trusted that in a seat where voters over the age of 50 could still remember a Liberal MP, enough of a Liberal tradition in Stockton still existed. This was despite the fact that the Liberals had not fought the seat at the three previous general elections in 1959
United Kingdom general election, 1959
This United Kingdom general election was held on 8 October 1959. It marked a third successive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, led by Harold Macmillan...
, 1955
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
and 1951
United Kingdom general election, 1951
The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election, which the Labour Party had won with a slim majority of just five seats...
and had forfeited their deposits in 1950
United Kingdom general election, 1950
The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...
and 1945
United Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
. The Liberals selected John Henry Mulholland, a 28 year old personnel officer with ICI
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
. Mulholland was a local man, having been born in Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in north east England. It is the major settlement in the unitary authority and borough of Stockton-on-Tees. For ceremonial purposes, the borough is split between County Durham and North Yorkshire as it also incorporates a number of smaller towns including...
with his parents still living in the town. He worked in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and was a local councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
in Runcorn
Runcorn
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port within the borough of Halton in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. In 2009, its population was estimated to be 61,500. The town is on the southern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form Runcorn Gap. Directly to the north...
. John Mulholland's son is now a Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, Greg Mulholland
Greg Mulholland
Gregory Thomas Mulholland is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom, and is the Member of Parliament for Leeds North West. He was first elected at the 2005 general election, winning the seat from Labour and was re-elected with an increased majority at the 2010 general election. Before...
.
The issues
Rodgers spent time attacking the Tory government of Harold MacmillanHarold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
. Macmillan was a former MP for Stockton-on-Tees and returned to the constituency to campaign for Coles, the first time since before the Second World War that a serving prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
had been seen on the streets of by-election supporting his party’s candidate. Rodgers' principal weapon of attack was the unemployment figures which had been steadily increasing over the past months and stood at 5% at the time of the by-election. The Tory and Liberal candidates spent much of their time engaging in argument over whether Blackpool and Orpington were flashes in the pan or the manifestation of something more permanent in British politics. However Macmillan concentrated on Britain’s application to enter the Common Market
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
in his speech to a packed crowd at Stockton’s Maison de Danse. Indications were that this was not a popular or resonant issue with the voters who were unhappy about the treatment of pensioners and the government’s imposed pay pause. They also felt a general desire for a change with the government having been in office since 1951.
The result
On a turnout of 81%, Rodgers easily held the seat for Labour with an increased majority, which he had confidently predicted from the outset of the campaign. Despite all their hopes the Liberals did not quite beat the Tory candidate into third place, failing by just 390 votes to capture second place but Stockton-on-Tees was one of series of by-elections at this time in which Liberal performance was improving and where the Conservative share of poll reduced. This culminated in the by-election at Leicester North EastLeicester North East (UK Parliament constituency)
Leicester North East was a borough constituency in the city of Leicester. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
on 12 July 1962 when the Tories did fall into third place behind the Liberals. As a consequence, Macmillan re-shuffled his cabinet removing seven ministers, including Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
, Selwyn Lloyd
Selwyn Lloyd
John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd, Baron Selwyn-Lloyd CH PC CBE TD , known for most of his career as Selwyn Lloyd, was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Foreign Secretary from 1955 to 1960, then as Chancellor of the Exchequer until 1962...
who was held responsible for the unpopularity of the pay pause policy. This mass removal of ministers, referred to as ‘the night of the long knives’
Night of the Long Knives (1962)
The epithet Night of the Long Knives is given to July 13, 1962, when the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan sacked the following members of his Cabinet:*Lord Kilmuir — Lord Chancellor*Selwyn Lloyd — Chancellor of the Exchequer...
, smacked of desperation and caused many people to question Macmillan’s political judgment. It also led to one of the best political quotations of the era from future Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe
Jeremy Thorpe
John Jeremy Thorpe is a British former politician who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976 and was the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979. His political career was damaged when an acquaintance, Norman Scott, claimed to have had a love affair with Thorpe at a time...
when he commented: “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life.”
The votes
See also
- List of United Kingdom by-elections
- United Kingdom by-election recordsUnited Kingdom by-election recordsUK by-election records is an annotated list of notable records from UK Parliamentary by-elections. A by-election occurs when a Member of Parliament resigns, dies, or is disqualified or expelled, and an election is held to fill the vacant seat...