Walthamstow West by-election, 1956
Encyclopedia
The Walthamstow West
by-election
of 1 March 1956 was held after the elevation to the Peerage of former Prime Minister, Labour
MP
(MP) Clement Attlee
:
The seat was safe, having been won by Attlee at the 1955 General Election
by over 9,000 votes
Walthamstow West (UK Parliament constituency)
Walthamstow West was a borough constituency in what is now the London Borough of Waltham Forest, but was until 1965 the Walthamstow Urban District of Essex...
by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
of 1 March 1956 was held after the elevation to the Peerage of former Prime Minister, 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...
MP
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) Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
:
The seat was safe, having been won by Attlee at the 1955 General Election
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...
by over 9,000 votes
Candidates
- Edward RedheadEdward RedheadEdward Charles Redhead JP was a British civil servant and politician who became the successor to Clement Attlee as Member of Parliament for Walthamstow West.-Civil servant:...
for Labour was a councillor and Alderman - The Conservatives nominated Richard HornbyRichard HornbyRichard Phipps Hornby was a British Conservative Party politician and businessman. He was Member of Parliament for Tonbridge for over 17½ years, from June 1956 to February 1974, holding a junior ministerial position for a year in the mid-1960s. He worked for the J...
, who at the time was a copywriter for JWT - The Liberal Party chose Oliver SmedleyOliver SmedleyMajor Oliver Smedley MC was a British businessman involved in classical liberal politics and pirate radio. He was acquitted of the murder of a business rival on the grounds of self-defence.-Military:...
, who in 1955 had helped found the Institute of Economic AffairsInstitute of Economic AffairsThe Institute of Economic Affairs , founded in 1955, styles itself the UK's pre-eminent free-market think-tank. Its mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social... - Perennial candidate Bill BoaksBill BoaksLieutenant Commander William George Boaks DSC was a British Royal Navy officer who became an eccentric political campaigner for road safety. He died at the age of 81 as a result of a road traffic accident...
stood as an independent.