1973 West Bromwich by-election

1973 West Bromwich by-election
Constituency of West Bromwich
MP before election; Maurice Foley; Labour	Subsequent MP ; Betty Boothroyd; Labour

The West Bromwich by-election of 24 May 1973 was held after the appointment of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Foley to the European Commission. The constituency, held continuously by Labour since 1935, was retained in this by-election.

Campaign

The election campaign was noted for the refusal of Enoch Powell, MP for neighbouring Wolverhampton South West, to endorse Conservative candidate David Bell; he felt that Bell was too far removed from his own policies on immigration and United Kingdom membership of the European Communities.^[1] Although Powell did not endorse any candidate, the National Front (NF) claimed that Powell's refusal to support Bell represented tacit endorsement of itself. On polling day Martin Webster captured 16% of the vote, an all-time high for the NF, which thereby saved its deposit.

In common with a number of by-elections at the time, the Liberal Party did not compete for this seat.

Results

West Bromwich by-election, 1973^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Betty Boothroyd	15,907	53.21	−2.02
	Conservative	David Bell	7,582	25.36	−19.41
	National Front	Martin Webster	4,789	16.02	New
	Independent	Joshua Churchman	1,616	5.41	New
Majority			8,325	27.85
Turnout			29,894	43.6
	Labour hold		Swing

References

^ Simon Heffer, Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell, London, 1998. ISBN 0-297-84286-2, pp. 667–668
^ "1973 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2015.

[1] Simon Heffer, Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell, London, 1998. ISBN 0-297-84286-2, pp. 667–668

[2] "1973 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2015.

[1]

[2]

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Campaign

Results

See also

References