Newbury by-election, 1993

The Newbury by-election, in West Berkshire, England, was held on 6 May 1993 after Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Judith Chaplin died, after only being elected the previous year. It was won by David Rendel of the Liberal Democrats with an impressive swing of 28.4%, and well over twice as many votes as the Conservative candidate. However, as with other by-elections, turnout was lower than at the general election at 71.3%.

The by-election in Newbury was the first by-election of the 1992–1997 parliament, and the first in a string of by-election losses for the Conservative Party who were in their fourth consecutive term of office. Up until 1993 the Newbury seat had been held by a Conservative MP since 1924. In the 2005 general election, however, the constituency returned to the Conservatives with the defeat of David Rendel and the election of Richard Benyon.

Many independent candidates, or candidates from newly formed or minor parties stood in the by-election, with three candidates standing on an anti-Maastricht Treaty platform. Andrew Bannon, a Labour member from Slough stood as a Conservative Candidate in protest at a Conservative member standing as a Labour Candidate in the 1992 general election in Slough.

All candidates must win at least 5% of the total votes to retain their deposit, which they must pay to stand for election. Therefore, every candidate apart from David Rendel and Julian Davidson lost their deposit, including Labour's Steve Billcliffe.

The by-election achieved a record of 19 candidates, easily beating the previous high of seventeen at the Chesterfield by-election, 1984. It remained the longest ballot paper in any Parliamentary election until the Haltemprice and Howden by-election, 2008.

Results

Newbury by-election, 1993[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrat David Rendel 37,590 65.1 +27.8
Conservative Julian Davidson 15,535 26.9 −29.0
Labour Steve Billcliffe 1,151 2.0 −4.0
Anti-Federalist League Alan Sked 601 1.0
Conservative Candidate Andrew Bannon 561 1.0
Commoners' Party Stephen Martin 435 0.8
Monster Raving Loony Lord David Sutch 432 0.7
Green Jim Wallis 341 0.6 −0.2
Referendum Party Robin Marlar 338 0.6
Conservative Rebel John Browne 267 0.5
Corrective Party Lindi St Clair 170 0.3
Maastricht Referendum for Britain Bill Board 84 0.1
Natural Law Michael Grenville 60 0.1
People & Pensioners Party Johnathon Day 49 0.1
21st Century Independent Foresters Colin Palmer 40 0.1
Defence of Children's Humanity Bosnia Mladen Grbin 33 0.1
Social Democratic Alan Page 33 0.1
Communist (PCC) Anne Murphy 32 0.1
Give the royal billions to schools Michael Stone 21 0.1
Majority 22 055 38.2
Turnout 57 399 71.3 −11.46
Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative Swing 28.4

General election result, 1992

This is the result of the 1992 general election in Newbury.

UK General Election: Newbury, 1992
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Judith Chaplin 37 135 55.9 −4.24
Liberal Democrat David Rendel 24 778 37.3 +5.57
Labour Richard J E Hall 3 962 6.0 −2.13
Green Jim Wallis 539 0.8 +0.8
Majority 12 357 18.61 −9.8
Turnout 66 414 82.76 +4.77
Conservative hold Swing

See also

References

  1. ↑ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1992-97 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
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