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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
In October, 1951 Winston Churchill returned to head Britain's government; the Labor ministry which had held power since the summer of 1945 had been narrowly defeated in a general election and Clement Attlee's six years as Britain's first Minister were ended. But this change of leadership marked no change in the British political wars—and one of the most interesting, and most revealing, of the areas of these wars has been that of the by-elections.
These by-elections, special votes to fill vacancies in the House of Commons, took place in ten widely separated districts during the fourteen months from the general election of October, 1951 to the end of 1952. Four of the vacancies they were held to fill were caused by the death of a sitting MP, two by resignation, and the other four by elevation or succession of the incumbent to the House of Lords.
1 The percentage division of the 1951 general election popular vote was 48.77 for Labor, 47.98 Conservative, 2.55 Liberal, and .70 for all other candidates.
2 This is to be especially noted in the light of the generally accepted proposition that Liberals forced to choose between Labor and Conservative tend to vote in the ratio of 2:1 or 5:3 for the Conservative candidate.
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