Carmarthen by-election, 1957

The Carmarthen by-election of 1957 in Carmarthenshire, Wales, was notable for resulting in the nadir of the British Liberal Party and for being the first election in the United Kingdom in which two women competed for the same seat.

The seat opened up as a result of the death of Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris on 22 November 1956. The Liberal Party was in a period of decline and Hopkin Morris had been one of only six Liberal Members of Parliament. Hopkin Morris's majorities had been narrow and it was recognised that a significant number of voters had favoured him personally and might not transfer their allegiance to a new Liberal candidate.

Further distress for the Liberals was caused by the announcement that Lady Megan Lloyd George, a former Liberal MP with a national reputation, would be running as the Labour candidate. Previously selected prospective candidate for Labour, Brynley Thomas, stood down in her favour. The local Liberals created another dilemma by choosing John Morgan Davies as their candidate; the Liberals were seeking to challenge the ruling Conservatives over the ongoing Suez Crisis and Morgan Davies, like Hopkin Morris, had publicly taken a pro-government stand on the issue. Jo Grimond, who had assumed leadership of the Liberal Party only a few weeks before, had to choose whether to support or disown Morgan Davies. He chose to support him.

The other candidate who ran for the seat was Jennie Eirian Davies of Plaid Cymru.

The Conservatives did not run a candidate. This was the second to last by-election in Great Britain, during the 20th Century, in which they did not stand, the last being the unusual circumstances of the Bristol South East by-election, 1963.

The election was held on 28 February 1957. Lloyd George won the seat, swinging the district from Liberal to Labour and dropping the Liberal Party to their historic low of only five seats in Parliament.

Carmarthen by-election, 1957^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Megan Lloyd George	23,679	47.3	+4.57
	Liberal	John Morgan Davies	20,610	41.2	-8.29
	Plaid Cymru	Jennie Eirian Davies	5,741	11.5	+3.72
Majority			3,069	6.1
Turnout			43,726	87.4
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

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1956	February: Blaydon Leeds North East Hereford Gainsborough Taunton March: Walthamstow West May: Mid Ulster June: Tonbridge July: Newport September: Chester-le-Street November: City of Chester December: Melton

1957	February: Lewisham North Wednesbury Carmarthen March: Bristol West Warwick and Leamington Beckenham Newcastle-upon-Tyne North May: Edinburgh South East Ham North Hornsey June: North Dorset September: Gloucester October: Ipswich November: Leicester South East December: Liverpool Garston

1958	February: Rochdale March: Glasgow Kelvingrove Torrington May: Islington North June: Argyll Ealing South St Helens Weston-super-Mare Wigan November: Morecambe and Lunesdale Chichester Pontypool East Aberdeenshire Shoreditch and Finsbury

1959	January: Southend West March: Belfast East Harrow East South West Norfolk April: Galloway June: Penistone Whitehaven

Lists of UK by-elections 1801–1806 1806–1818 1818–1832 1832–1847 1847–1857 1857–1868 1868–1885 1885–1900 1900–1918 1918–1931 1931–1950 1950–1979 1979–2010 2010–present

References

↑ "1957 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2015-08-14.

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Carmarthen by-election, 1957

See also

References