Harrow East by-election, 1959

A by-election for the United Kingdom House of Commons was held in the constituency of Harrow East on 19 March 1959, following the resignation of sitting Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Ian Harvey.

Background

In November 1958, Harvey and a Guardsman from the Coldstream Guards were found in the bushes in St James's Park and arrested; Harvey tried to escape, and attempted to give a false name on arrest. Both were charged with gross indecency and breach of the park regulations; when tried on 10 December, the indecency charge was dropped and both were fined £5.^[1] Harvey subsequently resigned his ministerial post and his seat, forcing the by-election; he paid the guardsman's fine as well as his own.^[2]

Candidates

The by-election saw the seat held by the Conservative candidate, Anthony Courtney, with a small swing to Labour, whose candidate, the future Home Secretary Merlyn Rees, had contested the seat in 1955, and would do so again in the General Election later in 1959. A minor candidate also stood, representing the National Union of Small Shopkeepers, but he lost his deposit.

Result

UK Parliament by-election 1959, Harrow East^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Anthony T. Courtney	17,776	52.8	-1.6
	Labour	Merlyn Rees	15,546	46.2	0.6
	National Union of Small Shopkeepers	Thomas Lynch	348	1.0	1.0
Majority			2,220	6.6	-2.2
Turnout			28,795	68.96	-13.66
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.1

Previous Result

General Election 1955: Harrow East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Ian Harvey	22,243	54.43
	Labour	Merlyn Rees	18,621	45.57
Majority			3,622	8.86
Turnout				82.62
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

↑ BBC News, A history of Christmas scandal past, BBC News Online, 22 December 1998
↑ Alan Doig, "Westminster Babylon: Sex, money and scandal in British politics" (Allison and Busby, 1990), page 57.
↑ http://www.harrow-elections.co.uk/resources/1954AppendJ.pdf
↑ "1959 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 2015-08-15.

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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

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