The 1945 Smethwick by-election was a by-election held on 1 October 1945 for the British House of Commons constituency of Smethwick in Staffordshire (now in the West Midlands county).
The by-election was caused by the death of the town's newly elected Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), 63-year-old Alfred Dobbs, who was killed in a car accident on 27 July 1945, only one day after his election at the 1945 general election Apart from some MPs who were elected posthumously, Dobbs remains the United Kingdom's shortest-serving MP.
There were only two candidates in the by-election, Labour and Conservative; the Liberal Party had not fielded a candidate in Smethwick since the 1929 general election.
The result was a victory for the Labour candidate Patrick Gordon Walker, who held the seat comfortably with a slightly increased majority on a modestly reduced turnout. Gordon Walker was an MP for nearly 30 years, serving twice as a Cabinet minister.
Votes
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 19,364 | 68.8 | +2.9 | |
| Conservative | G.H. Edgar | 8,762 | 31.2 | −2.9 | |
| Majority | 10,602 | 37.6 | +5.8 | ||
| Turnout | 43,020 | 65.4 | −7.0 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | +2.9 | |||
References
- "M.P. Killed in Car Crash". Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail. 28 July 1945. Retrieved 27 May 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- Craig, F. W. S. (1983) . British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- "1945 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
See also
Categories:- 1945 in England
- 1945 elections in the United Kingdom
- October 1945 events in the United Kingdom
- By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in West Midlands (county) constituencies
- Smethwick
- By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Staffordshire constituencies
- 20th century in Staffordshire