1946 Battersea North by-election


The Battersea North by-election, 1946 was a parliamentary by-election held on 25 July 1946 for the British House of Commons constituency of Battersea North in the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea.
The seat had become vacant on the resignation from the House of Common of the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament, Francis Douglas, who had been appointed as Governor of Malta and ennobled as Baron Douglas of Barloch. He had held the seat since a by-election in 1940.

Candidates

The Labour Party selected as its candidate Douglas Jay, a 39-year-old economist who had been a financial journalist, a Fellow of All Souls and then a civil servant.
The Conservative Party candidate was B.A. Shattock, while the Liberal Party did not field a candidate.
The third candidate was 38-year-old Trotskyite and adult education tutor, Hugo Dewar of the Independent Labour Party. He had joined the ILP in 1928, and in 1930 co-founded the Marxist League. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1931, but was expelled the following year. He was one of the founders in 1932 of the Communist League, Britain's first Trotskyist group, and had remained active in 'Left Opposition' groups until he was drafted into the army in 1943.

Results

On a turnout reduced to 55% from the 71% at the 1945 general election, Jay held the seat for Labour with 69% of votes, a small reduction from the 74% won by his predecessor in 1945. Shattock's 29.6% share was a small increase on the 26.1% Conservative vote the previous year, while Dewar won only 240 votes of the total, and lost his deposit.

Aftermath

Jay joined the government the following year as Economic Secretary to the Treasury, and held several other government offices before his retirement from the House of Commons in 1983. He was made a life peer in 1987.

Votes