1977 City of London and Westminster South by-election
The City of London and Westminster South by-election on 24 February 1977 was held after Conservative Member of Parliament Christopher Tugendhat resigned the seat upon his appointment to the European Commission. A safe Conservative seat, it was won by their candidate, Peter Brooke.Candidates
The election was contested by a record ten candidates, beating the nine who had contested the 1976 Walsall North by-election. This total was topped at the 1978 Lambeth Central by-election. The candidates were:
- Bill Boaks stood under the title "Air, Road, Public Safety, White Resident". Boaks was a road safety campaigner and serial by-election candidate.
- Peter Brooke, a graduate of Harvard Business School was the Conservative Party candidate.
- Dennis Delderfield was the candidate for the New Britain Party, of which he was founder and leader. Delderfield was also a common councilman of the Corporation of London.
- Ralph Herbert was an independent who stood under the title "Christ, Crown, Country, Commonwealth, Christian Constitution".
- Paul Kavanagh was the candidate for the National Front.
- Michael Lobb was the candidate for the National Party, a splinter group of the National Front. He was candidate for the National Front in Newham South in the February 1974 general election and the subsequent by-election in the same seat.
- Peter Mitchell stood under the banner "Pro-Homosexual Civil Rights". He was involved in the Campaign for Homosexual Equality pressure group.
- Malcolm Noble was the Labour Party candidate.
- Angus Scrimgeour was the Liberal Party candidate.
- William Thompson was an independent who stood under the title "Christian Outreach to Britain, Anti-Pornography".
Aftermath
Brooke would retain the seat at the 1979 general election, and hold it until his retirement at the 2001 general election. He held a number of front-bench Government posts during his tenure, including Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.Results
The results for the previous election were:
