Reverse chicken runs

[Deleted]

Spun out from the Wandsworth thread.

Most of us will be familiar with incumbents chicken running from marginals to safe seats, but what examples do we have of the reverse - elected representatives boldly giving up tenure security to contest a marginal, either held by their own party or the opposition?

[John Chanin]

Mar 28, 2018 11:02:14 GMT @strinity said:

Spun out from the Wandsworth thread.

Most of us will be familiar with incumbents chicken running from marginals to safe seats, but what examples do we have of the reverse - councillors boldly giving up tenure security to contest a marginal, either held by their own party or the opposition?

Ken Livingstone in1981 has already been quoted.

At the parliamentary level I can think of 2 recent examples where following redistribution the sitting MP went for the more marginal seat.  One was where the Buckingham MP chose to stand for Milton Keynes.  The other was where the Northampton South MP chose to stay there rather than move to the new Northamptonshire South seat, which was about 50% of his old seat. It's rare.

Of course at local level it happens all the time as councillors fall out with their ward members.  

[finsobruce]

Mar 28, 2018 11:02:14 GMT @strinity said:

Spun out from the Wandsworth thread.

Most of us will be familiar with incumbents chicken running from marginals to safe seats, but what examples do we have of the reverse - councillors boldly giving up tenure security to contest a marginal, either held by their own party or the opposition?

Ron Aitken, who we were discussing in the Haringey thread recently was the Tory, then Lib Dem councillor for Crouch End. In the 2010 elections when the Lib Dems were hopeful of taking control he stood in Bounds Green instead as it was a seat they needed to win to have a majority. He certainly put his money where his mouth was, although unfortunately for him, he lost.

[finsobruce]

Oh, and that's reminded me of Herbert Morrison's move from Hackney South to Lewisham East for the 1945 election as Morrison wanted to show that Labour could win suburban seats and therefore form a government. Of course, he ended up a huge majority in Lewisham and the majority in Hackney barely changed as Bill Rust of the Communist party polled almost 25%. In 1950 Herbert Butler's majority leapt to 20,000

[Davıd Boothroyd]

The most notable example in national politics was Herbert Morrison, who had what was clearly a safe seat in Hackney South but chose in 1945 to abandon it and stand in Lewisham East - a seat Labour had never previously won.

[Deleted]

Willie Hamilton, a Scottish Labour MP who was a rather left-wing republican, was deselected for the 1987 election. In order to receive payment for losing his seat in parliament, he stood for South Hams - a seat in Devon which was very safely Conservative, and the Liberals were very safely in second place.

[Deleted]

It's worth noting that I can think of a few local politicians in Dorset who managed to narrowly win a marginal ward, later on transferred to a safer ward, and then eventually political currents made the previously marginal ward safe and the previously safe ward in the hands of another party.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Mar 28, 2018 11:56:06 GMT @nw12398 said:

Willie Hamilton, a Scottish Labour MP who was a rather left-wing republican, was deselected for the 1987 election. In order to receive payment for losing his seat in parliament, he stood for South Hams - a seat in Devon which was very safely Conservative, and the Liberals were very safely in second place.

He successfully sued someone who claimed he had done it just to claim the additional allowances as a defeated MP. Hamilton said he had offered himself as a candidate because he knew there would be some constituencies that would find themselves suddenly without a candidate just before the election, and he was entirely free to go anywhere and help out.

[martinwhelton]

Also the example of Andrew Judge in Merton who moved from Labour Figges Marsh to Tory marginal Abbey in 2010 as he was the parliamentary candidate in Wimbledon; the ward split and Andrew gained a seat which gave Labour 28 seats which was enough for minority control as the Tories' lost three seats to have 27.

[LDCaerdydd]

In 2010 Sarah Teather choose to stand in Brent Central rather than in Hampstead and Kilburn which I recall being notionally safer.

I did wonder if we'd see an increase in this following the 2010 election when the severance pay rules were altered. MPs now only receive payment if they're defeated rather than simply retire.

[The Bishop]

Mar 28, 2018 11:56:06 GMT @nw12398 said:

Willie Hamilton, a Scottish Labour MP who was a rather left-wing republican, was deselected for the 1987 election. In order to receive payment for losing his seat in parliament, he stood for South Hams - a seat in Devon which was very safely Conservative, and the Liberals were very safely in second place.

He wasn't deselected IIRC (though at least one attempt nearly succeeded) but voluntarily retired before the 1987 GE.

(and sorry to quibble again, but his outspoken republicanism aside he was a "moderate" in several respects - which helps explain the aforementioned hostility)

Frank Hooley, however, did stand for Stratford-on-Avon in 1983 after being deselected as Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley.

[mondialito]

Mar 28, 2018 12:14:48 GMT LDCaerdydd said:

In 2010 Sarah Teather choose to stand in Brent Central rather than in Hampstead and Kilburn which I recall being notionally safer.

Both constituencies were notionally Labour, but H&K was on paper far better for the Lib Dems. That Glenda Jackson only held on by 42 votes there suggests that not having Teather's name on the ballot did make the difference, causing enough post-2003 Teather voters in Kilburn to return to Labour.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Teather's move wasn't a chicken run or a reverse chicken run though - Ed Fordham had the nomination for Hampstead and Kilburn sewn up, so Teather had no choice but to go for Brent Central.

[greenchristian]

I think William Wilberforce's decision to contest Yorkshire, rather than his existing seat of Kingston Upon Hull in 1784 may count.

[warofdreams]

Galloway's move from Bethnal Green & Bow to Poplar & Limehouse, and Martin Bell's move from Tatton to Brentwood & Ongar spring to mind - both to fulfil promises to only sit for one session, both from seats they might have held to ones where they lost.

[Deleted]

Iain Sproat moving from Aberdeen South to Roxburgh & Berwickshire in 1983. This is my favourite example, Sproat abandoned his constituents after 13 years and then duly lost to Archie Kirkwood in Roxburgh & Berwickshire.

[Deleted]

David Myles moved from Banffshire to Orkney & Shetland in 1983. I assume he lost out to Albert McQuarrie in the Banff & Buchan selection?

[Deleted]

Going back a very long time, but David Robertson moved from the then safe Conservative seat of Streatham to Caithness & Sutherland at the 1950 election, a 3 way marginal with a majority of 6!  He went on to represent the constituency until 1964.

[Deleted]

Mar 28, 2018 14:32:47 GMT Sandy said:

Going back a very long time, but David Robertson moved from the then safe Conservative seat of Streatham to Caithness & Sutherland at the 1950 election, a 3 way marginal with a majority of 6!  He went on to represent the constituency until 1964.

Close. 

Hard to believe that happened considering the leader of the Liberals represented the seat!

[Sibboleth]

Willie Hamilton was a republican and good for a quote, but he wasn't left-wing in Labour terms and definitely not in the context of industrial Fife - he was from Durham originally and his politics reflected that. I've always suspected that his bizarre little run at South Hams was a private joke - note who the Conservative candidate was!