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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2018 14:43:16 GMT
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. It's interesting to look at examples where it's done by choice like Iain Sproat. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2018 14:43:41 GMT
It is really a chicken run if you don't do it by choice?
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spqr
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Post by spqr on Mar 28, 2018 14:49:07 GMT
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! You beat me to it. Hamilton was of the pro-EEC Labour Right. He was the MP who proposed Tony Crosland for the role of deputy leader in 1972, and was one of just 17 MPs who voted for Crosland in the first ballot of the 1976 party leadership contest. |
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Post by greenchristian on Mar 28, 2018 15:14:47 GMT
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. He says in a thread that already has an example from 1784.  |
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Post by martinwhelton on Mar 28, 2018 15:15:08 GMT
The reason he ran in South Hams is that you got enhanced redundancy from the House of Commons if you lost your seat in the election and it didn't matter if it was different to your existing constituency.
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Post by greenhert on Mar 28, 2018 15:17:30 GMT
David Myles moved from Banffshire to Orkney & Shetland in 1983. I assume he lost out to Albert McQuarrie in the Banff & Buchan selection? He did indeed; Banffshire was too small to survive as a constituency. The county itself was mostly absorbed into Aberdeenshire with a small part going to Moray, which sealed its fate. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2018 15:18:53 GMT
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! Actually Archibald Sinclair had already been defeated in 1945 by Eric Gandar Dower, who I believe fell out with the local party and was deselected in 1950. It is quite a change though going from a London seat to a sparsely populated and vast Scottish constituency! 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. He says in a thread that already has an example from 1784. Haha, I hadn't read the entire thread |
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Post by greenhert on Mar 28, 2018 15:19:24 GMT
It is really a chicken run if you don't do it by choice? No. "Chicken runs" in political terms are voluntary, so regarding the 1983 election, Iain Sproat's move counts but David Myles' move does not. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2018 15:26:36 GMT
Close. Hard to believe that happened considering the leader of the Liberals represented the seat! Actually Archibald Sinclair had already been defeated in 1945 by Eric Gandar Dower, who I believe fell out with the local party and was deselected in 1950. It is quite a change though going from a London seat to a sparsely populated and vast Scottish constituency! He says in a thread that already has an example from 1784. Haha, I hadn't read the entire thread My mistake. Although I believe Sinclair stood again in 1950 though wasn't leader then. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2018 15:31:22 GMT
Actually Archibald Sinclair had already been defeated in 1945 by Eric Gandar Dower, who I believe fell out with the local party and was deselected in 1950. It is quite a change though going from a London seat to a sparsely populated and vast Scottish constituency! Haha, I hadn't read the entire thread My mistake. Although I believe Sinclair stood again in 1950 though wasn't leader then. That's correct, Sinclair did manage to push Labour into third, but Robertson held the seat with a slightly increased majority. After that he had comfortable re elections, even after he left the Unionists and stood as an Independent. |
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Crimson King
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Post by Crimson King on Mar 28, 2018 15:53:33 GMT
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? er, me in 2010 I stepped down from the safe seat of Idle and Thackley, to stand in the no hope ward of Little Horton. The logic as that some of the few extra votes I might get as a local GP might also be cast for David Ward. He won, whether I helped is a matter of opinion |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Mar 28, 2018 16:10:25 GMT
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? er, me in 2010 I stepped down from the safe seat of Idle and Thackley, to stand in the no hope ward of Little Horton. The logic as that some of the few extra votes I might get as a local GP might also be cast for David Ward. He won, whether I helped is a matter of opinion On a point of information, you stood down in 2008 |
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Post by swanarcadian on Mar 28, 2018 17:09:05 GMT
I'm not sure if this counts, but in 1997 the late John Watts moved from Slough to Reading East and lost (although he had a much greater chance of winning the latter). He could have afforded a swing to Labour of 13% and still win, but in the event it was 17%.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Mar 28, 2018 17:30:00 GMT
That was definitely a failed attempt at a chicken run, not a reverse chicken run.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2018 17:59:23 GMT
I assume David Robertson in Streatham was challenged for the selection in that seat by Duncan Sandys who was defeated in Norwood in 1945?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2018 18:06:29 GMT
Wes Streeting moved from Chadwell to Aldborough in Redbridge in the 2014 local elections.
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Post by hullenedge on Mar 28, 2018 18:28:19 GMT
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! You beat me to it. Hamilton was of the pro-EEC Labour Right. He was the MP who proposed Tony Crosland for the role of deputy leader in 1972, and was one of just 17 MPs who voted for Crosland in the first ballot of the 1976 party leadership contest. It was reckoned that Fife Central (bar four other Scottish constituencies and a couple in NI) voted No in 1975. |
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Post by IceAgeComing on Mar 28, 2018 18:29:38 GMT
My mistake. Although I believe Sinclair stood again in 1950 though wasn't leader then. That's correct, Sinclair did manage to push Labour into third, but Robertson held the seat with a slightly increased majority. After that he had comfortable re elections, even after he left the Unionists and stood as an Independent. Not an expert on the politics of Caithness; my understanding was that when he contested the seat as an Independent in 1959 he wasn’t opposed by and had the support of the local Unionists; basically having the best of both worlds; the support of a strong party organisation without being bound to the policies of that party. When he stood down in 64 there was a dispute over candidate selection between the Official Unionist organisation and those loyal to Mr Robertson leading to two Unionists running with the Liberals winning the following election and Labour finished second ahead of both Unionists. I’m pretty sure the Liberal vote was bigger than the combined Unionist vote but it’s very simplistic to say that they would have won anyway; you’d think that a united party would have been more focused and managed to get more votes although it’s not quantifiable. It’s an interesting seat: I can’t think of many that voted for four different parties in four elections (Tory 55, Independent Tory in 59 although that’s misleading if the above is true, Liberal in 64 and Labour in 66) and although I totally expect someone to come up with something its the only seat that instantly springs to mind as one which has been represented by all four major Scottish parties since 45 - East Dunbartonshire is another although the pre-83 seat was... very weird (one of those non-contiguous seats that Scotland didn’t get rid of until 83, it and the old Stirling and Falkirk May have been the last two) and from memory I don’t know how much of Strathkelvin and Bearsden ended up in the current East Dunbartonshire. None of this is at all related to the topic but it might be of interest. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2018 18:34:21 GMT
That's correct, Sinclair did manage to push Labour into third, but Robertson held the seat with a slightly increased majority. After that he had comfortable re elections, even after he left the Unionists and stood as an Independent. Not an expert on the politics of Caithness; my understanding was that when he contested the seat as an Independent in 1959 he wasn’t opposed by and had the support of the local Unionists; basically having the best of both worlds; the support of a strong party organisation without being bound to the policies of that party. When he stood down in 64 there was a dispute over candidate selection between the Official Unionist organisation and those loyal to Mr Robertson leading to two Unionists running with the Liberals winning the following election and Labour finished second ahead of both Unionists. I’m pretty sure the Liberal vote was bigger than the combined Unionist vote but it’s very simplistic to say that they would have won anyway; you’d think that a united party would have been more focused and managed to get more votes although it’s not quantifiable. It’s an interesting seat: I can’t think of many that voted for four different parties in four elections (Tory 55, Independent Tory in 59 although that’s misleading if the above is true, Liberal in 64 and Labour in 66) and although I totally expect someone to come up with something its the only seat that instantly springs to mind as one which has been represented by all four major Scottish parties since 45 - East Dunbartonshire is another although the pre-83 seat was... very weird (one of those non-contiguous seats that Scotland didn’t get rid of until 83, it and the old Stirling and Falkirk May have been the last two) and from memory I don’t know how much of Strathkelvin and Bearsden ended up in the current East Dunbartonshire. None of this is at all related to the topic but it might be of interest. I come from the Sutherland part of the seat so this is all very interesting, thank you  |
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Crimson King
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Post by Crimson King on Mar 28, 2018 20:17:10 GMT
er, me in 2010 I stepped down from the safe seat of Idle and Thackley, to stand in the no hope ward of Little Horton. The logic as that some of the few extra votes I might get as a local GP might also be cast for David Ward. He won, whether I helped is a matter of opinion On a point of information, you stood down in 2008 ah yes, of course - the reasons were the same though, to try an bolster the LD vote in our weakest seat |
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