1968 Nelson and Colne by-election

The 1968 Nelson and Colne by-election was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Nelson and Colne on 27 June 1968, following the death of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Sydney Silverman.

The constituency was considered usually safe, having been won by Labour at the 1966 general election by over 4,500 votes.^[1]

Candidates

• Betty Boothroyd, at the time a Hammersmith councillor, was chosen to represent Labour. She would eventually go on to become the first female Speaker of the House of Commons.
• David Waddington was the Conservative candidate. He had been called to the Bar in 1951.
• The local Liberal association nominated David Chadwick. In March, when it was first known that there would be a by-election, the Liberal Party approached Sir Learie Constantine to stand as its candidate. Constantine was a former West Indies cricketer who had played professionally in Lancashire and lived in London. He had spoken out against the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968, and Liberal Leader Jeremy Thorpe thought that he would be an ideal candidate to make a stand against racism in society.^[2] However, Constantine declined the offer.
• Brian Tattersall stood as a candidate with the label "English Nationalist".

Result of the previous general election

General election 1966: Nelson and Colne

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sydney Silverman	18,406	49.28
	Conservative	Peter Davies	13,829	37.02
	Independent	Patrick Downey	5,117	13.70
Majority			4,577	12.26
Turnout			37,352
	Labour hold		Swing

Result of the by-election

Nelson and Colne by-election, 27 June 1968^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Waddington	16,466	48.89	+11.87
	Labour	Betty Boothroyd	12,944	38.43	−10.85
	Liberal	David Chadwick	3,016	8.95	−4.75
	English Nationalist	Brian Tattersall	1,255	3.73	New
Majority			3,522	10.46	N/A
Turnout			33,681
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing