Isle of Thanet by-election, 1919

The Isle of Thanet by-election, 1919 was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Isle of Thanet on 15 November 1919.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the death of the sitting Unionist MP, Norman Carlyle Craig on 14 October 1919. He had been MP here since winning the seat in January 1910. The constituency had been held by the Unionists since its creation in 1885.

Previous General Elections

At the 1918 General election, Craig was returned unopposed, having been in receipt of the Coalition 'coupon'. The result at the last contested election was

January 1910 General Election Electorate 12,588
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Norman Carlyle Craig	6,892	66.9
	Liberal	Julian William Wellesley Weigall	3,410	33.1
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

Candidates

The local Unionists adopted as candidate, 22 year-old Hon. Esmond Cecil Harmsworth. He was part of the Northcliffe-Rothermere Press family which owned newspapers such as the Daily Mail. Although adopted by the Unionists, he considered contesting the election as an 'Anti-Waste' candidate, opposed to what the Rothermere Press had labelled as excessive Coalition Government spending. However, he was persuaded to stand as an official Unionist but allowed to fight the election on a programme of measures in opposition to the Coalition Government and as a result did not receive the coalition 'coupon'. The Liberals chose William West as their candidate. He had contested Winchester at the last election, coming second.

Main Issues and Campaign

At the 1918 General election, Coalition Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George had famously stated that the task for the new government would be to build "Homes fit for Heroes". His plan was for the government to raise funds through taxation to allow local councils to build houses and Coalition Liberal Reconstruction Minister, Christopher Addison successfully steered through Parliament the Housing Act 1919. However, there were parts of the Unionist Party that opposed these plans including Harmsworth. Harmsworth's Anti-Waste platform of cuts in government spending and reductions in Income Tax was enthusuastically supported by The Times, the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. He also had the active support of Horatio Bottomley, a prominent right-wing MP who had founded the People's League in opposition to the government. At an eve of poll meeting in support of Harmsworth, Bottomley proclaimed that he expected in about 2 years to be asked by the King to form a 'business administration'.

Result

As expected, the Unionists held the seat but the Liberals polled strongly. Compared to the last contested election, there had been a 9% swing to the Liberals.

Isle of Thanet by-election, 1919 Electorate 31,767
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hon. Esmond Cecil Harmsworth	9,711	57.9	-9.0
	Liberal	William J West	7,058	42.1	+9.0
Majority			2,653	15.8
Turnout				52.8
	Unionist hold		Swing	-9.0

When Harmsworth took his seat he became the Baby of the House.

Aftermath

Despite Harmsworth's dissapointing result, the issue of taxes/public spending continued to dominate the 1919-22 parliament and an Anti-Waste League was formed to rally right-wing opinion and contest future by-elections. The Coalition Government's Council House Building Policies continued. Bottomley was not asked to form a government by the King but was to serve at His Majesty's Pleasure for 7 years at Wormwood Scrubs. The result at the following General election;

1922 General Election Electorate 38,500
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Hon. Esmond Cecil Harmsworth	16,116	61.2
	Liberal	Alfred Jesse Suenson-Taylor	10,226	38.8
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

Harmsworth continued to sit for the constituency until 1929.

References

• Who's Who: www.ukwhoswho.com
• Debrett's House of Commons 1922
• Trial By Ballot by Ivor RM Davies

See also

• List of United Kingdom by-elections
• United Kingdom by-election records