The 1967 Cambridge by-election of 21 September 1967 was held after the premature death of Cambridge's Labour MP (MP) Robert Davies in June 1967.

The seat was highly marginal, having only been won by Labour during the previous year's Labour landslide by 439 votes, and it had only been the second time Labour had ever taken the constituency. In the ensuing by-election, a swing of more than eight percent to the Conservatives saw their candidate David Lane win by 5,978 votes.

Candidates

Result of the previous general election

General election 1966: Cambridge
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Robert Davies 21,963 45.47
Conservative David Lane 20,972 43.42
Liberal Michael O'Loughlin 4,928 10.20
Independent P. King 439 0.91 New
Majority 991 2.05 N/A
Turnout 48,302 80.00
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Result of the by-election on 21 September 1967

Cambridge by-election, 21 September 1967[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Lane 20,488 51.61 +8.19
Labour George Bazeley Scurfield 14,510 36.55 -8.92
Liberal David Spreckley 4,701 11.84 +1.64
Majority 5,978 15.06 N/A
Turnout 39,699 65.7 -14.30
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

The Conservative victory was described as "always expected" in an editorial in the next day's The Glasgow Herald.[2] The result was overshadowed by the shock outcome of the same day's Walthamstow West by-election, where an 18.4% Labour to Conservative swing saw the Conservatives narrowly gain a seat Labour had held since 1929.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ "1967 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Discontent". The Glasgow Herald. 22 September 1967. p. 8. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Conservatives big double in by-elections". The Glasgow Herald. 22 September 1967. p. 1. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
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