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Constituency of Walsall North | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Walsall North by-election on 4 November 1976 was held after the resignation of sitting Member of Parliament (MP) John Stonehouse. Elected as a Labour candidate, Stonehouse was a member of the English National Party when he resigned, after an interlude in which he faked his own death.[1] The English National Party did not contest the by-election, the first occasion on which the incumbent's party did not do so since the 1963 Bristol South East by-election, and the last until the 1995 North Down by-election.
Amidst the confusion, the Conservative Party gained the seat in the by-election.
The by-election was also noted for the performance of independent candidate Sidney Wright, the debut of the Ecology Party[2] and the split of the far right vote due to the appearance of both the National Front and their splinter group the National Party on the ballots.[3] The Liberal Party could take only fifth place, their worst ever placing in a by-election in England. The party had previously come fifth in Wales in the 1972 Merthyr Tydfil by-election, and next placed so low at the 1989 Glasgow Central by-election.
The by-election also saw a record number of candidates, beating the long-standing record of seven who contested the 1920 Stockport by-election, where two seats were available, a total first reached in a single-member by-election in the 1962 Dorset South by-election. This record was again beaten at the 1977 City of London and Westminster South by-election.
Joseph Parker, the National Front candidate, would go on to be father-in-law to John Tyndall, the leader of the National Front, after Tyndall married Parker's daughter Valerie in 1977.