1976 Coventry North West by-election

UK parliamentary by-election

1976 Coventry North West by-election

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| ← Oct. 1974 | 4 March 1976 | 1979 →

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Constituency of Coventry North West
|   | First party  | Second party  | Third party

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|  |

Con

Lib

Candidate  | Geoffrey Robinson | Jonathan Guinness | Alan Leighton
Party  | Labour | Conservative | Liberal
Popular vote  | 17,118 | 13,424  | 4,062
Percentage  | 47.72% | 37.42%  | 11.32%
Swing  |  4.14%  |  6.08%  |  4.34%

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| MP before election

Maurice Edelman
Labour

| Elected MP

Geoffrey Robinson
Labour

|

The Coventry North West by-election, in Coventry on 4 March 1976, was held after the death of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Edelman. A safe Labour seat, it was won by Geoffrey Robinson, who retained the seat until 2019.

## Party performance

[edit]

The by-election represented the first outing for the National Party; it had recently split from the National Front and both parties ran candidates in the election. Although both polled poorly, it set a trend for a split far right vote which was replicated in the 1989 Vauxhall by-election and elsewhere.

The Liberal Party vote fell in this by-election, a development that former leader Jo Grimond blamed in part on scandals surrounding incumbent Jeremy Thorpe's homosexuality. Grimond suggested that the result and the allegations meant that Thorpe "must think of stepping down".[1] Thorpe stood down as Liberal leader two months later.

## Results

[edit]

Coventry North West, 1976[2] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

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| Labour | Geoffrey Robinson | 17,118  | 47.72  | −4.14
| Conservative | Jonathan Guinness | 13,424  | 37.42  | +6.08
| Liberal | Alan Leighton  | 4,062  | 11.32  | −4.34
| National Front | Andrew Fountaine | 986  | 2.75  | New
| National Party | John Kingsley Read | 208  | 0.60  | New
| More Prosperous Britain | Thomas Keen  | 40  | 0.11  | New
| Logic Party  | William Dunmore  | 33  | 0.09  | New
Majority | 3,694  | 10.30  |
Turnout | 35,871  |  |
| Labour hold | Swing |  |

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Michael McManus, Jo Grimond: Towards the Sound of Gunfire, Edinburgh, 2001, p. 325
2. ^ "1976 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2015.

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* June: Woolwich West

1976|

* March: Coventry North West
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1979|

* March: Clitheroe
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