1994 Newham North East by-election

The Newham North East by-election, in London Borough of Newham, on 9 June 1994 was held after long-serving Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Ron Leighton died.[1] A safe Labour seat, it was won by Stephen Timms, who would go on to retain the East Ham seat which replaced it in 1997.

1994 Newham North East by-election

← 1992 9 June 1994 1997 →

Constituency of Newham North East
  First party Second party
 
Candidate Stephen Timms Philip Hammond
Party Labour Conservative
Popular vote 14,688 2,850
Percentage 74.97% 14.55%
Swing Increase 16.64% Decrease 15.96%

MP before election

Ron Leighton
Labour

Elected MP

Stephen Timms
Labour

Candidates

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  • Richard Archer was the Natural Law Party candidate. He was also a candidate for the party in the European elections of the same year in the London North East constituency.[2]
  • Vida Garman, a pornographic model, ran as a publicity stunt for the Daily Sport newspaper, which wanted to take advantage of free postage for electoral leaflets.[3]
  • Philip Hammond was chosen as the Conservative Party candidate. He was director of a medical equipment and the chairman of Lewisham East Conservative Association.[4]
  • Jo Homeless had changed her name by deed poll in order to contest the election on a campaign of housing the homeless.[3]
  • Alec Kellaway was the nominated candidate for the Liberal Democrats however immediately prior to the election Kellaway announced that he was leaving the Liberal Democrats and joining the Labour Party. Consequently, there was no official Liberal Democrat standing in the election.[5]
  • Anthony Scholefield was the candidate for the United Kingdom Independence Party.
  • Stephen Timms, the Labour candidate, had previously served as the leader of the local council for four years.[4]

Results

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Newham North East by-election, 1994[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stephen Timms 14,688 74.97 +16.64
Conservative Philip Hammond 2,850 14.55 −15.96
Liberal Democrats Alec Kellaway 821 4.19 −7.00
UKIP Anthony Scholefield 509 2.60 New
House Homeless People Jo Homeless 342 1.75 New
Natural Law Richard Archer 228 1.15 New
Buy the Daily Sport Vida Garman 155 0.79 New
Majority 11,838 60.42 +32.63
Turnout 19,593
Labour hold Swing

The results for the previous election were:

1992 general election:Newham North East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ron Leighton 20,952 58.30
Conservative JH Galbraith 10,966 30.51
Liberal Democrats JJ Aves 4020 11.19
Majority 9,986 27.79
Turnout 35,938 60.34
Labour hold Swing

References

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  1. ^ Full results
  2. ^ 1994 European election results
  3. ^ a b c Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1992-97 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 20 July 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  4. ^ a b One-horse race for deprived city seat: NEWHAM NORTH-EAST: Labour candidate prepares for victory
  5. ^ Colin Rallings & David Broughton, British Elections and Parties Yearbook 1995, p. 182