1960 Bolton East by-election

The 1960 Bolton East by-election was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Bolton East in Lancashire on 16 November 1960. It was won by the Conservative Party candidate Edwin Taylor.

Vacancy

The seat became vacant when the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament Philip Bell, QC, was appointed as a County Court Judge. He had held the seat since the 1951 general election.

The by-election saw the decision of the Liberal Party to field a candidate, which broke a local pact which had held for 10 years whereby the Liberals left the Bolton East seat alone, and in return the Conservatives did not stand in Bolton West; the pact had achieved its objective of preventing the Labour Party from winning either.

Result

Taylor was elected by a margin of 641 votes over Labour candidate Robert Howarth, with the Liberal candidate Frank Byers securing a quarter of the vote. Dissension within the Labour Party over nuclear disarmament was thought to have helped Taylor win.

At the 1964 general election, a more organised Labour campaign in Bolton East saw Taylor voted out by a margin of more than 3,000 votes. A Conservative stood in Bolton West for the first time since 1950, resulting in a Labour gain from the Liberal Arthur Holt by roughly the same margin.

Votes

Bolton East by-election, 1960

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edwin Taylor	15,499	37.8	−15.0
	Labour	Robert Howarth	14,858	36.2	−11.0
	Liberal	Frank Byers	10,173	24.8	New
	New Conservative	John E. Dayton	493	1.2	New
Majority			641	1.6	−4.0
Turnout			41,023
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.0

1959 general election: Bolton East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip Bell	25,885	52.8
	Labour	R. Hains	23,153	47.2
Majority			2,732	5.6
Turnout			49,038	80.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

• British Parliamentary by-elections: Bolton East 1960
• 1959 general election results at Richard Kimber's political science resources
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs