Caerphilly by-election, 1968
Encyclopedia
The Caerphilly
by-election
of 15 June 1968 was held after the death of Labour
MP
(MP) Ness Edwards
:
The seat was very safe, having been won by Labour at the United Kingdom general election, 1966
by over 21,000 votes
Caerphilly (UK Parliament constituency)
Caerphilly is a county constituency centred on the town of Caerphilly in South Wales. It returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.The constituency has always elected Labour MPs.- Boundaries...
by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
of 15 June 1968 was held after the death of Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) Ness Edwards
Ness Edwards
Onesimus Edwards was a Welsh Labour Party politician.A trade unionist, Ness Edwards was imprisoned in 1917 as a conscientious objector to the conscription of the First World War. He was elected Member of Parliament for Caerphilly at a by-election in 1939 following the death of Labour MP and...
:
The seat was very safe, having been won by Labour at the United Kingdom general election, 1966
United Kingdom general election, 1966
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...
by over 21,000 votes
Candidates
- Labour chose Alfred Evans to defend their seat, who was a councillor
- Nationalist party Plaid Cymru stood Philip Williams, who at the time was teaching at University College, Aberystwyth
- The Conservatives chose Robert Williams
- Peter Sadler was the choice of the Liberal Party association