Meriden by-election, 1968

The Meriden by-election, 1968 was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Meriden in Warwickshire on 28 March 1968. It was won by the Conservative Party candidate Keith Speed.

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant when the 38-year-old Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Christopher Rowland had died on 5 November 1967. He had held the seat since the 1964 general election.

Result

The result was a clear victory for Speed in what had been a Labour marginal seat. It was one of the three Conservative gains from Labour on the same day, the others being at Acton and Dudley.

Speed held the seat until the February 1974 general election, when he lost the seat back to Labour. He would go on to become MP for Ashford.

Votes

Meriden by-election, 1968
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Keith Speed	33,344	64.8	+18.4
	Labour	Roderick MacFarquhar	18,081	35.2	−18.4
Majority			15,263	29.6	N/A
Turnout			51,425	66.0	-19.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+18.4

General Election 1966: Meriden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christopher Rowland	33,831	53.6
	Conservative	Jonathan Aitken	29,250	46.4
Majority			4,581	7.2
Turnout			63,081	85.7
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• Meriden constituency
• List of United Kingdom by-elections

References

• British Parliamentary by-elections: Meriden 1968
• 1966 general election results at Richard Kimber's political science resources
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)