Chelmsford by-election, 1945

Chelmsford by-election, 1945

The Chelmsford by-election, 1945 was a by-election held on 26 April 1945 for the British House of Commons constituency of Chelmsford in Essex. The seat was won by Ernest Millington for the short-lived Common Wealth Party.

The seat had become vacant after the previous Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), Colonel John Macnamara, was killed on active service in Italy on 22 December 1944.

During World War II, the major parties had agreed an electoral pact under which they would not contest by-elections in seats held by their respective parties, and as a result many wartime by-elections resulting in a candidate being returned unopposed. However, other parties and independent politicians were free to field candidates.

The Conservative candidate, Flight Lieutenant Brian Cook, had complete all-party coalition backing, having been endorsed by Clement Attlee, Ernest Brown, the leader of the Liberal National Party, Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Liberal party leader, and Winston Churchill. Chelmsford had been a safe Conservative seat.

Wing commander Ernest Millington, DFC was approached to stand as the Common Wealth candidate. With no Labour or Liberal candidate due to the war-time coalition truce, he transformed the Tory majority of 16,624, winning by 6,431 votes. The victory signalled the shift in public opinion that led the Labour party to pull out of the wartime coalition government and win a landslide victory in the 5 July 1945 general election.

When the 29-year-old Millington took his seat, he was the youngest MP in the House, which had been elected in 1935.

Cook, as Brian Batsford, was elected as Tory MP for Ealing South at a by-election on 12 June 1958 and held the seat until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election.

See also


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