The 1935 Liverpool Wavertree by-election was a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

held in England for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Liverpool Wavertree Liverpool Wavertree is a borough constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1997 and every election since has been won by a Labour Party candidate. It has been represented by Paula Barker since 2019. An earlier co ...

on 6 February 1935. It was won by the Labour Party candidate Joseph Cleary.

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant when the sitting

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Member of Parliament (MP), Ronald Nall-Cain had succeeded to the peerage as

Baron Brocket Baron Brocket, of Brocket Hall in the County of Hertford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 January 1933 for the businessman Sir Charles Nall-Cain, 1st Baronet. He was chairman of the brewing firm of Robert Ca ...

. He had held the seat since a by-election in 1931.

Electoral history

Candidates

The Conservative candidate was James Platt, but

Randolph Churchill Major (rank), Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill (28 May 1911 – 6 June 1968) was an English journalist, writer and politician. The only son of future List of British Prime Ministers, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill a ...

(son of the future Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

) stood as an "independent Conservative". The Labour Party candidate was 32-year-old Joseph Cleary, a local

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

. The Liberal Party selected 49 year-old Liverpool solicitor, Tudor Artro Morris as their candidate. Morris had contested

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the mouth of the River Mersey, on the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic county bou ...

for the Liberals at the 1922 and 1923 general elections. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute and Liverpool University.The Liberal Year Book, 1927

Result

With the Conservative vote split between the official candidate and the independent Churchill, the result was a victory for the Labour candidate, Joseph Jackson Cleary, who took the seat on a swing of 30%.

Aftermath

Cleary was unseated at the 1935 general election by the Conservative Peter Shaw, who held the seat until he stood down at the 1945 general election.

Sources