The 2023 Tamworth by-election was held on 19 October 2023 for the UK parliamentary constituency of Tamworth, due to the resignation of former

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 ...

Chris Pincher Christopher John Pincher (born 24 September 1969) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamworth from 2010 until his resignation in 2023. Pincher served as Government Deputy Chief Whip, and Treasurer of t ...

. Pincher had announced his resignation following a sexual misconduct scandal, and his recommended suspension from 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 ...

for eight weeks. The Tamworth by-election was held on the same day as the

2023 Mid Bedfordshire by-election A by-election took place on 19 October 2023 in the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Mid Bedfordshire. It took place on the same day as the 2023 Tamworth by-election. The seat became vacant following the resignation of the sitting ...

. Sarah Edwards, the Labour candidate, won the Tamworth seat with a 23.9% swing, the second-biggest from Conservative to Labour since the 1945 national election. The turnout of the by-election was 35.9%.

Background

Chris Pincher resignation

Chris Pincher, a former Deputy

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

, was involved in a controversy following allegations of sexual misconduct. Pincher resigned as Deputy Chief Whip on 30 June 2022, and was suspended as a Conservative MP following allegations that he had sexually assaulted two men. Further allegations were made in July, which antedated his appointment by former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

, who originally denied knowledge of the allegations. It was later revealed Johnson had been aware, and many cited this scandal as the final straw that led to Johnson's

resignation Resignation is the formal act of relinquishing or vacating one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or ...

. The

Standards Committee The Commons Select Committee on Standards is appointed by the House of Commons to oversee the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. History The committee was created on 13 December 2012 as one half of the replacements for the Commi ...

upheld the allegations of sexual assault in July and recommended an eight-week suspension from the Commons. Pincher appealed the decision, but lost the appeal. The eight-week suspension would have been enough to trigger a

recall petition A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended. Recalls ...

, but Pincher resigned before the House could vote on the recommended suspension.

Constituency

The Tamworth constituency consists of the southeastern corner of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, including the towns of

Fazeley Fazeley is an industrial town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Lichfield District of Staffordshire, England, south of Tamworth, Staffordshire, Tamworth town centre.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : The ci ...

and Tamworth. It was previously considered to be a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Re ...

constituency, but had become a

safe seat in recent years, with a majority of nearly 20,000 in the 2019 election. During the

New Labour New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the ...

years of 1997 to 2010, Brian Jenkins served as the constituency's MP. The constituency voted 66% for leave in the 2016 EU membership referendum. The constituency last had a by-election in 1996, when it was known as South East Staffordshire. Jenkins, the Labour candidate, took the seat from the Conservatives.

Candidates

On 18 June 2023, prior to Pincher's resignation,

MP Eddie Hughes had been selected as the candidate for Tamworth at the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

. Hughes is currently the MP for the nearby

Walsall North Walsall North was a constituency in the West Midlands represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, created in 1955. The local electorate returned a Labour MP in the constituency's first seventeen general elections; in the follow ...

constituency, which will be abolished at the

under the

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

. Had Hughes stood and won the by-election, this would have triggered another by-election by means of his vacating the seat for Walsall North. However, Hughes ruled out contesting the by-election on 7 September. The Conservatives selected Andrew Cooper, a councillor in Tamworth since 2021, as their candidate. Cooper was raised on a council estate in Tamworth and served in the Army. Before the election it was reported that he had shared an offensive tweet about families in poverty. At the count he left the stage hurriedly during the winning candidate's speech. On 23 July, Labour selected Sarah Edwards to be their candidate. She is a

Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (1GN album), 2016 * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1992 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs *"Unite!" ...

union official from

Moseley Moseley ( ') is an affluent suburb in south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. It is located within the eponymous Moseley ward of the constituency of Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley (UK Parliament constituency), Hall Green and ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, who has worked for the charity

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...

. Sunny Virk, a local barrister and mediator, was the

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

candidate. He would later contest the 2024 West Midlands mayoral election, coming last. Ian Cooper is the

Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

candidate. Former university lecturer Dr. Sue Howarth stood for the

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. Robert Bilcliff stood for the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

. He was a member of

Tamworth Borough Council Tamworth Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Tamworth in the county of Staffordshire, England. The council consists of 30 councillors, three for each of the 10 wards in the town. It is currently under no overall control, le ...

for Stonydelph from 2016 to 2021. Ashlea Simon, the chair of

Britain First Britain First is a far-right, British fascist and neo-fascist political party and hate group formed in 2011 by former members of the British National Party (BNP). The group was founded by Jim Dowson, an anti-abortion and far-right campaigner ...

, stood for that party. Local teacher Richard Kingstone, a former Mayor of Tamworth, announced his intention to stand as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, but later made a statement announcing he would no longer be standing due to personal circumstances.

Result

A similar substantial swing, resulting in a Labour gain from the Conservatives, was seen in the concurrent Mid Bedfordshire by-election. Psephologist

John Curtice Sir John Kevin Curtice (born 10 December 1953) is a British political scientist and professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and senior research fellow at the National Centre for Social Research. He is particularly interested in ...

determined these results to be "one of worst nights any government has endured". Parties to the right of the Conservatives (

and

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

) received a total combined vote of 9.4%, although Politics.co.uk suggested that this was due to the low turnout.

Previous result

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamworth by-election, 2023 2023 elections in the United Kingdom 2023 in England 2020s in Staffordshire October 2023 in the United Kingdom By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Staffordshire constituencies 2023 election