1920 Paisley by-election

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First party Second party Third party   Candidate H. H. Asquith John Biggar James MacKean Party Liberal Labour Unionist Popular vote 14,736 11,902 3,795 Percentage 48.4% 39.1% 12.5% Swing 14.4% 5.6% 12.5%

MP before election John McCallum Liberal Subsequent MP H. H. Asquith Liberal

The1920 Paisley by-election was a parliamentaryby-election held on 12 February 1920 for the UKHouse of Commons constituency ofPaisley in Scotland. It was caused by the death of the constituency's sittingLiberalMember of Parliament SirJohn Mills McCallum. Former Prime MinisterH. H. Asquith, who was still leader of the Liberal Party but who had lost his seat at the1918 general election, returned to the Commons.

The result at the last General Election in 1918 was;

The by-election provided an opportunity for the return to Parliament ofH. H. Asquith, the former Prime Minister who had lost hisEast Fife seat to the Unionists at the1918 general election in the aftermath of the split in theLiberal Party overDavid Lloyd George's coalition with theConservatives. Asquith remained party leader, and the opponents of the coalition came to be known as theIndependent Liberals, or unofficially as the ‘Wee Frees’ after a Scottish religious sect of that name.

Initially, it was widely expected that Biggar, who had nearly won the seat in 1918 and who was endorsed by nine former Liberal MPs, would win.^[2] The Liberal Party in the constituency was split between supporters of Asquith and Lloyd George, and Asquith, whose continued leadership of the Liberal Party was being much criticised, was only narrowly selected as candidate, although after his formal adoption on 21 January 1920 the local Liberal Association united behind him. He initially had misgivings about returning to Scotland and risking his career, but grew more confident as the campaign progressed.^[3]

Asquith had been an opponent ofwomen’s suffrage (women over thirty were given the vote under theRepresentation of the People Act 1918), and (30 January 1920) thought women voters “hopelessly ignorant, credulous to the last degree, and flickering with gusts of sentiment like a candle in the wind. Then there are some thousands of Irish, who have been ordered by their bosses to vote Labour – as if Labour had ever done or was ever likely to do anything for them”. Asquith directed most of his campaign not against Labour but against the Coalition candidate, whom he thought “a foul-mouthed Tory”. He condemned the Treaty of Versailles and called for moderation overGerman reparations, immediateDominion Status forIreland (where theIrish War of Independence was currently in progress)^[4] and warned of the danger oftariffs being erected, especially by the newly independent small states ofCentral and Eastern Europe.^[5][6]

Political biographerJohn Campbell noted parallels between the Paisley campaign condemning Lloyd George's opportunism and theParis Peace Conference toWilliam Ewart Gladstone'sMidlothian campaign condemningBenjamin Disraeli and theCongress of Berlin.^[7] Such comparisons were made at the time, although Asquith himself was more circumspect.^[8]Sir John Simon andLord Buckmaster spoke in Asquith's support, as did his daughterViolet who had become an excellent speaker. The “foul-mouthed Tory” lost hisdeposit (by ten votes), to Asquith’s delight.^[9]

The by-election seemed to be a triumph for the Independent Liberals with a majority of 2,834 votes overLabour and a blow for the government.

At the following General Election in 1922, Asquith held the seat narrowly, with a much reduced majority (albeit a slightly larger share of the vote) in a two-horse race against Labour. The result was:

Asquith held the seat again at the1923 election but was defeated by Labour at the1924 election. He was then elevated to the House of Lords asEarl of Oxford and Asquith.

• Jenkins, Roy (1964).Asquith (first ed.). London: Collins.OCLC 243906913.
• Koss, Stephen (1985).Asquith. London: Hamish Hamilton.ISBN 978-0-231-06155-1.
• The Radical Thread: Political Change in Scotland. Paisley Politics, 1885-1924 by Catriona M M MacDonald, Scottish Historical Review, 2000
• Victory at Paisley; Graeme Peters on Asquith’s return to Parliament; Journal of Liberal History, Issue 19, Summer 1998, p14 & 17https://web.archive.org/web/20110617010157/http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/uploads/19_peters_victory_at_paisley.pdf
• Hold on, hold out; we are coming; Ian Hunter on the speech made by Lady Violet Bonham Carter on the return of her father to Parliament; Journal of Liberal History, Issue 37, Winter 2002-03 pp 22–25https://web.archive.org/web/20120502132739/http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/uploads/37-Winter%25202002-03.pdf

• By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies
• 1920 elections in the United Kingdom
• 1920 in Scotland
• 1920s elections in Scotland
• Politics of Paisley, Renfrewshire
• H. H. Asquith

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