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The1943 Darwen by-election was a by-election held on 15 December 1943 for theBritish House of Commonsconstituency ofDarwen inLancashire.
The seat had become vacant after the death in October of theConservative Member of Parliament (MP)Stuart Russell, who had been killed inWorld War II.[citation needed] He had been elected at the1935 general election, beating theLiberal Party leaderSir Herbert Samuel.[citation needed]
In the 1935 general election, the Conservatives had won 41% of the votes, with a narrow majority over the outgoing Liberal MP.The result at the last General election was
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Stuart Russell | 15,299 | 41.1 | ||
| Liberal | Herbert Samuel | 14,135 | 38.0 | ||
| Labour | Frances Kerby | 7,778 | 20.9 | ||
| Majority | 1,164 | 3.1 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 37,212 | 89.9 | |||
| Conservativegain fromLiberal | Swing | ||||
Balfour was encouraged to stand by the Liberal Party 'Radical Action' group that believed in contesting by-elections and had achieved a good result at the1943 Chippenham by-election. There was some concern in the Liberal Party that the leadership would want to continue in an all-party Coalition Government after the war was over. However, the group was small and was unable to influence many party workers to give their support to her campaign. The executive of the Darwen Liberal Association decided to give her strong support to Honor Balfour's Independent Liberal candidature. However the President of the Association,Sir Frederick Hindle who had been the Liberal MP for the constituency in the 1920s, was one of the people who signed Russell's nomination papers. Finding himself at odds with his association, Hindle stood down as president.[5] The decision of the Darwen Liberals didn't extend to providing Balfour with an election agent she had to call upon a personal friend MrsIvor Davies to act as agent.[6] Liberal Leader, Sir Archibald Sinclair, in accordance with the wartime electoral truce, signed a public letter of support for Russell. Balfour's campaign did receive some backing from Richard Acland's Common Wealth organisation. Balfour was backed by theNews Chronicle, but only after the local newspapers had threatened to boycott her campaign altogether.[7]
Prescott increased the Conservative share of the vote, albeit on a much-reduced turnout. However, Balfour came within 70 votes of winning the seat.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Stanley Prescott | 8,869 | 50.2 | +9.1 | |
| Independent Liberal | Honor Balfour | 8,799 | 49.8 | New | |
| Majority | 70 | 0.4 | −2.7 | ||
| Turnout | 17,668 | 45.0 | −43.9 | ||
| Conservativehold | Swing | ||||
Balfour published an articleWhy I Challenge the Electoral Truce in the magazineLiberal Forward which encouraged a large number of Liberal members to give their active support to the 'Independent' Liberal candidate at the1944 Bury St Edmunds by-election.[8]Balfour contested the 1945 election here as the official Liberal candidate, thereafter she did not stand again. Prescott held the seat until retiring in 1951.The result at the following General election;
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Stanley Prescott | 13,623 | 41.4 | ||
| Labour | Ronald Haines | 11,282 | 34.3 | ||
| Liberal | Honor Balfour | 7,979 | 24.3 | ||
| Majority | 2,341 | 7.1 | |||
| Turnout | 32,884 | 82.7 | |||
| Conservativehold | Swing | ||||