2012 Corby by-election

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TheCorby seat in theHouse of Commons. Elected by simple majority usingfirst past the post. Triggered by resignation of incumbent
Turnout	44.8%
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Andy Sawford Christine Emmett Margot Parker Party Labour Conservative UKIP Popular vote 17,267 9,476 5,108 Percentage 48.4% 26.6% 14.3% Swing 9.8% 15.6% New party
MP before election Louise Mensch Conservative Subsequent MP Andy Sawford Labour

On 15 November 2012, aby-election was held for theUK House of Commons constituency ofCorby.^[1] The election was held on the same day as by-elections inCardiff South and Penarth andManchester Central, the first direct election for the post ofMayor of Bristol, and the firstPolice and Crime Commissioner elections.^[2]Andy Sawford, theLabour Party candidate, won with 48% of the vote. TheConservatives' andLiberal Democrats' vote dropped significantly andUKIP came third with their highest-ever vote in a parliamentary by-election to that date.

Formed in 1983, the Corby constituency had been held by theLabour Party since 1997, but was captured by theConservative candidate, authorLouise Mensch (elected under her maiden name, Louise Bagshawe), at the2010 general election. In an email to the Prime MinisterDavid Cameron on 6 August 2012, Mrs Mensch confirmed her intention to move toNew York City to spend time with her new husband,Peter Mensch, whose work is there, and their family. Louise Mensch was appointedSteward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead, thereby resigning her seat in the House of Commons, on 29 August 2012.

Allregistered Parliamentary electors (i.e.British,Irish andCommonwealth citizens living in the UK and British citizens living overseas) who were aged 18 or over on 15 November 2012 and were on the electoral register for the constituency, were entitled to vote in the by-election. The deadline for voters to register to vote in the by-election was midnight on Wednesday 31 October 2012.^[a] However, those who qualified as ananonymous elector had until midnight on Thursday 8 November 2012 to register to vote.^[b]

Ed Miliband launched the Labour campaign in theEast Northamptonshire town ofThrapston rather than the traditional Labour stronghold ofCorby.^[3]

In an interview with theNorthamptonshire Telegraph at the campaign launch in Corby,UK Independence Party leaderNigel Farage said: "We intend to put together a serious campaign here."^[4]

A poll conducted 12–18 October byLord Ashcroft in the constituency found 54% for Labour, 32% for the Conservatives, 10% for the Liberal Democrats and 8% for other candidates.^[5]

James Delingpole, aDaily Telegraph journalist whodenies anthropogenic global warming, stated his intention to run as an independent, on a platform opposingwind farms. Delingpole stated this ambition on 17 September 2012 and met with prospective local voters. However, he never formally applied, pulling out after support from the Conservative energy minister,John Hayes, opposing onshore wind farms, which caused a minor rift betweenConservative andLiberal Democrat ministers.Chris Heaton-Harris, (Con,Daventry) and campaign manager for the party at the by-election, was secretly filmed saying he had encouraged Delingpole to run as a "plan" whereby Delingpole would say he would stand, though he would never actually do so, in order to "cause some hassle" and thus promote opposition to wind farms.Lewes councillor, Donna Edmonds (Con) set up Delingpole's wind-farm campaign website. Both Heaton-Harris and Edmonds argued they had not broken any party rules on supporting an opposition candidate on the grounds that Delingpole never formally became a candidate. The news of the secret footage broke before the election in the national press.^[6][7]

The total ballots issued were 35,775, and there were 110 spoilt ballots. The result was the second largest numerical majority ever in the Corby constituency (for any party) since its creation in 1983 (only 1997 was higher). In percentage terms, the Labour majority is only slightly lower than that in 1997 (21.8% compared to 22.0%). The result also represented the highest ever vote and share for UKIP at a parliamentary by-election at the time (the highest share record was broken atRotherham two weeks later, and the record for largest number of UKIP votes polled in a by-election was broken atEastleigh in February 2013). Corby was also the fourth by-election (out of nine in Great Britain up to that time) of the 2010 parliament at which the Liberal Democrats lost their deposit.

This was the first seat gained by Labour in a by-election since the1997 Wirral South by-election, and was the last by-election which resulted in a Labour gain until the2022 Wakefield by-election.^[8]

A recount delayed the declaration of the result, called by the agent of the Liberal Democrat candidate, Jill Hope, who came 13 votes short of holding her deposit.

• TheLabour Party candidate Andy Sawford was chosen in 2011.^[3] He was the chief executive of theLocal Government Information Unit^[9] at the time and is the son of the formerKettering MPPhil Sawford.^[10][11] Sawford said he is a "Northamptonshire lad" who can trace his roots "at least eight generations".^[12]
• On 1 September 2012, theConservative Party confirmed the choice of theRutland County CouncillorChristine Emmett as their defending candidate.^[13][14] Emmett was a member of William Hague's "Northern Transport Commission" and has been involved in NHS and transport infrastructure projects.^[15][16] She believes that it is important for people to "train for the jobs we have".^[12]
• TheUK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate was Margot Parker, who stood forLibertas in the2009 European Parliament elections in theEast Midlands.^[17][18] She stood against the "government's need to micro-manage every aspect" of people's lives.^[12]
• Jill Hope, theLiberal Democrat candidate, said she was standing to deal with unemployment in the constituency as "here the issue is isolation and lack of access to work".^[12]
• Gordon Riddell, candidate of thefar-rightBritish National Party, stood on a platform of finding jobs and housing for local people.^[12]
• On 30 August 2012, David Wickham was confirmed as theEnglish Democrats' candidate through an affiliated blog.^[19] Wickham wanted to reverse the decline in manufacturing and called for the establishment an English parliament, an end to mass uncontrolled immigration and the departure of the UK from the EU.^[12]
• On 6 October, theGreen Party announced that Jonathan Hornett had been selected as its candidate following a ballot of local members. He stated, "The Green Party is the only alternative to cuts, climate change and social injustice. Locally we want more wind farms and public services; and no more housing developments, roads, warehouses or nuclear waste."^[20]
• Independent candidate Ian Gillman had stood as the UK Independence Party candidate in Corby at the 2001 general election.^[21]
• It was announced on 3 September that Peter Reynolds, leader ofCannabis Law Reform (formerly the Legal Cannabis Alliance) would stand as a candidate.^[22] He argues that the cannabis issue shows how the main parties "refuse to listen to public opinion".^[12]
• David Bishop stood as candidate for the Elvis Loves Pets party, the latest incarnation of the satiricalChurch of the Militant Elvis Party.
• 'Mr Mozzarella' was a character appearing in advertisements forJust Eat, an online food order and delivery brand, who set up the 'Don't Cook Party'. The head of brand marketing for Just Eat, Richard Murfitt, was the election agent for Mozzarella.^[23]
• On 2 September, the Young People's Party announced that they would stand Dr Rohen Kapur,^[24] previously an independent candidate in theHornsey and Wood Green seat in the 2010 general election.^[25] Dr Kapur would abolish income tax and VAT.^[12]
• On 30 August, it was announced that Adam Lotun was to stand as an Independent candidate with the backing ofDemocracy 2015.^[26] Lotun stood on a platform of a living wage and renationalisation of public transport.^[12] The party was first publicly mooted on 4 September 2012, and this was the first election in which it was involved.
• Christopher Scotton, East Midlands organiser, was confirmed as the candidate for the newly formed United People's Party.^[27] He describes the UPP as "non-xenophobic" which promotes international co-operation.^[12]

• List of United Kingdom by-elections (2010–present)
• Opinion polling for the 2015 United Kingdom general election

• 2012 elections in the United Kingdom
• 2012 in England
• November 2012 in the United Kingdom
• By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Northamptonshire constituencies
• Corby
• 2010s in Northamptonshire

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