2014 Newark by-election
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Newark constituency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Map showing the Newark Parliamentary constituency within the English county of Nottinghamshire. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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8.9%
22.1%The Newark by-election was a by-election in the Newark constituency of the British House of Commons, which was held on 5 June 2014,[1][2] following the resignation of Patrick Mercer.[3] Conservative Robert Jenrick won the seat with a majority of 7,403.
Contents
1 Background
2 Candidates
3 Result
4 Polling
5 Previous result
6 See also
7 Notes
Background
Mercer resigned the Conservative Party whip on 31 May 2013 after an investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme regarding allegations of paid lobbying without registering the interest.[4] He was paid £4,000 for asking questions in Parliament, and the Panorama team considered that he asked five parliamentary questions, but declared only £2,000 of the £4,000.[5] As a consequence, he said at the time that he would not stand in the 2015 general election.[6]
On 29 April, after being told that the Committee on Standards would recommend that he be suspended from the House of Commons for six months, Mercer announced that he would resign his seat: he told journalists on College Green that he was standing down from "God's county of Nottinghamshire".[3][7] Mercer was appointed Steward and Bailiff of the Three Chiltern Hundreds on 30 April 2014, a mechanism by which MPs resign.[8]
The writ was moved on 1 May 2014 for the by-election to be held on 5 June.[1][9]
Candidates
The nominations closed at 4pm on Tuesday 13 May with 11 candidates being nominated.[10]
The local Conservative Party had already selected Robert Jenrick to fight the seat.[11] Jenrick trained as a solicitor and is a director of Christie's auction house. He is married with two children.
Labour selected 27-year-old councillor Michael Payne, a former students' union president[12] and current deputy leader of Gedling Borough Council.[13]
The Liberal Democrats chose David Watts, leader of Broxtowe Borough Council.[13]
Nigel Farage was immediately interviewed on the evening of 29 April and said he was "tempted" to stand, but the next morning he ruled himself out.[14]UKIP instead announced that outspoken former Conservative and current UKIP MEP for the East Midlands Roger Helmer[15][16] would stand in the by-election.[17]
The Bus Pass Elvis Party leader and perennial election candidate, David Bishop, announced on 6 May that he would stand in the by-election after taking fourth place ahead of the Liberal Democrats in a recent local authority by-election in Clifton North ward, Nottingham.[18]
Result
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Robert Jenrick | 17,431 | 45.0 | -8.9 | |
UKIP | Roger Helmer | 10,028 | 25.9 | +22.1 | |
Labour | Michael Payne | 6,842 | 17.7 | -4.7 | |
Independent | Paul Baggaley | 1,891 | 4.9 | N/A | |
Green | David Kirwan | 1,057 | 2.7 | N/A | |
Liberal Democrat | David Watts | 1,004 | 2.6 | -17.4 | |
Monster Raving Loony | Nick The Flying Brick | 168 | 0.4 | N/A | |
| Independent | Andy Hayes | 117 | 0.3 | N/A | |
Bus-Pass Elvis | David Bishop | 87 | 0.2 | N/A | |
Common Good | Dick Rodgers | 64 | 0.2 | N/A | |
| Patriotic Socialist Party | Lee Woods | 18 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Majority | 7,403 | 19.1 | -12.4 | ||
Turnout | 38,707 | 52.79 | -19.61 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | -15.5 | |||
The Conservatives retained the seat with a majority of over 7,000 which was described by the BBC as 'a relatively comfortable victory'.[21] While UKIP's performance decreased the Conservative majority the BBC's Alex Forsyth said this was 'not as much as Mr Farage had hoped - or predicted'.[21] Christopher Hope, writing in The Telegraph, argued that 'the scale of the victory is a vindication for the Tory high command which mounted a huge effort to win the seat' and claimed that David Cameron 'had halted the momentum of Ukip'.[22]George Osborne hailed his party's victory and noted that it was the first time the Conservative's had held a seat at a by-election while in government for 25 years.[21] However, both Nigel Farage and Labour's Chris Bryant suggested that the Conservative performance was not particularly impressive.[21] It was suggested by Owen Jones in The Guardian that 'Labour and Lib Dem voters clearly voted tactically to keep Ukip out'.[23] The poor performance for the Liberal Democrats was described by the BBC as one of 'worst performances in a post-war English by-election' for the party or its predecessors,[21] and by The Telegraph as 'a disaster' for the party.[22]
Polling
| Date(s) conducted | Polling organisation/client | Sample size | Con | Lab | LD | UKIP | Others | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Jun 2014 | Newark by-election Result | 38,707 | 45.0% | 17.7% | 3% | 25.9% | 8% | 19% over UKIP |
| 2–3 Jun | Survation | 678 | 42% | 22% | 4% | 27% | 5% | 15% over UKIP |
| 27 May–1 Jun | Lord Ashcroft | 1,000 | 42% | 20% | 6% | 27% | 5% | 15% over UKIP |
| 27–28 May | Survation/The Sun | 606 | 36% | 27% | 5% | 28% | 5% | 8% over UKIP |
| 6 May 2010 | 2010 Results (Newark only) | 51,228 | 53.9% | 22.3% | 20.0% | 3.8% | - | 31.5% over Lab |
Previous result
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Patrick Mercer | 27,590 | 53.9 | +3.4 | |
Labour | Ian Campbell | 11,438 | 22.3 | −6.0 | |
Liberal Democrat | Pauline Jenkins | 10,246 | 20.0 | +1.6 | |
UKIP | Tom Irvine | 1,954 | 3.8 | +1.0 | |
| Majority | 16,152 | 31.5 | |||
Turnout | 51,228 | 71.4 | +8.0 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +4.7 | |||
See also
- Newark by-election, 1943
- United Kingdom local elections, 2014
- European Parliament election, 2014 (United Kingdom)
- List of United Kingdom by-elections
- Opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election
- Opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election in individual constituencies
Notes
^ ab Britton, Alex (1 May 2014). "Newark by-election to take place on June 5". Nottingham Post. Retrieved 1 May 2014..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
^ Newark and Sherwood District Council: Newark Parliamentary by-election 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014
^ ab "Former Tory MP Mercer resigns after Commons suspension". BBC News. BBC. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
^ "Mercer aftermath: Will PM introduce new lobbying laws?". BBC News. BBC. 2 June 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
^ Nicholas Watt "MP Patrick Mercer resigns Commons seat in wake of lobbying allegations", theguardian.com, 29 April 2014
^ "Tory MP Patrick Mercer Quits The Party". Sky News. BSkyB. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
^ Nicholas Watt, "Farage considering standing in Newark", The Guardian website, 30 April 2014
^ UK Parliament website, "Patrick Mercer appointed to the Three Hundreds of Chiltern", 30 April 2014
^ "Patrick Mercer 'deliberately evaded' MPs' rules, watchdog finds", BBC News, 1 May 2014
^ "STATEMENT AS TO PERSONS NOMINATED AND NOTICE OF POLL" (PDF). Newark & Sherwood.
^ Robert Jenrick, Candidate for Newark, Conservative Party website.
^ "UKIP's Nigel Farage says he will not stand in Newark poll". BBC News. BBC. 30 April 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
^ ab "Newark by-election: PM visits British Sugar". Newark Advertiser. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
^ "Nigel Farage: Newark seat 'seriously tempting'", BBC News, 30 April 2014
- Norman Smith, "A pint with Nigel Farage as he mulled big decision", BBC News, 30 April 2014
^ Tom Payne, "Ukip MEP Roger Helmer: People should be able to dislike homosexuality like they do different types of tea", The Independent, 29 April 2014
- Adam Withnall, "Roger Helmer MEP at centre of homophobia row unveiled as Ukip candidate for Newark by-election", The Independent, 6 May 2014
^ Roger Helmer, underage girls and consent Liberal England
^ Rowena Mason and agencies, "Ukip selects candidate who argued date rape victims should take responsibility", The Guardian, 7 May 2014, p5
^ Alex Britton, "Patrick Mercer 'deliberately evaded' MPs' rules, watchdog finds", Nottingham Post, 6 May 2014
^ "Newark by-election candidate names confirmed". BBC News. 13 May 2014.
^ "Newark By-Election results". Newark and Sherwood District Council. 5 June 2014.
^ abcde "Conservatives see off UKIP challenge to win Newark by-election". 6 June 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
^ ab Hope, Christopher (6 June 2014). "Conservatives halt the march of Ukip as they win Newark by-election". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
^ Jones, Owen (6 June 2014). "Now Ukip is feeling the effect of protest vote politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
^ "Newark". YourNextMP. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
