1977 City of London and Westminster South by-election

The City of London and Westminster South by-election on 24 February 1977 was held after Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Christopher Tugendhat resigned the seat upon his appointment to the European Commission. A safe Conservative seat, it was won by their candidate, Peter Brooke.

The election was contested by a record ten candidates, beating the nine who had contested the Walsall North by-election, 1976. This total was topped at the Lambeth Central by-election, 1978.

Brooke would retain the seat at the 1979 general election, and hold it until his retirement at the 2001 general election (it reverted to its former name of Cities of London and Westminster in 1997). He held a number of front-bench Government posts during his tenure, including Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Results

City of London and Westminster South by-election, 1977

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Brooke	11,926	55.49	+3.77
	Labour	Malcolm Noble	3,997	18.60	−12.35
	Liberal	Angus Scrimgeour	1,981	9.22	−5.64
	National Front	Paul Kavanagh	1,051	4.89	+2.42
	Pro-Homosexual Civil Rights	Peter Mitchel	449	2.09	N/A
	National Party	Michael Lobb	364	1.69	N/A
	New Britain	Dennis Delderfield	306	1.42	N/A
	Air, Road, Public Safety, White Resident	Bill Boaks	61	0.28	N/A
	Christian Outreach to Britain, Anti-Pornography	William Thompson	43	0.20	N/A
	Christ, Crown, Country, Commonwealth, Christian Constitution	Ralph Herbert	37	0.17	N/A
Turnout			21,492
	Conservative hold		Swing

The results for the previous election were:

October 1974 General Election:City of London and Westminster South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Tugendhat	14,350	51.72
	Labour	PJ Turner	8,589	30.95
	Liberal	TG Underwood	4,122	14.86
	National Front	D Baxter	686	2.47	N/A
Majority			5,761	20.76
Turnout			27,747	53.19
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• United Kingdom by-election records

External links

• 1977 by-elections at British Parliamentary By-elections