Rotherham by-election, 1994

The Rotherham by-election was held on 5 May 1994, following the death of Labour Party Member of Parliament for Rotherham Jimmy Boyce.

Boyce had only won the seat at the 1992 UK general election, but it had been continuously held by Labour since 1933, usually with a large majority. As a result, Labour were clear favourites to hold at the by-election.

Labour decided to stand Denis MacShane, the director of the European Policy Institute. A former journalist and trade union employee, he had unsuccessfully contested Solihull at the October 1974 UK general election.

The Conservative Party had taken a distant second place in 1992, and having lost the previous two by-elections of the term to the Liberal Democrats, they were not hopeful of gaining ground. They chose to stand Nick Gibb, a chartered accountant working for KPMG. The Liberal Democrats had taken less than one eighth of the votes cast in 1992, a significant decrease from the previous election. Despite this, they stood the same candidate, David Wildgoose.

Two other candidates stood: Screaming Lord Sutch of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, and Keith Laycock of the Natural Law Party.

Results

As expected, MacShane easily won the seat, although, disappointingly for the main opposition party, his vote was more than eight percent down on Boyce's. Wildgoose improved his fortunes, more than doubling his vote, and taking second place. Gibb took less than ten percent of the votes, falling to a distant third place. Sutch was able to record his best ever result, taking 1,114 votes and a 4.2% share - within a percentage point of the Loonies retaining a deposit for the first time.

At the 1997 UK general election, MacShane retained the seat, with an increased majority. Wildgoose also stood, but proved unable to equal his performance in 1994, and by 2001 moved to contest Wentworth. Gibb became one of the few Conservatives to enter Parliament in 1997, winning Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. Sutch stood in several subsequent by-elections, but was never able to beat his total in Rotherham.

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Denis MacShane
votes = 14,912
percentage = 55.6
change = -8.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = David Wildgoose
votes = 7,958
percentage = 29.7
change = +17.4Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Nick Gibb
votes = 2,649
percentage = 9.9
change = -13.8Election box candidate with party link
party = Official Monster Raving Loony Party
candidate = Screaming Lord Sutch
votes = 1,114
percentage = 4.2
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Natural Law Party
candidate = Keith Laycock
votes = 173
percentage = 0.6
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 6,954
percentage = 25.9
change =Election box turnout
votes =
percentage = 43.7
change = -28.0Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing = -2.8

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = James Boyce
votes = 27,933
percentage = 63.9
change = +4.2Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Stephen Yorke
votes = 10,372
percentage = 23.7
change = +1.6Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = David Wildgoose
votes = 5,375
percentage = 12.3
change = -5.9Election box majority
votes = 17,561
percentage = 40.2
change =Election box turnout
votes =
percentage = 71.7
change = +2.5Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing =

References

* [http://www.election.demon.co.uk/election.html United Kingdom Election Results]
* [http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/e97/byelec.htm UK by-election results since the 1992 general election]