Brierley Hill by-election, 1967

The Brierley Hill by-election of 29 April 1967 was held after the death of Conservative MP (MP) John Ellis Talbot:^[1]

The seat was marginal, having been won by Labour during United Kingdom general election, 1950 by 4,637 votes, and the Conservatives in the preceding United Kingdom general election, 1966 by only 1,567.

Candidates

• Fergus Montgomery for the Conservatives, was a teacher and councillor in Hebburn prior to becoming Member of Parliament for Newcastle East
• Derek Forwood was the Labour candidate. He told the Guardian newspaper in 2005 an anecdote from the Brierley Hill by-election at which then foreign secretary George Brown was subject to heckling at a hustings event^[2]
• Liberal candidate Michael Steed was lecturer in Government at Manchester University at the time of the election. His election addresses included calls to join the EEC and end the VietNam war^[3]
• Writer John Creasey nominated himself as candidate for the All Party Alliance he had created.

Result of the previous general election

General Election 1966: Brierley Hill
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Ellis Talbot	34,026	51.18
	Labour	K C Rogers	32,459	48.82
Majority			1,567	2.36	-
Turnout				78.95

Result of the by-election

Brierley Hill by-election, 27 April 1967[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Fergus Montgomery	31,371	53.75	+2.57
	Labour	Derek Forwood	21,151	36.24	-12.58
	Liberal	Michael Steed	4,536	7.77	N/A
	All Party Alliance	John Creasey	1,305	2.24	N/A
Majority			10,220
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. Full results
2. Labour Conference Guardian letters page 2005
3. Liberal candidate Michael Steed Byelections.co.uk
4. "1967 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2015-08-20.