2004 Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election

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2004 Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election
← 2001 15 July 2004 2005 →
Turnout37.9% (Decrease 10.0%)
  First party Second party
  Official portrait of Liam Byrne (3x4 crop).jpg
LD
Candidate Liam Byrne Nicola Davies
Party Labour Liberal Democrats
Popular vote 7,451 6,991
Percentage 36.5% 34.2%
Swing Decrease 27.4% Increase 26.1%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Con
 John Ress Scotland (3x4 crop).jpg
Candidate Stephen Eyre John Rees
Party Conservative Respect
Popular vote 3,543 1,282
Percentage 17.3% 6.3%
Swing Decrease 2.7% New
BirminghamHodgeHillConstituency.svg
MP before election

Terry Davis
Labour

Elected MP

Liam Byrne
Labour

A by-election was held for the United Kingdom Parliament seat of Birmingham Hodge Hill, on 15 July 2004, the same day as the Leicester South by-election.[1] The by-election was called following the resignation of the sitting MP, Terry Davis, on 22 June 2004.[2] Davis had been appointed as Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

The by-election was won by Labour Party candidate Liam Byrne, but with a much reduced majority of 460 votes over the Liberal Democrats' candidate, Nicola Davies.

Background[]

Birmingham Hodge Hill has had a Labour MP since the 1950 general election, the only break being a Conservative Party victory at a 1977 by-election for the Birmingham Stechford constituency, which returned to Labour at the 1979 general election.

Campaign[]

The by-election was heavily contested by the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, with both parties alleging "dirty tricks" by the other.[3][4] Liam Byrne's campaign team, lead by West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson, produced leaflets with slogans such as "Labour is on your side, the Lib Dems are on the side of failed asylum seekers."[5][6] Another flier stated: "While Labour were tough the Lib Dems were wimps—they tried to stop us taking away benefits from failed asylum seekers and they voted against plans to speed up deportations."[7] Meanwhile, the Lib Dems reminded voters of Labour's decision to invade Iraq the previous year and, in the constituency's predominantly Muslim Washwood Heath ward, produced a leaflet carrying a picture of Charles Kennedy and Nicola Davies surrounded by South Asian voters.[8]

During the campaign, Labour pledged to "smash teen gangs"[9] and create "yob-free zones".[7]

Results[]

At the by-election, the seat was retained by Labour and Liam Byrne became the MP, but with a vastly reduced majority of only 460 votes, with the seat becoming a marginal. The Lib Dems narrowed the gap with a 26.7% swing, which at the time was the eleventh largest in United Kingdom by-election history.[4]

2004 by-election: Birmingham Hodge Hill[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Liam Byrne 7,451 36.5 -27.4
Liberal Democrats Nicola Davies 6,991 34.2 +26.1
Conservative Stephen Eyre 3,543 17.3 -2.7
Respect John Rees 1,282 6.3 N/A
National Front Jim Starkey 805 3.9 N/A
English Democrat Mark Wheatley 277 1.4 N/A
Christian Vote George Hargreaves 90 0.4 N/A
Majority 460 2.3 -41.6
Turnout 20,439 37.9
Labour hold Swing

Previous result[]

2001 general election: Birmingham Hodge Hill
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Terry Davis 16,901 63.9 -1.7
Conservative Debbie Lewis 5,283 20.0 -4.0
Liberal Democrats Charles Dow 2,147 8.1 -0.4
BNP Lee Windridge 889 3.3 N/A
People's Justice Perwaz Hussain 561 2.1 N/A
Socialist Labour Dennis Cridge 284 1.1 N/A
UKIP Harvey Vivian 275 1.0 -0.9
Ayub Khan 125 0.5 N/A
Majority 11,618 43.9
Turnout 26,465 47.9
Labour hold Swing

Aftermath[]

The Daily Mirror's Editorial on 17 July stated: "It isn't often that defeat can leave you smiling, but Tony Blair must have been grinning all over his face [on Friday]. The night before Labour had lost one safe seat to the Lib Dems and only clung on to another by a few hundred votes. Yet what could have been a by-election disaster was not. For it was a catastrophe for [Conservative Party leader] Michael Howard. The Tories crawled in a poor third in both elections ... The voters of Leicester South and Birmingham Hodge Hill confirmed what the polls are saying - the British people have had enough of the Tories."[11]

References[]

  1. ^ Hall, Sarah (9 July 2004). "Feuding parties fight dirty war on doorsteps". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Sessional Information Digest: 2003 - 04". publications.parliament.uk. 19 January 2005.
  3. ^ Nick Cohen (22 August 2004). "The Ghost of Enoch". The Observer. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  4. ^ a b Morris, Nigel (17 July 2004). "Lib Dems claim Labour's negative tactics backfired". The Independent. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  5. ^ Wearing, David (20 June 2016). "What would a post-xenophobic politics look like?". openDemocracy. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  6. ^ Akbar, Aneesa (13 July 2020). "New Labour's Islamophobia". Tribune. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Labour's politics of the gutter". Socialist Worker. 10 July 2004. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  8. ^ Maguire, Kevin (2 July 2004). "Mud starts to fly in Hodge Hill byelection battle". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  9. ^ Seymour, Richard (2017). Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics. Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-78663-299-9.
  10. ^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 2001-2005 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  11. ^ "'It was a catastrophe for Michael Howard'". The Guardian. 19 July 2004. Retrieved 19 December 2021.

External links[]

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