View source for 1920 Paisley by-election

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2013}}
{{Infobox election
|election_name=1920 Paisley by-election
|type=parliamentary
|country=United Kingdom
|previous_election=Paisley (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1910s
|previous_year=1918
|next_election=Paisley (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1920s
|next_year=1922
|election_date=12 February 1920
|candidate1=[[H. H. Asquith]]
|image1=[[File:1917_Herbert_Henry_Asquith.jpg|65px]]
|party1=Liberal Party (UK)
|popular_vote1='''14,736''' 
|percentage1='''48.4%'''
|swing1 ={{increase}}'''14.4%'''
|candidate2=John Biggar
|image2=[[File:John_McLaren_Biggar.jpg|60px]]
|party2=Labour Party (UK)
|popular_vote2=11,902 
|percentage2=39.1%
|swing2={{increase}}5.6%
|candidate3=James MacKean
|image3=
|party3=Unionist Party (UK)
|popular_vote3=3,795
|percentage3=12.5%
|swing3={{increase}}12.5% 
|map_image=
|map_size=250px
|title=[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]]
|posttitle=Subsequent MP
|before_election=[[John McCallum (British politician)|John McCallum]]
|before_party=Liberal Party (UK)
|after_election=[[H. H. Asquith]]
|after_party=Liberal Party (UK)
}}
The '''1920 Paisley by-election''' was a parliamentary [[by-election]] held on 12 February 1920 for the UK [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] constituency of [[Paisley (UK Parliament constituency)|Paisley]] in Scotland. It was caused by the death of the constituency's sitting [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] Sir [[John Mills McCallum]]. Former Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, who was still leader of the Liberal Party but who had lost his seat at the [[1918 United Kingdom general election|1918 general election]], returned to the Commons.

==Electoral history==
The result at the last General Election in 1918 was;
{{Election box begin | title=[[1918 United Kingdom general election|General election 1918]]: Paisley<ref>British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig</ref> 
}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
  |party      = Liberal Party (UK)
  |candidate  = [[John Mills McCallum]]
  |votes      = 7,542
  |percentage = 34.0
  |change     = -30.3
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Co-operative Party
  |candidate  = [[John Biggar (Scottish politician)|John Biggar]]
  |votes      = 7,436
  |percentage = 33.5
  |change     = ''New''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link coalition 1918|
  |party      = National Democratic and Labour Party
  |candidate  = John Taylor
  |votes      = 7,201
  |percentage = 32.5
  |change     = ''New''
}}
{{Election box majority|
  |votes      = 106
  |percentage = 0.5
  |change     = -28.1
}}
{{Election box turnout|
  |votes      = 22,179
  |percentage = 57.6
  |change     = -17.3
}}
{{Election box hold with party link
 |winner = Liberal Party (UK)
 |swing = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box end 1918}}

==Asquith’s return==
The by-election provided an opportunity for the return to Parliament of [[H. H. Asquith]], the former Prime Minister who had lost his [[East Fife (UK Parliament constituency)|East Fife]] seat to the Unionists at the [[1918 United Kingdom general election|1918 general election]] in the aftermath of the split in the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] over [[David Lloyd George]]'s coalition with the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]]. Asquith remained party leader, and the opponents of the coalition came to be known as the [[Independent Liberal Party (UK, 1918)|Independent Liberals]], or unofficially as the ‘Wee Frees’ after a Scottish religious sect of that name.

Initially, it was widely expected that Biggar, who had nearly won the seat in 1918 and who was endorsed by nine former Liberal MPs, would win.<ref>Koss 1985, p246-7</ref> The Liberal Party in the constituency was split between supporters of Asquith and Lloyd George, and Asquith, whose continued leadership of the Liberal Party was being much criticised, was only narrowly selected as candidate, although after his formal adoption on 21 January 1920 the local Liberal Association united behind him. He initially had misgivings about returning to Scotland and risking his career, but grew more confident as the campaign progressed.<ref>Koss 1985, p242-7</ref>

Asquith had been an opponent of [[Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom|women’s suffrage]] (women over thirty were given the vote under the [[Representation of the People Act 1918]]), and (30 January 1920) thought women voters “hopelessly ignorant, credulous to the last degree, and flickering with gusts of sentiment like a candle in the wind. Then there are some thousands of Irish, who have been ordered by their bosses to vote Labour – as if Labour had ever done or was ever likely to do anything for them”. Asquith directed most of his campaign not against Labour but against the Coalition candidate, whom he thought “a foul-mouthed Tory”. He condemned the Treaty of Versailles and called for moderation over [[Treaty of Versailles|German reparations]], immediate [[Dominion|Dominion Status]] for [[Ireland]] (where the [[Irish War of Independence]] was currently in progress)<ref>government policy at the time was restore British rule so that [[Government of Ireland Act 1920|Home Rule]], postponed since [[Government of Ireland Act 1914|1914]], could at last be implemented. The [[Irish Free State]] eventually set up in 1921-2 was technically a dominion, in British eyes at least.</ref> and warned of the danger of [[tariff]]s being erected, especially by the newly independent small states of [[Central and Eastern Europe]].<ref>This was a period of currency turmoil and competitive devaluations among these small countries. Free trade was a totemic issue for Liberals, as Asquith had been a leading campaigner against [[Joseph Chamberlain]]'s campaign for [[Tariff Reform League|Tariff Reform]] in the run up to the Liberals' landslide victory in [[United Kingdom general election, 1906|1906]]</ref><ref>Jenkins 1964, p486-7</ref>

Political biographer [[John Campbell (biographer)|John Campbell]] noted parallels between the Paisley campaign condemning Lloyd George's opportunism and the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] to [[William Ewart Gladstone]]'s [[Midlothian campaign]] condemning [[Benjamin Disraeli]] and the [[Congress of Berlin]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/pistolsatdawntwo0000camp/13960/t6wx5mm07 |title=Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown |date=2010 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-1-84595-091-0 |location=London |pages=181 |oclc=489636152}}</ref> Such comparisons were made at the time, although Asquith himself was more circumspect.<ref>Koss 1985, p248-9</ref>
[[John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon|Sir John Simon]] and [[Stanley Buckmaster, 1st Viscount Buckmaster|Lord Buckmaster]] spoke in Asquith's support, as did his daughter [[Violet Bonham Carter|Violet]] who had become an excellent speaker. The “foul-mouthed Tory” lost his [[deposit (politics)|deposit]] (by ten votes), to Asquith’s delight.<ref>Jenkins 1964, p486-7</ref>

The by-election seemed to be a triumph for the Independent Liberals with a majority of 2,834 votes over [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] and a blow for the government.

==Result==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:1923 Herbert Asquith.jpg|thumb|120px|Herbert Asquith]] -->
{{Election box begin | title=Paisley by-election, 1920<ref>British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig</ref> 
}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
  |party      = Liberal Party (UK)
  |candidate  = [[H. H. Asquith]]
  |votes      = 14,736
  |percentage = 48.4
  |change     = +14.4
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Labour Co-operative
  |candidate  = [[John Biggar (Scottish politician)|John Biggar]]
  |votes      = 11,902
  |percentage = 39.1
  |change     = +5.6
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link coalition 1918|
  |party      = Unionist Party (Scotland)
  |candidate  = James Anderson Dunlop MacKean
  |votes      = 3,795
  |percentage = 12.47
  |change     = ''New''
}}
{{Election box majority|
  |votes      = 2,834
  |percentage = 9.3
  |change     = +8.8
}}
{{Election box turnout|
  |votes      = 30,433
  |percentage = 77.6
  |change     = +20.0
}}
{{Election box hold with party link
 |winner = Liberal Party (UK)
 |swing  = +4.4
}}
{{Election box end 1918}}

==Aftermath==
At the following General Election in 1922, Asquith held the seat narrowly, with a much reduced majority (albeit a slightly larger share of the vote) in a two-horse race against Labour. The result was:
{{Election box begin | title=[[1922 United Kingdom general election|General election 1922]]: Paisley <ref>British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig</ref> 
}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
  |party      = Liberal Party (UK)
  |candidate  = [[H. H. Asquith]]
  |votes      = 15,005
  |percentage = 50.5
  |change     = +2.1
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Labour Co-operative
  |candidate  = [[John Biggar (Scottish politician)|John Biggar]]
  |votes      = 14,689
  |percentage = 49.5
  |change     = +10.4
}}
{{Election box majority|
  |votes      = 316
  |percentage = 1.0
  |change     = -8.3
}}
{{Election box turnout|
  |votes      = 29,694
  |percentage = 
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box hold with party link
 |winner = Liberal Party (UK)
 |loser = 
 |swing = 
}}
{{Election box end}}

Asquith held the seat again at the [[1923 United Kingdom general election|1923 election]] but was defeated by Labour at the [[1924 United Kingdom general election|1924 election]]. He was then elevated to the House of Lords as [[Earl of Oxford and Asquith]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | last = Jenkins | first = Roy | author-link = Roy Jenkins | year = 1964 | title = Asquith | edition = first | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cKdBAAAAIAAJ&q=asquith+Jenkins&dq=asquith+Jenkins| location = London | publisher = Collins | oclc = 243906913 | ref = {{sfnRef|Jenkins}}}}
* {{cite book | last = Koss | first = Stephen | author-link = Stephen Koss | year = 1985 | title = Asquith | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tBGGAAAAIAAJ&dq=Asquith+Stephen+Koss | location = London | publisher = Hamish Hamilton | isbn = 978-0-231-06155-1| ref = {{sfnRef|Koss}}}}
*''The Radical Thread: Political Change in Scotland. Paisley Politics, 1885-1924'' by Catriona M M MacDonald, Scottish Historical Review, 2000
*''Victory at Paisley''; Graeme Peters on Asquith’s return to Parliament; Journal of Liberal History, Issue 19, Summer 1998, p14 & 17 https://web.archive.org/web/20110617010157/http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/uploads/19_peters_victory_at_paisley.pdf 
*''Hold on, hold out; we are coming''; Ian Hunter on the speech made by Lady Violet Bonham Carter on the return of her father to Parliament; Journal of Liberal History, Issue 37, Winter 2002-03 pp 22–25 https://web.archive.org/web/20120502132739/http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/uploads/37-Winter%25202002-03.pdf

{{By-elections to the 31st UK Parliament}}
{{Westminster by-elections in Scotland 1900–1949}}
{{H. H. Asquith|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies]]
[[Category:1920 elections in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1920 in Scotland]]
[[Category:1920s elections in Scotland]]
[[Category:Politics of Paisley, Renfrewshire]]
[[Category:H. H. Asquith]]