2004 Leicester South by-election

Background

Leicester South was first won by Jim Marshall of the Labour Party in 1974. He lost the seat to the Conservative Party candidate, Derek Spencer, in the 1983 general election by a mere 7 votes, but won it back at the 1987 election. Marshall won the constituency with a majority of 13,243 (31.4%) at the 2001 election.

The constituency is diverse, covering leafy suburbs such as Stoneygate and Knighton along with inner city areas with a strong South Asian community, one of the largest such populations in the UK. The by-election was considered a referendum on Blair's policies, especially the ongoing Iraq War, for which Labour had received heavy backlash from Asian and Muslim voters. The war had also been blamed for the party's major losses in the local elections of both 2003 and 2004. Jim Marshall had opposed the war prior to his death.

Candidates

The Labour Party chose Peter Soulsby to fight the by-election. Soulsby had previously been head of Leicester City Council for 18 years and also acted as the election agent for Jim Marshall at the 2001 general election.

The Liberal Democrats selected Parmjit Singh Gill, who was a councillor on Leicester City Council's Stoneygate Ward and had also been the Leicester South candidate at the 2001 general election. He claimed his central issues would be "Iraq, top-up fees, health and schools" and that he would "be a local MP who will work hard for everyone in our area."

Chris Heaton-Harris was announced as the Conservative candidate, despite having only recently been elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands. Soulsby criticised this, telling The Guardian: "Leicester South needs a full-time local champion, not a two-jobs who doesn't even live here and who can't make up his mind whether he wants to be in Brussels or Westminster."

Yvonne Ridley, a former journalist who was held in captivity in Afghanistan by the Taliban and later converted to Islam, stood for the Respect Party. "I'm not just fighting this seat to compete," she said. "I'm fighting it to win, and I believe we can win."

Bob Ball was chosen to stand for the Green Party, but later withdrew. The Greens said that they were short of money after the European Parliament elections and wanted to concentrate resources on the next general election.

Result

In his victory speech, Gill said, "Yesterday, Lord Butler gave his views on Tony Blair's reasoning for backing the invasion of Iraq. Today, people in Leicester have given theirs." He then went on to say, "The justification which Tony Blair gave for backing George Bush was wrong. The people of Leicester South have spoken for the people of Britain. Their message is that the prime minister has abused and lost their trust. He should apologise and he should apologise now."

Labour MP and cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt, who represented neighbouring constituency Leicester West, stated that Iraq was clearly an issue, with the inner city Asian vote swinging decisively to the Lib Dems.

At the 2005 general election, the Liberal Democrats lost the seat to Labour and Peter Soulsby became the new MP for Leicester South.

Previous result

References

References

1. Hall, Sarah. (9 July 2004). "Feuding parties fight dirty war on doorsteps". The Guardian.
2. Morris, Nigel. (17 July 2004). "Lib Dems claim Labour's negative tactics backfired". The Independent.
3. Carrell, Severin. (21 September 2003). "Labour faces 'Muslim backlash'". The Independent.
4. Travis, Alan. (15 March 2004). "Muslims abandon Labour over Iraq war". The Guardian.
5. Rozenberg, Gabriel. (3 May 2003). "Muslim backlash bounces Labour out of Birmingham". [[The Times]].
6. Graff, Peter. (13 June 2004). "Blair faces backlash over poll defeat".
7. Hurst, Greg. (19 June 2004). "Candidate selected". [[The Times]].
8. (9 June 2004). "Lib Dems choose Parmjit Singh Gill". Leicester Liberal Democrats.
9. Hall, Sarah. (22 June 2004). "Tories' new MEP selected". The Guardian.
10. (26 June 2004). "Former hostage to run in election". BBC News.
11. Bushby, Roger. (1 July 2004). "Ridley launches bid to become MP". Press Gazette.
12. (23 June 2004). "Greens withdraw from by-election". BBC News.
13. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 2001-2005 Parliament".
14. (16 July 2004). "By-election disaster for Blair".
15. (16 July 2004). "Blair's party loses parliament by-election in Leicester".
16. Walker, Brian. (16 July 2004). "Iraq protest vote hits Labour". Belfast Telegraph.