Allan D

Today is the 80th anniversary of the start of the Corfu Channel incident, when Royal Navy ships came under fire from Albanian fortifications: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corfu_Cha…

The by-election in Makerfield will be a mini Referendum on rejoining the EU or not. Andy Burnham is an extreme Rejoiner who needs to be told that disrespecting democracy comes at a great price - the end of his political career. express.co.uk/news/politics/…

@Weyoun999 @JGBartholomew However Cousins quit the Cabinet and the Commons the following year in protest at Labour's wage restraint policy. He was replaced as Minister of Technology by Tony Benn.

@Weyoun999 @JGBartholomew Frank Cousins, the TGWU General Secretary, was appointed Minister of Technology following Labour's victory in the 1964 GE but, unlike Gordon Walker, Cousins was elected for Nuneaton on the same day as Gordon Walker lost at Leyton

Voters don't like being taken for granted. In 1965, Patrick Gordon-Walker was handed a safe Labour seat in a by-election because the PM wanted him to be his Foreign Secretary. He lost.

@JGBartholomew In 1938 he had been forced to stand down as Labour PPC for Oxford because Frank Pakenham (later Lord Longford) wanted to support the anti-Munich candidacy of AD Lindsay, the Master of Balliol.

@JGBartholomew and had to resign as FS. He won back Leyton at the 1966 GE and returned to the Cabinet as Education Secretary, among other posts.

@JGBartholomew He was already foreign secretary until he lost the by election - not very often someone not in the lords or commons is in the cabinet

@DanCardenMP Didn't feel that about the grooming gangs.

Andy Burnham should stand in the Makerfield by-election. The Labour Party needs him to win that seat and beat Reform. Andy understands something that has been missing from Labour’s offer: that people love where they’re from. That working class communities don’t want to be managed or moved on. They want secure work, pride in where they live, and a party that stands with them rather than for them in the abstract. I hope he stands, and I hope he wins. And I hope it marks the beginning of a changed Labour government that makes the argument for full employment, rent control and stronger communities, is willing to fight those who exploit working class communities, and reduces welfare by building an economy where fewer people need it.

@AdamRamsay The Parliamentary recess was extended while he fought the seat. George Younger, later Mrs Thatcher's Scottish & Defence Secretary, stood down as PPC so Home could be adopted as the candidate. He had previously been (as Lord Dunglass) MP for Lanark from 1931-45 & 1950-1.

The closest thing I can think of is that Alec Douglas Home ran in the 1963 Kinross and Western Perthshire by-election, as PM, having stood down from the Lords. If he’d lost, he’d have had to resign.

@SamCoatesSky You mean the original system of a preferential ballot. You can't have PR when there's only 1 candidate to be elected.

NEW: If Andy Burnham wins the Makerfield byelection he is required to quit the Manchester Metro Mayor and it will hold an election. Government has passed legislation to change the mayoral voting system away from FPTP to a proportional system BUT The government haven’t passed the necessary secondary legislation to enact this change. So as it’s stands, a mayoral election would be held under FPTP

@KevinAl1976 Voters should make decisions about whether to switch to another candidate in a bid to defeat another not party leaders, on the whole. The issue seems pretty clear cut in Makerfield.

Good.

I’m told the unusual speed and secrecy of the process was to prevent No.10 from sabotaging it.

@jonsopel Yes, he surprisingly won the 1970 GE against the odds and against the pollsters on 18 June - the date chosen by the Labour Whips for the Makerfield by-election.

Fun factoid. Last prime minister to come to power by winning an election and leave power by losing one - what you’d think was the way these things are meant to work - was Edward Heath over half a century ago

@Cullivanpeter @northumbriana Sadly, from Palmerston's point of view. Gladstone returned unscathed!

@allandray08 @northumbriana Very wise!

The London Underground is so old that its first passengers could take the tube to go and watch public hangings.

18 June by-election: 1936 - Lewes (Con hold) (5.05% swing Con -> Lab): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Lewe…

18 June is the 56th anniversary of Edward Heath's surprise victory over Harold Wilson in the 1970 GE. It is also the 211th anniversary of Wellington's "d*mned nice thing" victory over Napoleon at Waterloo. #Makerfield