Sir William Edge, 1st Baronet - Bosworth By-election and After

Bosworth By-election and After

Edge returned to the House of Commons at a by-election for Bosworth in Leicestershire on 31 May 1927. His victory there was part of a pattern of Liberal success begun in 1926 after the General Strike, and Lloyd George's taking over the leadership of the party from Asquith had changed the political scene. According to Cook and Ramsden: "As so often when Lloyd George was involved, his old dynamism and energy brought a new sense of purpose. Within six months of his return, it seemed that at long last a real recovery was at hand." Between March 1927 and March 1929 the Liberals won six by-elections. Lloyd George helped his old friend by speaking for Edge at by-election meetings. The result at Bosworth was Edge 11,981, J. Minto (Labour) 11,710, E. L. Spears (Conservative) 7,685: giving a majority of 271 after a recount demanded by Labour. Turnout was 84.6%. Edge held his seat at the 1931 general election and the 1935 general election general elections when he stood as a Liberal National, but did not contest the seat in the 1945 general election.

In the troubled period of the 1930s for Liberals, Edge's political alignment was sometimes difficult to pin down. Edge was one of the group of 22 Liberals MPs who followed Sir John Simon in declaring themselves a body to give firm support to the prime minister as the head of a National Government and for the purpose of fighting the General Election on 5 October 1931 The Liberal Nationals were closely associated with the Conservatives. In time they actually merged with the Tories. By 1929 Edge was described as a ‘near Conservative’ – although one Labour junior minister noted that he voted with the Labour government in December 1929 on the Coal Mines Bill when most Liberals were joining the Tories to oppose the introduction of a seven and a half hour working day and a National Wages Board and that Edge also voted with the Labour government in January 1931 on the Trades Disputes Bill. Edge was created a baronet in the 1937 Coronation Honours.