Rhondda East Byelection
The death of Lieutenant-Colonel David Watts-Morgan, the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Rhondda East, in early 1933 left a vacancy for a Labour candidate in which the influence of the miners was predominant. Mainwaring's name was immediately mentioned as a possible candidate, with rivals including Alderman David Lewis, Mrs Watts-Morgan (the widow of the former MP), and some local party figures. Mainwaring was selected, and faced opposition from Arthur Horner of the Communist Party and William Thomas, a local Liberal, in the byelection.
Mainwaring received a letter of support from Labour Party leader George Lansbury, and an appeal from the President, Vice-President and General Secretary of the South Wales Miners' Federation was made for all miners and their families to vote for him. The Labour Party had won easily in a straight fight with Arthur Horner at the previous election, but the decision of the Liberal Party to fight an energetic campaign (the Liberal candidate was allied with David Lloyd George and opposed to the National Government) was thought to have given the party a scare because Labour had benefited from Liberal votes in 1931. Mainwaring predicted that he would get between 20,000 and 22,000 votes. In the event, Mainwaring won with 14,127 votes, with Horner second having increased his vote compared with 1931.
Read more about this topic: William Mainwaring
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